LANSING, Mich. (AP) — One in every of Donald Trump’s emissaries to Arab People is a Lebanese-born businessman who moved to Texas as a teen, speaks Arabic, English and French, and just lately joined the Trump household when his son married the previous president’s youthful daughter.
Massad Boulos has taken on the problem of making an attempt to persuade a politically influential neighborhood indignant at President Joe Biden that Trump is a greater choice. However many Arab People additionally be aware Trump has positioned himself as extra pro-Israel than Biden and has made a sequence of feedback and coverage bulletins that critics blast as Islamophobic.
Trump has lengthy put members of the family and their kin in key roles in his campaigns and the White Home. Boulos, whose son Michael married Tiffany Trump two years in the past, is the newest relative to rise in Trump’s political orbit as he makes use of long-standing connections in an effort to construct help for the presumptive Republican nominee’s 2024 marketing campaign.
CHANDAN KHANNA through Getty Photographs
Some Trump allies suppose they’ll capitalize on dissension inside Biden’s Democratic base over his help for the Israeli offensive in Gaza, the place greater than 37,000 folks have died since Hamas’ Oct. 7, in response to well being officers within the Hamas-run territory who don’t give the breakdown of civilians and fighters. Biden confronted a important protest vote throughout the Michigan main February in areas with excessive numbers of Arab People, who’re an vital Democratic bloc.
“Obviously the No. 1 point that is of high priority within the Arab American community is the current war in the Middle East,” Boulos mentioned in an interview. “And the question is, who can bring peace and who is bringing war? And they know the answer to that.”
A number of of the individuals who have met with Boulos additionally level to Trump’s statements about Arabs and Muslims. Whereas president, Trump banned immigration from a number of majority-Muslim nations and questioned the loyalty of Muslim lawmakers serving in Congress. Now, as he campaigns for a second time period after dropping in 2020, Trump has at occasions criticized Biden for being insufficiently supportive of Israel and has threatened to deport pro-Palestinian protesters he labels as supporters of Hamas.
“I told Massad, ‘This isn’t about you being Lebanese and me being Lebanese,’” mentioned Osama Siblani, a writer of the Arab American Information in Dearborn. “You can’t just buy votes. You have to give something substantial to the community. And Trump hasn’t done that yet.”
A Scion Strikes Into U.S. Politics
Boulos, who’s of medium stature with graying black hair, sq. glasses, and a heat, pleasant smile, is commonly complimented for his calm demeanor and humility — qualities not at all times related to somebody overseeing a billion-dollar conglomerate.
Born in Lebanon, Boulos moved to Texas shortly earlier than attending the College of Houston and acquiring a physician of jurisprudence diploma. Boulos mentioned he actively participated in Republican politics as a scholar.
After graduating, he ultimately joined his household’s enterprise of three generations and have become the managing director and CEO of the conglomerate SCOA Nigeria, which specializes within the meeting and distribution of motor automobiles and tools.
Boulos has a background in politics in his residence nation, having run unsuccessfully for a parliamentary seat in Lebanon in 2009. He describes himself as a “friend” of Sleiman Frangieh, a Christian politician allied with the Shiite celebration and the militant group Hezbollah. Frangieh is presently Hezbollah’s endorsed candidate for Lebanon’s presidential emptiness.
A supporter of Trump from afar since his first marketing campaign, Boulos turned extra immediately concerned after assembly Trump at a White Home Christmas celebration in 2019. On the time, Michael Boulos was relationship Tiffany Trump.
Massad Boulos has given no latest donations, in response to marketing campaign finance information. However in a visit to Michigan this month, he attended what he described as a “private fundraising event” with U.S. Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., and about 50 Arab People.
Boulos assisted with the 2020 marketing campaign, however his function has considerably expanded since his son married Tiffany Trump in 2022, particularly as Arab American dissatisfaction with Biden offered what Trump allies suppose is a bigger political alternative.
“One less vote for Biden is a vote for Trump,” mentioned Bishara Bahbah, chairman of the group Arab People for Trump.
Boulos maintains a “very close working relationship” with the group, Bahbah mentioned.
The group, which says it’s unbiased of the Trump marketing campaign, has established operations in Michigan and Arizona, states recognized as precedence areas by “people close to Trump,” Bahbah mentioned.
A Might assembly held in Troy, Michigan, included Massad and Michael Boulos in addition to Richard Grenell, who was Trump’s ambassador to Germany and is a key overseas coverage adviser to the previous president. Roughly 40 Arab American activists from throughout the nation attended.
Whereas Arab People for Trump was concerned within the occasion, Boulos mentioned that it had primarily been initiated by Grenell. The gathering obtained combined suggestions, with some attendees saying it lacked substance and failed to handle their issues concerning Trump.
“Grenell didn’t say what they would do, but he kept reminding us that when Trump was president, there was no war whatsoever and that he launched the biggest peace effort in the Middle East. But most Arabs and Muslims don’t consider the Abraham Accords a peace agreement,” mentioned Khaled Saffuri, an Arab American political activist who was in attendance.
Grenell tried to name Trump to have him deal with attendees by cellphone, in response to a number of folks on the assembly. The previous president didn’t reply.
Grenell and the Trump marketing campaign declined to remark.
Inside The Outreach
Simply over per week later, Boulos returned for one more spherical of engagements. This time, he had a number of conferences with practically 50 members of the Arab American neighborhood, alongside one-on-one periods with people recognized as “high-target” leaders by Mike Hacham, the coordinator for Arab People for Trump in Michigan.
Boulos mentioned his efforts to this point have been “more of a personal effort to reconnect with friends.” He mentioned he usually begins conferences by talking for shut to twenty minutes, laying out the information of the Biden and Trump presidencies. He then opens the ground for any questions.
Siblani had an almost two-hour assembly with Boulos, who was accompanied by Bahbah, the chair of Arab People for Trump.
Based on Siblani, Boulos argued that issues had been higher for Arab People below Trump and that the world noticed much less battle and fewer wars throughout his presidency, suggesting Trump may assist resolve the Gaza battle.
However when Siblani pushed again, he mentioned that Boulos lacked “facts to prove his claim that Trump is better.”
“Massad is unable to convince people to come to Trump’s side because he hasn’t offered anything substantial to the community, except that his son is married to Trump’s daughter and he has access,” Siblani mentioned. “That is fine, but what we need is policy and what Trump will do.”
In interviews, Boulos mentioned that Trump “respects and admires” the Arab American neighborhood. He denied the existence of a “Muslim ban,” which is what number of Trump opponents confer with his ban on immigrants from a number of majority-Muslim nations. Boulos argued it was truly “extreme vetting from certain parts of the world.”
The important thing messages arising from these conferences, Boulos mentioned, are communicated to Trump. Boulos highlighted a latest social media publish from Trump that promised to carry “peace in the Middle East” if reelected, as proof. Boulos asserted that the timing of the publish “wasn’t a coincidence” however quite a response to “listening to the community’s concerns.”
Trump’s assertion, posted on his social media platform, Reality Social, on June 4, didn’t go far sufficient for a number of neighborhood leaders who met with Boulos.
In a press release, Trump marketing campaign spokesperson Brian Hughes mentioned the marketing campaign is “grateful that supporters of President Trump are working to communicate with this community.”
“We share the belief that Biden’s failed Middle East policies have brought death, chaos and war to the region. That failure led tens of thousands of Democrats to vote ‘uncommitted’ in Michigan’s Presidential primary. The Trump campaign has and will continue to communicate to those voters and remind them that President Trump’s policies in the Middle East brought that region historic levels of peace and stability,” Hughes mentioned.
Simply The Starting
Some in the neighborhood nonetheless really feel that there are different choices than simply Trump and Biden. Inexperienced Celebration candidate Jill Stein visited Dearborn this 12 months to fulfill with leaders and just lately had conversations with the town’s mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, about the potential for him turning into her operating mate.
Hammoud, at 34 years outdated, is ineligible to function vp. The U.S. Structure requires each the president and vp to be at the very least 35.
Officers in Biden’s administration have additionally visited Dearborn to fulfill with native leaders and have maintained ongoing contact with them, together with Siblani.
Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the Biden marketing campaign, criticized Trump allies’ outreach, saying in a press release 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 openly speaking about allowing Israel to bomb Gaza without regard,” mentioned Moussa, who’s Arab American. “Trump and his campaign are racists and Islamophobes. Period. President Biden, on the other hand, is working tirelessly towards a just and lasting peace.”
Till the November election, Boulos mentioned he’ll proceed to divide his time between managing his firm and assembly with the Arab American neighborhood.
He pressured that he’s solely pushed by being a “concerned citizen and a Republican.” He has not contemplated a task in Trump’s administration if the Republican had been to win.
“I honestly don’t have any thoughts about that at this time. I didn’t give this any thought whatsoever, but definitely I do not aspire for anything,” he mentioned.
Related Press reporters Jill Colvin in Washington, Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, and Chinedu Asadu in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
