On a crisp, sunny day in the largest Arab-majority city in the US, dozens of people gathered outside the Great Commoner cafe to catch a glimpse of Donald Trump.
“What we want is peace,” Trump told a group of Arab-American business leaders inside the Dearborn, Michigan, restaurant – days before the presidential election.
But a crowd of pro- and anti-Trump voters shouting at one another nearby demonstrated how divided the Michigan community has become over choosing the best American president to handle the escalating Middle East war.
The Republican’s Friday visit to Dearborn, once a reliably Democratic area, marks the culmination of his efforts to court the 200,000-plus Arab-Americans who live in must-win Michigan. It could sway a tied race between Trump and Kamala Harris. Hillary Clinton lost Michigan to Trump by only 10,000 votes in 2016, while Biden won it back by 150,000 votes in 2020.
On billboards lining Michigan highways and during visits, the Trump campaign argues that he stands “for peace” in the Middle East, while casting Harris as pro-Israel.
That message has worked on some. Trump secured two endorsements from the mayors of Dearborn Heights, and Hamtramck, a small Muslim majority city near Detroit, while Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said Friday he declined a meeting with the former president.
The trend worries Abbas Alawieh, one of the leaders of the Uncommitted movement – a group protesting US support of Israel – who pledged to back Harris even though his group refused to endorse her.
“I’ve been hearing … a lot more of the feeling that this is a binary choice, and some voters feeling like maybe we should just vote for Donald Trump because he’s saying he’s a pro-peace candidate,” Mr Alawieh told the BBC at Haraz Cafe in Dearborn on Friday.
The Harris campaign, meanwhile, said the vice-president has been and is supportive of the “diverse Muslim community” in the US.
“The Vice President is committed to work to earn every vote, unite our country, and to be a President for all Americans,” said Nasrina Bargzie, campaign director of Muslim and Arab American Outreach. She added that Harris would ensure the community can “live free from the hateful policies of the Trump administration”.
Despite frustrations with the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the war, several community leaders told the they don’t believe Trump offers a solution either.
Still, Mr Nazarko and other leaders said sending a message about their anger over the Biden-Harris administration’s pro-Israel policies is more important than who wins the White House.
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