The Democratic mayor of Wayne County, Michigan, a heavily Arab-American community, and the independent campaign leader in the Democratic primary, Breitbart News Saturday He said his meeting with former President Donald Trump last week was “very productive” and well-received by the community, which traditionally votes Democratic.
Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib (Democrat) spoke with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle for a roughly 20-minute segment on the show after meeting with President Trump in Flint, Michigan.
Hamtramck, like Dearborn and other Wayne County cities, has large Muslim and Arab American populations who came out in droves to protest the Biden-Harris administration's response to the Israel-Hamas war during the Democratic primary.
Michigan is famously the birthplace of the “Independents” movement, made up of Arab Americans, Muslims, young voters and far-left progressives, after more than 100,000 people voted independent in the Democratic primary to protest against the Biden-Harris administration.
Ghalib said the meeting with Trump came about because many people in Hamtramck and nearby communities support Trump and the “changing dynamic” he leads.
“That became the basis for my communications with Republican leadership, which led to me meeting with President Trump in Flint last week, which was a very productive meeting that lasted about 20 minutes,” he said.
The meeting was attended by Trump aides and Lebanese businessman Massad Bouros, who is Tiffany Trump's father-in-law.
listen:
“The meeting was very good,” Ghalib, who is originally from Yemen, added. “I spoke to President Trump about the statistics here in Wayne County and how this used to be a Democratic stronghold, and we always voted Democrat, but that's not the case here anymore.”
Later in the interview, Ghalib said Trump “is going to end the chaos in the Middle East,” adding that “Trump doesn't want war.”
The mayor received strong backlash from local residents after posting a photo with Trump on social media. When asked about the possibility of supporting Trump or of undecided local residents supporting him, Mayor Ghalib contrasted the messages of support he received about the meeting with the backlash he received after another local leader posted in support of Harris.
It's a new era! I spoke privately with President Trump for 20 minutes today.
Contributor Amir Ghalib On Tuesday, September 17, 2024
“I don't speak for all of these people and say they're going to follow me, but I know that a large part of the Arab American community is happy,” he said. “Let's compare two things: A senior member of the Arab community had already announced his support for Harris, and when he posted about it, 90 percent or 95 percent of the comments were angry, resentful and aggressive toward him.”
“I posted about President Trump in the same way, but it was the exact opposite. 95 percent of the comments and calls I received were supportive,” he added. “So I think the political atmosphere here is favorable to the change in dynamic that I'm calling for. In terms of an endorsement, President Trump asked me, 'Would you endorse me?' And I replied, 'I'm here to talk about it,' and I think I left the meeting satisfied with what I heard, and we opened a channel of communication.”
Ghalib said efforts are underway to open a Trump 47 office in Hamtramck and begin “recruiting people to register to vote and request absentee ballots.”
“And we are moving forward. I got a call from his assistant that evening and we are continuing to have discussions. … It's early days. So I think we're moving in the right direction,” he stressed.
He also said he had formally invited Trump to Hamtramck and that local residents were “pleased to have the rally here.”
“I haven't heard a definitive answer from him or his team, but they are considering it and it's a possibility. But either way, we understand the concerns, too. In particular, they think Wayne County is a Democratic stronghold and that no one should come here. But I told them that's not the case anymore,” he stressed. “There is great support for change here and we welcome anyone to visit us, including President Trump.”
This development between the Arab American community in Michigan and Trump comes amid the Biden-Harris administration's failure to meet the demands of the Unfettered Movement for a ceasefire and an end to arms exports to Israel. Ghalib recalled Biden's repeated refusals to meet with him during his visits to Michigan and stressed that Harris' policy vision is no different from hers and that of the current Biden administration.
“When President Biden came here, we refused to meet a couple of times and said, 'We can talk as long as the policy direction doesn't change.' So basically, Harris came in. The only change is that some people now think, 'Oh, she did a little better in the debates,'” he said, emphasizing that the no-show move was entirely about policy and not about Biden's cognitive ability.
“The reason I didn't vote for Biden in the primary was not because of his speaking skills or his mental or physical incompetence. That's not the reason. The reason is policy. You know, how he's handling the current situation in the Middle East and the economy is a big factor here,” he said. “That's why I'm sticking to my guns. I'm not going to change unless there's change. The cause of this dishonest campaign has not been resolved. It's still there.”
Asked whether independents and other movements like the “Dump Harris” movement were swing voters who could decide Michigan and potentially the next president, Ghalib said, “Absolutely.”
“In the past, we've seen presidential candidates win Michigan by as little as 10,000 or 20,000 votes,” he said, “so this is certainly a significant number that has a big impact. Especially in a close battleground state like this, 20,000 or 30,000 votes can really determine the outcome of an election, especially when you're winning votes from communities that haven't supported you historically. So this is a big change.”
“If, let's say, 50 percent of these people decide to vote for Trump, we know that they have never voted Republican in the past. So, I think that's a big change and a big endorsement for President Trump,” he added.
Biden won Michigan by 154,188 votes in 2020. The 101,430 undeclared protest votes in the Democratic primary are approaching that margin, a very worrying sign for Democrats.
In 2016, Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes, beating twice-losing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 6 to 9 a.m. ET.
