The mayor of a Muslim-majority town in Michigan has endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Amer Ghalib, mayor of Hamtramck, a Detroit-area suburb, announced the endorsement Sunday in an impassioned Facebook post.
The statement came days after the Yemeni-born Democrat met with Trump in Flint, after which he personally invited the politician to his city, which has become a destination for immigrants from countries such as Yemen, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
This paved the way for the resounding endorsement, which portrayed the former commander-in-chief as “the right choice for this critical moment,” even though the two “did not agree on everything.”
The 45-year-old former health care worker went on to describe Trump as “a man of principle,” a claim the Republican later republished on Truth Social.
Amer Ghalib, mayor of Hamtramck, a suburb in the Detroit area, has endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Ghalib announced his support on Sunday in an impassioned Facebook post. The announcement came two days after meeting with the former commander in chief for 20 minutes in Flint, where he was asked for his support.
“Even though things are looking good, he may or may not win the election and become the 47th president of the United States,” Ghalib began, writing in Arabic.
‘I will not regret my decision no matter what the outcome is and I am ready to face the consequences.
‘For this and many other reasons, I announce my support and endorsement of the former and, I hope, future president of the United States, Donald Trump.
“Now let the Caravan begin its journey,” he concluded. “This is just the starting point.”
Days earlier, after a 20-minute private meeting with the former president in Flint, Ghalib said: Detroit News In a text message: ‘(Trump) knew a lot about me before the meeting.
“We discussed a variety of topics, including the debates, polling updates, voting statistics in Michigan and Wayne County, concerns of Arab Americans and Yemeni Americans in particular,” the political newcomer continued.
‘We also discussed the situation in Yemen.’
The 45-year-old former health care worker went on to describe Trump as “a man of principle,” a claim the Republican later republished on Truth Social.
Hamtramck, a refugee haven, is the only Muslim-majority city in the United States. It is home to more than 100,000 Michigan Arabs who voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic primaries.
Meanwhile, Trump said on Sunday Breitbart News “How he was very impressed with (Ghalib),” during a nearly hour-long phone call that followed Ghalib’s sudden endorsement.
“He was a big fan of the Trump administration because he didn’t see any wars, other than defeating ISIS, but I inherited that, but there were no wars,” Trump told the news site.
“There was no October 7th. There was no Russian attack on Ukraine,” he continued. “He sees that and he told me: he saw a world that was at peace.
“We now have a world that is going to end in World War III and I can stop it,” the Republican added, just over 40 days before his looming showdown with Vice President Kamala Harris. “I’m the only one who’s going to stop it.”
In his texts with the Detroit News, Ghalib further revealed how Trump had been the one to ask for his support, as the Great Lakes state’s 15 electoral votes appeared to be largely up for grabs.
Democrats and Republicans traded victories there in 2020 and 2016.
“He asked me if I could support him and ask people to vote for him,” Ghalib said, adding that he might elaborate on the new correspondence between the two in a video or in future social media posts.
His endorsement of Trump comes at a time when the Great Lakes state’s 15 electoral votes appear largely up for grabs, with Democrats and Republicans trading victories there in 2020 and 2016.
‘I said, ‘I’m here to talk about that and how we can achieve this.’
‘I then handed him an official letter with some details about our concerns and to invite him to come to Hamtramck if possible.’
Ghalib then appeared on Breitbart News on Saturday, again speaking highly of the presidential candidate before officially endorsing him.
“I talked to President Trump about some statistics here in Wayne County and how it used to be a stronghold for Democrats, and we always used to vote Democrat,” Ghalib said of the “very productive meeting” in Flint.
“This is no longer the case here.”
He told Breitbart that both he and Trump do not want new wars, as the conflict in Gaza continues with no end in sight.
Last year, Ghalib was among a group of Hamtramck residents who met with controversial conservative activist Michael Flynn, a former Army general and Trump’s first national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.
He was later pardoned by then-President Trump before visiting Hamtramck, a city of about 27,000 people, last year.
Ghalib was elected mayor of the only American city governed entirely by Muslims last year, beating out incumbent Mayor Karen Majewski in the process.
The victory marked the first time in 100 years that a non-Polish person held the office, in a city where more than 40 percent of the city’s population is of foreign origin.
Ghalib was elected mayor of the only American city governed entirely by Muslims last year, defeating incumbent Mayor Karen Majewski in the process.
The victory marked the first time in 100 years that a non-Polish person had held the office, in a city where more than 40 percent of the population was foreign-born.
If Trump wins Michigan, Harris’s path to the presidency suddenly becomes much more dubious, with more than 100,000 Michigan Arabs voting “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary.
That represents nearly the entire margin between Biden and Trump in Michigan’s 2020 election, meaning the voting bloc could swing the presidency in either direction.
Hamtramck, a refugee haven, is the only Muslim-majority city in the United States.
