Exclusive: Arab-American Democrat Mayor in Key Michigan County Had ‘Very Productive’ Meeting with Trump, Weighs Endorsement

The Democrat mayor of a community with many Arab-Americans in Wayne County, Michigan, who helped lead the uncommitted movement in the Democrat primary, told Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Saturday that his meeting with former President Donald Trump last week “was very productive” and well received by the community, which traditionally votes Democrat.

Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib (D) spoke with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle in a nearly 20-minute segment on the program on the heels of his meeting with Trump in Flint, Michigan.

Hamtramck, along with Dearborn and other cities in Wayne County, have sizable Muslim and Arab-American populations that turned out in full force to protest the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in the Democrat primary.

Michigan was notably where the “uncommitted” movement, made up of Arab-Americans, Muslims, young voters, and far-left progressives, began when more than 100,000 protested the Biden-Harris adminsitration with uncommitted votes in the Democrat primary.

Ghalib said his meeting with Trump materialized in part because many in Hamtramck and these neighboring communities are supportive of him and “the shifting dynamics” he is leading.

“That was the base for my communication with the Republican leadership, which resulted in a meeting with President Trump last week in Flint. It was a very productive meeting for about 20 minutes,” he said.

Trump was accompanied at the meeting by an assistant and Massad Boulos, a Lebanese businessman who is Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law.

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“The meeting was very good,” Ghalib, who hails from Yemen, added. “I talked to President Trump about, you know, some statistics here in Wayne County and how it used to be a stronghold for the Democrats, and we always used to vote Democrat. This is not the case anymore here.”

Ghalib recounted later in the interview that Trump said “he is going to end the chaos in the Middle East,” adding Trump “doesn’t want wars.”

The mayor received a strong response from the community after he posted a photo of him and Trump on social media. When asked about potentially endorsing Trump and whether the uncommitted community is likely to get behind Trump, Ghalib contrasted the supportive messages he received about his meeting versus a post from another community leader who endorsed Harris that received blowback.

“I wouldn’t claim that I represent all these people and that they will follow me, but I know a major portion of the Arab American community are happy,” he said. “Let’s compare two things. There’s some high appointed official from the Arab community already announced endorsement for Harris, and when he posted about that, 90 percent or 95 percent of the comments were angry and upset at him, and they were attacking him.”

“When I did the same, I posted about President Trump, it’s completely the opposite; 95 percent of the comments and the phone calls that I receive are supportive,” he added. “So I think that the political atmosphere here is in favor of shifting dynamics that I call. And regarding the endorsement, President Trump asked me, ‘Would you be able to endorse me?’ I told him, ‘I’m here to talk about that.’ And I think I left the meeting happy with what I heard. And we opened the channel of communication.”

Ghalib said that an effort is underway to bring a Trump 47 office to Hamtramck to begin “recruiting people registering to vote, requesting the absentee ballots.”

“And we are moving. I received calls from his assistant the same day at night, you know, and we continue to talk. … It’s just the beginning, so I think we are moving in the right direction,” he emphasized.

Moreover, he said he has officially invited Trump to Hamtramck and that the community is “happy to organize a rally here.”

“I haven’t heard a definite answer from him or his team, but they are considering that, and it’s possible, but regardless, we also understand any concerns, especially, you know, they think that Wayne County is a stronghold of the Democrats, and nobody should come to here. But like, I told them, this is not the case anymore,” he emphasized. “There’s a big support here for a change, and we are happy to welcome anyone, including President Trump, to come and visit us.”

This progress between the Arab-American community and Trump in Michigan comes as the Biden-Harris administration failed to meet the demands of the “uncommitted movement,” which sought a ceasefire and stoppage of weapons shipments to Israel. Ghalib recalled refusing to meet with Biden multiple times when he went to Michigan and emphasized that Harris’s policy vision does not differ from that of her and Biden’s current administration.

“We refused to meet President Biden a couple of times when he came to here, and we said, ‘Unless there’s a change in the course of policy, then we can talk.’ So basically, Harris came – only change was that some people think, ‘Oh, she did a little better in the debate,’” he said, emphasizing the uncommitted movement was strictly about policy and not Biden’s cognitive capabilities.

“The reason for not voting for Biden in the primary is not because of his speech skills or his mental and physical incompetency. That wasn’t the reason. The reason was the policy. You know, how is he handling the current situation in the Middle East and also the economy is a major factor here,” he said. “So that’s why I hold to my principle. I’m not changing since there’s no change. The cause for this, you know, uncommitted campaign is not resolved. It’s still there.”

When asked if the uncommitted movement and other campaigns like the “Abandon Harris” folks are the swing demographic that will decide Michigan and, in turn, potentially the next president, Ghalib said, “Definitely.”

“I mean, we saw in the past that some candidates will, presidential candidates will win Michigan by just 10,000 or 20,000 votes,” he said. “So it is definitely a critical number that will have a major effect, especially in a tight race and swing state like this 20,000, 30,000 votes will be a major determinant of the outcomes of this election, and especially if you get those votes from a community that was never supportive of you. So this is a major change.”

“I mean, if, let’s say 50% of those people decided to vote for Trump, I mean, in the past, it’s known that they were never voting Republican. So this is, I think, a major change and a big support for President Trump,” he added.

In 2020, Biden won Michigan by 154,188 votes. The 101,430 uncommitted protest votes in the Democratic primary approach that margin, which is an extremely worrying sign for Democrats.

In 2016, Trump carried Michigan by 10,704 votes over twice-failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.