The Biden Administration’s diplomatic and military support for Israel’s war in Gaza has caused anger and consternation among many Arab Americans. This has created an opening that the Trump campaign—despite the former President’s vociferous support for Israel and history of bigoted remarks toward Muslims—has tried to exploit. Surrogates such as Richard Grenell, the former Trump Cabinet official, have been spearheading outreach for the campaign in Michigan, one of the most important swing states in the upcoming Presidential election, and the state with the largest proportion of Arab Americans in the country. One of the campaign’s other main surrogates on this issue is Bishara Bahbah, a onetime associate director of a Middle East policy institute at Harvard Kennedy School, who recently launched the group Arab Americans for Trump. He has been campaigning in Michigan with Grenell and the Lebanese-born businessman Massad Boulos, whose son is married to Tiffany Trump.
I spoke by phone with Bahbah about his efforts and a recent meeting he had with Trump. Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.
Tell me what Arab Americans for Trump is. It’s a very catchy name, up there with lots of other great names, like Jews for Jesus. What is the group?
Up until a few months ago, I was a registered Democrat. I had voted for Biden in 2020. The Biden Administration came into office saying that their priority was going to be primarily Southeast Asia. They were more worried about China, and they were trying to strengthen the alliance against China. So they set aside the whole issue of pursuing peace between Israelis and Palestinians. They did say, “We like the Abraham Accords and we would like to continue with them,” but the Arab countries in the Gulf have stated very clearly that they would not reëngage in the Abraham Accords as long as there was no path to a two-state solution.
You are talking about the potential normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Exactly. Then the October 7th tragedy took place. I understand Israel felt the need to retaliate. But when their retaliation became excessive, supported by the incessant flow of arms to Israel, we started warning Biden, Listen, elections are coming up. You continue this path, and we’re going to punish you. I’m sorry, we’re not going to vote for you in the elections.
This guy came into office announcing that he was a Zionist. From my perspective, an American President should not be a Zionist. An American President should be President of the people of the United States.
American Presidents from Truman onward have been Zionists though, correct?
No, they’ve had friendly relations with Israel. None of them have come out to say, “I’m a Zionist,” except for Biden.
So tell me how you started Arab Americans for Trump.
The death toll in Gaza has exceeded our wildest imagination, including those who were injured. Right now, it’s more than thirty-nine thousand killed and more than ninety-thousand injured. To me, enough is enough. President Trump during his Presidency did not initiate any wars, nor did he allow wars to continue under his watch.
It was Biden who ended the war in Afghanistan. Trump ordered strikes against Iranian targets, etc.
Yes, admittedly, yes.
Just to clarify.
No, no, no. I am a trained political scientist. I have a Ph.D. from Harvard University in government and economics, so I know what you are saying. But, at the same time, the way Biden left Afghanistan is a shame. So I decided to start Arab Americans for Trump. I travelled around the country only to find out that there is a tremendous base of support for the former President. Now, after having been introduced to the Trump circle, particularly Ambassador Richard Grenell and Dr. Massad Boulos, we started travelling together, and the first meeting we held was in Troy, Michigan, in May of this year, where we met with about forty Arab and Muslim American leaders. That meeting was very encouraging, even though we found that there is some skepticism toward President Trump.
You don’t say.
I’m not being ironic here. It’s O.K., Isaac, you can say whatever you want.
I’m just saying it doesn’t seem that surprising that there would be skepticism, given the Muslim ban.
After that first meeting, we came out with three issues that were of primary concern to the Arab and Muslim American communities. The No. 1 issue was a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a path to a two-state solution. The second issue is related to what is called, or some call, the Muslim ban. In reality, that was initiated by President Obama.
The Muslim ban was initiated by President Obama?
Go back and fact-check it. Fact-check it, please.
My memory is that Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” That’s a quote.
Yes. Now, first of all, it was President Obama who began the heightened vetting of people coming from countries where there is political turmoil. It so happened that most of them came from Muslim countries. Nobody would say that it was Obama that initiated the Muslim ban.
I was just confused because I remember Trump saying, “We need a total and complete—”
No, no, he did. He did. Not all Arab and Muslim countries were on Trump’s list. There were seven only. They happened to be Muslim countries. It was explained to us during our main meeting in Dearborn with Ambassador Grenell and Dr. Boulos. By the way, the President also sent Belal Muhammad as a good-will gesture. He’s the Palestinian who just won the U.F.C. championship. I don’t know if you’re aware of that. He brought him. And not only that; while we were in the meeting, Ambassador Grenell tried to contact the President over the phone so he could address the crowd. This is how important the meeting was for the President.
Did the President get on the phone?
The President answered the phone or called back Grenell after the meeting was over.
Oh, that’s too bad he couldn’t talk while it was going on.
It’s too bad. Yeah. But it shows how important this was. Grenell kept looking at his phone and he said, “Well, I’m sorry, but I’ve tried to call the President so he can talk to you all, address you all.”
Just to clarify for readers: you’re saying this to show just how important the meeting was to the former President. He wasn’t there, but Grenell tried to reach him, and even though he didn’t answer during the meeting, he did, in fact, call Grenell back.
He did call Grenell back. Absolutely. He did call Grenell. And not only that; the President was the one who sent Belal Muhammad, the U.F.C. champion.
In the Presidential debate, which was less than two months ago, Trump said, during an exchange about the war in Gaza, that Biden had “become like a Palestinian.”
I know that statement very well.
How do you understand that statement?
Well, from my perspective, I’m a Palestinian American. The way you would see it was clearly as a slur, in a derogatory manner. However it was later explained to us that he meant to say Hamas.
Oh, who explained that?
Dr. Massad Boulos.
Oh, O.K.
Yeah. I mean, I’m happy to share with you a lot of information that’s not necessarily public. During the Republican National Convention, the President never mentioned the words “Hamas” or “Palestinian” or “Muslim ban” or “Islam,” “Islamic terrorist.” All of these points essentially were no longer in the President’s dialogue or speeches because he understands the value of our community.
I didn’t realize about the misspeaking thing. I should just say, if I ever do that on this call, accidentally say “Palestinian” when I mean “Hamas,” I hope you correct me.
You and I would do that. Would President Trump correct himself? He wouldn’t.
On June 4th, President Trump issued a statement on Truth Social in which he said that had he been President, the war in the Middle East, meaning the Gaza war, would not have happened. That June 4th statement also said that he would like to go back to the peace process. This was a statement issued after some of our meetings in Michigan, and it was intended to more or less reassure the community that he understands what their concerns are.