“Who said we would not vote for Trump,” a 48-year-old Muslim American asked during the US presidential elections in November last year. “No one would go for [Democratic candidate Kamala] Harris anyway, and Trump promised to end the war in Gaza and acknowledge a Palestinian state.”
But how this same voter and his co-voters feel today after Trump’s first 100 days in office is an open question. Did many Muslim or Arab Americans really vote for Trump? And are they regretting it now?
The questions have given rise to heated debate and made the newspaper headlines. Social media has also been inundated with arguments over the issue.
Here is one angry comment on Quora.com, for example — “You mean the very few Muslims… who choose to make so many co-religionists suffer because they chose as leader of the free world someone who hates Islam and Muslims,” said one social-media user in a discussion of whether US Muslims regretted voting for Trump.
“To any Muslim who inflicted Trump on the world, which includes the Islamic countries that Trump wanted to ban from having flights to the US, in his first term, and everyone knows Trump has gotten more rancid, yet you still believed he would be kinder to Muslims than Kamala Harris? No, you became deaf, dumb, and blind in your anger, and tried to ruin the whole world with your vote.”
An opinion piece titled “Don’t Dare Blame Arab and Muslim Americans for Trump’s Victory” published on Aljazeera.com perhaps provides an answer. “We, of course, know that President Trump will not be any less supportive of the genocide of my people than [former US President Joe] Biden or Harris,” argued Ahmad Ibsais, a Palestinian-American law student.
“But this does not mean we could have stepped over the shredded remains of tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children killed by American bombs dropped by Israel to vote for the woman who personally defended and facilitated their murder. We couldn’t, and we didn’t… So, Vice President Kamala Harris, Gaza is speaking now. Was the slaughter of our children worth it?”
Media arguments aside, it was surprising to many Muslims around the world that, for the first time ever, many American Muslims abandoned their historic support for the Democratic Party and decided to vote for Trump, who had been widely known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies during his first term in the US presidency.
Trump was widely thought to be a “white supremacist” who adopted an anti-Muslim rhetoric that upset many Muslims during his first term. The fact that some US Muslims deliberately voted for him when he ran for a second term, and probably were a driving force behind his success, was surprising and perhaps regrettable to many.
But it seems that the political discourse that Trump chose to adopt during his second term electoral campaign insisted that the war in “Gaza should end quickly” and that appeared as a good reason for many in the US Muslim community to vote for Trump despite his previous Islamophobia. But many also seemed to fail to answer an important question on how the war would really end and in whose favour, since Trump is known for his pro-Israeli policies.
During his presidential campaign, Trump appeared to be sending a tough message to Israel over its war against Hamas, urging Israel to “get it over with.”
“Get it over with, and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people. And that’s a very simple statement,” Trump said during his campaign. “They have to get it done. Get it over with and get it over with fast because we have to — you have to get back to normalcy and peace.”
He told conservative US radio host Hugh Hewitt that Israel was “absolutely losing the PR war” and that “a swift resolution to the bloodshed” should be sought.
Trump, however, never said how the war should be ended and whether that meant curbing the bloodshed or destroying the rest of Hamas and Gaza. But once in office, the answer to the question became clear, leaving many who had cast their ballots in his favour in a state of shock.
Trump provoked such voters when he said that the US would “take over and own Gaza” and that the Palestinians there would “go to other countries” or else be exposed to ethnic cleansing.
Trump further posted a highly controversial and provocative AI video projecting a so-called “Trump-Gaza” development, which featured an image of Trump sunbathing in Gaza with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Soon enough, the ceasefire ended with an even fiercer war on Gaza, and the genocide entered new heights, claiming even more thousands of lives. The borders were closed, and no aid allowed to enter, causing famine to take hold. Meanwhile, Israel has resumed bombing Lebanon and Syria and launched US-backed strikes on Yemen, killing many civilians.
US MUSLIMS’ REACTIONS
One Muslim American who had voted for Trump said she had been shocked and had burst into tears to see even more children maimed and starved in Gaza only a few weeks after Trump took office.
“We’re really disappointed because both the Democrats and the Republicans have failed us. Who can we turn to for justice,” she asked.
US Muslim leaders who voted for Trump were similarly disoriented, telling the US media that they were “deeply disappointed” particularly when Trump himself chose a pro-Israel US cabinet. Social media was inundated with Democrats blaming Muslims for having chosen a President that “would kill democracy” and put a tragic end to the Palestinian issue. Some Muslim voters said they had even received hate messages for having chosen Trump when the war resumed.
One angry Democrat was quoted as saying “I hope every Muslim who voted for Trump gets to watch Bibi turn Gaza into a glass parking lot.”
But did Muslim and Arab votes really matter in last year’s result? Would Trump have been elected even without them? The answer to this question remains open, but there is almost a consensus that Muslim votes did matter in at least seven swing states. US National Public Radio (NPR) has suggested that “Arab and Muslim voters helped deliver the key swing state of Michigan to President Trump last year.”
Immigrants to the US from the Middle East represent a sizable portion of Michigan, which hosts more than 200,000 Arabs. Many of these immigrants are Palestinians and Lebanese US citizens who have had family members killed in the genocide in Gaza, which means that they probably based their choice on both personal and foreign-policy reasons. But there were also those who were casting a protest vote against the Democratic Party.
But now, according to NPR, “some [of Trump’s Arab voters] are expressing concern about his rhetoric regarding the Middle East.”
Fye Nemer, founder and CEO of the Middle East and North Africa American Chamber of Commerce in Dearborn, Michigan, which represents around 3,500 business leaders from the Middle East and North Africa, explained her choice to NPR.
“Many felt abandoned by the Biden-Harris Administration’s support for Israel in the war with Hamas in Gaza and decided to vote for Trump instead, hoping that he could bring peace to the region,” Nemer said.
According to an article titled “Muslims Who Voted For Trump Are Angry at the Leaders the Republican is Electing” published on Telegraphi.com, a news portal headquartered in Albania, “Muslim leaders in the United States, who supported Republican candidate Donald Trump as a form of protest against President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon, have expressed deep disappointment with the Republican’s choices for key positions in his Administration.”
“Trump won because of us and we’re not happy with his decisions,” Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor and co-founder of the “Muslims for Donald Trump” group, told Telegraphi.com. Chowdhury, who also chaired the “Abandon Harris” campaign in Pennsylvania, “criticised the choices, reflecting growing frustration among Trump’s Arab-American supporters regarding his Administration’s policies and cabinet appointments,” it wrote.
Chowdhury’s frustration was based on the fact that “many Arab and Muslim Americans felt abandoned by the Biden-Harris Administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza. They decided to vote for Trump instead, hoping that he could bring peace to the region,” according to the website.
But soon Chowdhury and his fellow Arab and Muslim voters were provoked by Trump’s videos and statements. Ibrahim Duhaini, an Arab American who voted for Trump, expressed similar frustrations and regrets for having supported Trump to NPR. He said he wouldn’t have expected Trump to post such messages regarding his support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
“He didn’t say anything like that before,” Duhaini said. “When he came to Dearborn, to the community, he said that he would strive for peace and justice for the whole region.”
Nemer expressed similar concerns regarding Trump’s “unbecoming” video, which she said could also be “destabilising to peace talks in the region.”
“Midterm elections are coming up,” she told NPR. “There are various windows of opportunity in swing states that will have contentious elections. And the Republicans were hoping through outreach efforts to be able to continue to garner the support of the Arab American voting bloc as well as the Muslim American voting bloc. Those prospects are most certainly being harmed by this rhetoric.”
DEMOCRATIC BETRAYAL
The very fact that Muslim and Arab votes are making a difference in US politics is, perhaps, an asset in itself, but many think that the Harris campaign would have failed whatever way they had voted.
This is what Khalid Turaani of the “Abandon Harris” campaign told Al-Ahram Weekly.
“The truth is that the Abandon Harris campaign focused on the seven swing states, which are Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Arizona,” he said. “We were a determining factor in Michigan, which has a large Muslim community. But Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party also did a good job of losing the entire swing states’ voting bloc themselves.”
“So, we did make a difference, but I think that probably they would have lost anyway,” Turaani said.
The consensus remains that the Democratic Party has become “not only disconnected from the Arab American and the Muslim American vote, but also really disconnected from their base,” he said.
He said that blue-collar workers in the US, who have historically voted for the Democrats, also voted for Trump this time around. “That is, the Democrats not only lost the Muslim votes, but they also lost many other votes as well, once again because they were completely disconnected from their base. Their mindset set them up for a major failure.”
Turaani himself voted for neither Trump nor Harris, so he is left with no regrets. But he would not blame those who based their choice on a protest vote more than anything else.
“When you do a protest vote, then you really are doing a protest vote not because you necessarily believe in that person or that party you’ve voted for, but because you want to express your displeasure with the party you are protesting against,” he explained.
“Arab Americans in Michigan voted eight to two in favour of Biden in 2020; that is, the Democratic Party had 80 per cent of our vote at the time,” Turaani said. “In 2024, in contrast, the Democrats garnered only 23 per cent of the Muslim Arab bloc, losing 65 per cent of their vote because they were totally disconnected from their demands.”
“We talk about a genocide, and they want to talk about Hamas; we talk about human rights and human beings being slaughtered, and they talk about Israel who has to defend itself,” Turaani elaborated. “Those who thought Trump was a good choice are now regretting it; but those who cast their vote in protest against the Democrats knew what they were doing and probably have no regrets.”
For Turaani, like for many others, “Trump has proved himself a genuine racist who doesn’t like the other, whether Muslims or Arabs, blacks or Latinos.” He is a white supremacist who “has a track record of being a racist,” he said.
But many would agree with Turaani that the US president is not alone when it comes to issues related to the genocide in Gaza.
“The terror campaign against Gaza is not exclusively Trump; it’s the Republicans and unfortunately also the Democrats,” Turaani explained. “So, what we need to go against is the pro-Israel campaign that has been well-entrenched in American politics, the US Congress, and the presidency and so on.”
Turaani, however, has something to celebrate. It is not just that the Arab vote is making a difference in US politics, but also that support for Israel is apparently dwindling, as shown by many polls conducted by reputable research centres.
“Obviously they [US politicians] are very nervous about it [Israel’s dwindling popularity], and they are instituting laws that will muffle people’s speech in reaction,” Turaani said.
“The US constitution that guarantees freedom of expression is being trampled upon by supporters of Israel — i.e. Trump and even the Democrats in some states,” he explained. “So, some states are introducing legislation that would expand the definition of anti-Semitism to include criticising Israel. And that is a direct assault on the First Amendment right.”
“In America, under the First Amendment to the US Constitution an American citizen can walk out of his building and burn the American flag. He would be hated for it, of course, but he still has the right to do that to express himself. The same thing does not apply to burning the Israeli flag, which would be seen as a hate crime under the expanded law of anti-Semitism and he would go to jail.”
TOO EARLY TO JUDGE?
Some argue that it is too early to know whether the Arab and Muslim US voters who voted for Trump are regretting their decision.
Nabil Ayad, founder of the Arab-American Civil Rights League (ACRL) in Michigan, told the Weekly that “the jury isn’t decided on Trump yet.”
“They [Arab-Muslim voters] are disappointed that the ceasefire has not stayed intact, and they are on a wait and see, but not for long,” Ayad said. “The worse the killings in Gaza, the more regret Arabs and Muslims who voted for him will feel.”
The website Middle East Eye interviewed many of the US Arab voters who attended a recent Trump rally marking his 100 days in office. According to the survey, “some who staunchly backed Trump in November did not indicate that they regretted their vote.”
“They expressed hesitation and frustration and insisted that perhaps 100 days was not enough to judge a presidential performance,” it wrote in an article called “These Arab Americans Don’t Regret Voting for Trump.”
“They also vowed to hold him accountable and believe his general unpredictability means he can still change course,” it said.
Ayad insisted that “Arab and Muslim Americans absolutely made a huge difference in Trump’s election, and they can easily sway Michigan Federal elections.”
“They voted for him for mainly one reason, to end the genocide in Gaza. That took precedence over all other issues, including party lines,” Ayad said. “After all, what is worse than genocide? It disgusted lifelong Democrat supporters, including myself, when the party continued to vote to fund 2,000-pound bombs being dropped on children.”
“We knew our politicians supported Israel, but what we didn’t know was how they would sell their souls over dead children and wouldn’t do anything to stop it. It’s even more deplorable that they fund it through our taxes. If you can’t stand up against genocide regardless of the background of the victims, whether it be Arab, Muslim, Jewish, Israeli, Congolese, or Sudanese, then what good are we as humanity,” he asked.
“The Democrats truly disgusted us and let us down,” Ayad went on. “The Democrats I lived and grew up loyal to didn’t believe in war and believed in our First Amendment constitutional right to free speech. The Biden administration turned that completely on its head. Harris admitted she can’t do better. That’s why they are out, and Trump is in.”
But that does not seem to be the end of the story. “If we mobilise and make a clear demand to the Trump administration and remind him that we handed him Michigan and keep our demands very clear, asking for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, then yes we can be influential in keeping Trump to his word that there will be a lasting ceasefire,” Ayad maintained.
Soon after Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House in February and called for Gaza to become a “beach resort” without the Palestinians, the Arab Americans for Trump Initiative (AAFTA), which gained momentum in the months leading up to the November election, decided to change its name to Arab American for Peace and issued a swift condemnation of the president’s remarks.
“The Trump administration has moved at breakneck speed since his inauguration on 20 January to reverse a plethora of Biden-era laws and introduce executive orders that have upended US political norms in their enforcement,” wrote Middle East Eye. “Chief among them is the crackdown on legal, documented immigrants and students with no criminal records, all because of their links to the pro-Palestinian movement.”
“Thus far, the vast majority of those detained for this reason are Arab and/or Muslim,” Nemer noted. “When it comes to protecting Jewish students, when you compare that to protecting Muslim and Arab students, you know the administration has been un-evenhanded.”
Nemer and other concerned Arab Americans in Dearborn have been reaching out to Republican representatives at the state and federal levels and asking for meetings with administration officials but to no avail.
“The promise to our community members was constant [and] open communication,” Nemer said. “And that has not been happening.”
Trump, however, has always proved unpredictable. Perhaps the best way forward for the time being for both angered Muslim and non-Muslim US citizens alike would be for him to change course and return to his electoral promises.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 29 May, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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