LANSING, Mich. (AP) — One of Donald Trump’s emissaries to Arab Americans is a Lebanese-born businessman who moved to Texas as a teenager, speaks Arabic, English and French, and recently joined the Trump family when his son married the former president’s youngest daughter.
Massad Boulos has taken on the challenge of trying to convince a politically influential community angry with President Joe Biden that Trump is the best option. But many Arab Americans also point out that Trump has positioned himself as more pro-Israel than Biden, and has made a series of political comments and ads that critics decry as Islamophobic.
Trump has always positioned his family members and their relatives in key roles in his campaigns and in the White House. Boulos, whose son Michael married Tiffany Trump two years ago, is the latest relative to rise within Trump’s political orbit, using long-established connections in an effort to build support for the presumptive Republican nominee’s 2024 campaign.
Some Trump allies believe they can capitalize on discontent within Biden’s Democratic base over their support for the Israeli offensive in Gaza, where more than 37,000 people have been killed since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, according to health officials. of the territory governed by Hamas, which does not make a breakdown of civilians and combatants. In February, Biden faced a significant protest vote during the Michigan primary in areas with large numbers of Arab Americans, who make up a major Democratic bloc.
“Obviously, the number one item that is a high priority within the Arab-American community is the current war in the Middle East,” Boulos said in an interview. “And the question is: who can bring peace and who can bring war? And they know the answer to that.”
Several of the people who have met with Boulos also point to Trump’s statements about Arabs and Muslims. When he was president, Trump banned immigration from several Muslim-majority countries, and questioned the loyalty of Muslim lawmakers serving in Congress. Now, as he campaigns for a second term after losing in 2020, Trump has at times criticized Biden for not supporting Israel enough and has threatened to deport pro-Palestinian protesters whom he calls Hamas supporters.
“I told Massad, ‘It’s not about you being Lebanese and I being Lebanese,’” said Osama Siblani, editor of the weekly bilingual Arab American News newspaper in Dearborn. “You can’t just buy votes. You have to give something substantial to the community. And Trump hasn’t done that yet.”
AN HEIR ENTERS AMERICAN POLITICS
Boulos, who is of medium height, with graying black hair, square glasses and a warm, friendly smile, is often praised for his calm demeanor and humility, qualities not always associated with someone who runs a billion-dollar conglomerate. of dollars.
Born in Lebanon, Boulos moved to Texas shortly before attending the University of Houston and earning a juris doctorate. Boulos said he was active in Republican politics as a student.
After graduating, he eventually joined the three-generation family business and became CEO and CEO of the SCOA Nigeria conglomerate, which specializes in the assembly and distribution of motor vehicles and equipment.
Boulos has experience in politics in his home country, having run unsuccessfully for a seat in Lebanon’s parliament in 2009. He describes himself as a “friend” of Sleiman Frangieh, a Christian politician allied with the Shiite party and the Lebanese extremist group Hezbollah. Frangieh is currently the Hezbollah-backed candidate for Lebanon’s presidential vacancy.
A Trump supporter since his first campaign, Boulos became more directly involved after meeting Trump at a White House Christmas party in 2019. At the time, Michael Boulos was already Tiffany Trump’s boyfriend.
Massad Boulos has not donated recently, according to campaign finance records. But on a trip to Michigan this month, he attended what he described as a “private fundraising event” with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana; Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich.; and about 50 Arab-Americans.
Boulos helped on the 2020 campaign, but his role has expanded significantly since his son married Tiffany Trump in 2022, especially as Arab-American dissatisfaction with Biden presented what Trump allies believe is an opportunity. important policy.
“One less vote for Biden is one vote for Trump,” said Bishara Bahbah, president of the group Arab Americans for Trump.
Boulos maintains a “very close working relationship” with the group, Bahbah announced.
The group, which claims to be independent of the Trump campaign, has established operations in Michigan and Arizona, states identified as priority areas by “people close to Trump,” Bahbah added.
A meeting in May in Troy, Michigan, included Massad and Michael Boulos, as well as Richard Grenell, who was Trump’s ambassador to Germany and is a key foreign policy adviser to the former president. Approximately 40 Arab-American activists from across the country attended.
While Arab Americans for Trump was involved in the event, Boulos reported that it had been promoted primarily by Grenell. The meeting received mixed feedback, with some attendees saying it lacked substance and did not address his concerns about Trump.
“Grenell didn’t say what they would do, but he kept reminding us that when Trump was president, there was no war and that he launched the largest peace effort in the Middle East. But most Arabs and Muslims do not consider the Abraham Accords a peace agreement,” said Khaled Saffuri, an Arab-American political activist who was present.
Grenell attempted to call Trump to address attendees by phone, according to several people at the meeting. The former president did not respond.
Grenell and the Trump campaign declined to comment.
INSIDE THE APPROACH INITIATIVE
A little more than a week later, Boulos returned for another round of dates. This time, he had several meetings with nearly 50 members of the Arab-American community, as well as one-on-one sessions with people identified as “high-value” leaders by Mike Hacham, Michigan coordinator for Arab Americans for Trump.
Boulos said his efforts so far have been “more of a personal effort to reconnect with friends.” He added that he typically begins meetings by speaking for about 20 minutes in which he lays out the trajectories of the Biden and Trump presidencies. He then opens the floor for questions.
Siblani had a nearly two-hour meeting with Boulos, who was accompanied by Bahbah, the president of Arab Americans for Trump.
According to Siblani, Boulos argued that things were better for Arab-Americans under Trump, that the world saw less conflict and fewer wars during his presidency, and suggested that Trump could help resolve the conflict in Gaza.
But when Siblani responded, he stressed that Boulos lacked “facts to prove his claim that Trump is better.”
“Massad can’t convince people to side with Trump because he hasn’t offered anything substantial to the community except that his son is married to Trump’s daughter and he has access (to Trump),” Siblani said. “That’s fine, but what we need is policies and what Trump will do.”
In interviews, Boulos said Trump “respects and admires” the Arab-American community. He denied the existence of a “Muslim ban” — which is how many Trump opponents refer to his ban on immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries — and argued that it was actually “extreme vetting of certain parts of the world”.
The key messages that emerge from these meetings, Boulos added, are communicated to Trump. Boulos highlighted as evidence a recent post by Trump on a social network in which he promised to bring “peace to the Middle East” if he was re-elected. Boulos stated that the timing of the publication “was not a coincidence,” but rather a response to “listening to the community’s concerns.”
Trump’s statement, posted June 4 on Truth Social, his social media platform, did not go far enough in the opinion of several community leaders who met with Boulos.
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes said the campaign is “grateful that President Trump’s supporters are working to reach out to this community.”
“We share the belief that Biden’s failed policies in the Middle East have brought death, chaos and war to the region. That failure led to tens of thousands of Democrats voting ‘uncommitted’ in Michigan’s presidential primary. The Trump campaign has been and will continue to communicate with those voters, and will remind them that President Trump’s policies in the Middle East brought historic levels of peace and stability to that region,” Hughes added.
ONLY THE BEGINNING
Some members of the community still feel there are other options besides Trump and Biden. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, visited Dearborn this year to meet with leaders, and recently held talks with the city’s mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, about the possibility of him becoming her running mate.
Hammoud, at 34, is not eligible to serve as vice president. The Constitution requires that both the president and vice president be at least 35 years old.
Biden administration officials also visited Dearborn to meet with local leaders and have maintained ongoing contact with them, including Siblani.
Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa criticized the outreach by Trump allies, saying in a statement that Trump “is the biggest threat to the Muslim and Arab community.”
“He and his allies believe we don’t belong in this country, and Trump is talking openly about allowing Israel to bomb Gaza without mercy,” added Moussa, who is Arab-American. “Trump and his campaign are racist and Islamophobic. Spot. President Biden, on the other hand, is working tirelessly for a just and lasting peace.”
Until the November elections, Boulos said he will divide his time between managing his company and meeting with the Arab-American community.
He stressed that the only thing that drives him is that he is a “concerned citizen and a Republican.” He has not contemplated a role in the Trump administration if the Republican were to win.
“Honestly, I don’t have any idea about it right now. I haven’t thought about it at all, but I definitely don’t aspire to anything,” she said.
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Associated Press reporters Jill Colvin in Washington, Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, and Chinedu Asadu in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
