‘Betrayed’: Trump’s gains with Arab Americans may be at risk

WASHINGTON —

President Donald Trump’s inroads with the Arab American community helped him secure the swing state of Michigan and a second term in office, but at least some of that support appears to be slipping because of his war with Iran.

Some voters who backed Trump in 2024 described feeling disappointed or even betrayed ahead of the midterm elections. That could affect a key Senate race that will help determine control of Congress.

In the last presidential election, backlash to the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war caused many longtime Democrats to shun the party in Dearborn, Michigan — which hosts the nation’s largest Arab American community. Many voted third party in protest, while others supported Trump, who became the first Republican candidate to win the city in more than two decades.

“So our uncommitted movement, I think, was a first warning shot to the Democratic Party,” said Nasser Beydoun, chairman of the Arab American Civil Rights League.

Beydoun said many in Dearborn had family members under fire as the human cost of the conflict mounted. It’s laid bare in a 100-foot mural called the “Wall of Tears,” memorializing thousands of children killed in Gaza.

“You either support genocide, or you don’t,” Beydoun said. “If you support that, you have no humanity. I’m not going to support you.”

Israel, a longtime U.S. ally, has denied genocide accusations and described its military campaign in Gaza as self-defense following Hamas’ deadly surprise attack Oct. 7, 2023.

Trump announced a ceasefire deal that aimed to end the war last year, but Israel has continued launching strikes, and progress on parts of the agreement has stalled, including the disarmament of Hamas.

“That was not the breaking point because it was better than what Biden had done,” said Sam Luqman, who voted and campaigned for Trump in 2024, when asked about the shaky ceasefire in Gaza.

Luqman said the turning point for her was when the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran.

“Certainly, the people that led the effort to vote him into office, we felt dumb. Like, we felt betrayed,” Luqman said.

Describing Trump’s 2024 campaign stop in Dearborn, Luqman added, “We actually threw up peace signs with our fingers and took a selfie and said, ‘Peace in the Middle East’ instead of ‘cheese.’ So the message was that there will be no new wars.”

Asked to respond to Arab American voters who feel Trump broke his campaign promises, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly defended the success of his military operation and reiterated that the Iranian regime cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. She said only Trump “possessed the courage to take this national security threat head-on.”

The war with Iran was also a turning point for Faye Nemer, founder and CEO of the MENA American Chamber of Commerce, who backed Trump in 2024.

“That was completely shortsighted on the part of the administration. It is not in American interests to be fighting that war,” Nemer said.

Despite her disappointment, Nemer is undecided in Michigan’s high-stakes Senate race, in which both candidates have called for ending the war with Iran. She said she sides with conservatives on prioritizing small government and fiscal responsibility, but some of Republican Mike Rogers’ rhetoric has given her pause.

Rogers has accused his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, of accepting support from groups with ties to Islamic extremists, comments El-Sayed has dismissed as attacks on his Muslim faith.

“His very first campaign message was Abdul’s ethnic background and his faith, and I found that to be very disingenuous,” Nemer said.

Rogers says his criticism has nothing to do with religion.

RNC spokesman Hunter Lovell said that Republicans like Rogers are earning support from voters of all faiths and backgrounds by focusing on expanding employment opportunities, rather than dividing people. Lovell accused El-Sayed of alienating Black and Jewish voters in previous remarks, including his initial response to an attack on a Michigan synagogue, which El-Sayed later apologized for.

Luqman, who still identifies as a Republican, is planning to support El-Sayed, in part due to his calls to spend taxpayer dollars in America rather than buying weapons for other countries, like Israel.

“Those are ‘America First’ policies. That is the definition of MAGA,” Luqman said. “He’s essentially saying what Republicans should be saying at this time.”

It’s an issue dividing both parties on Capitol Hill, where most Republicans and some Democrats shot down an effort to slash military aid to Israel in a test vote ahead of midterm elections. Those opposed to cutting aid argued that it would hurt America’s ability to confront Iranian proxies in the region, like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Rogers has said that he supports Israel’s right to defend itself.

The debate is personal in Dearborn. Beydoun says his family home was destroyed in southern Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Hezbollah.

“Obviously, we’re upset knowing that our government provided the bombs that destroyed American property, and I’m not the only one,” Beydoun said.