Former President Donald Trump became the first major party presidential candidate to visit Dearborn, Michigan, on Friday, venturing into the majority-Arab and predominantly Muslim town, which had once been hostile territory.
Trump’s message there was simple: he is asking for the people’s vote, and he is promising peace in the Middle East.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump greets people as he visits The Great Commoner, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The former president received a raucous welcome inside a restaurant, with fans shouting: “The best president ever!”
Journalists, following Trump, shouted questions. “What about the Muslim ban?” one yelled, referring to Trump’s travel ban on terror-prone states (which was never a Muslim ban, an idea he proposed on the campaign trail in 2015 but then discarded.) “There was never a Muslim ban,” a Trump supporter shouted, as he ignored the question.
“You’re gonna have peace in the Middle East — not with the clowns that are running the U.S. right now,” Trump said. He also said that he was determined to bring about an end to the ongoing war in Lebanon, reiterating a promise he made earlier this week. (Israel has reportedly begun talking about a ceasefire, after major battlefield successes.)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he visits The Great Commoner, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Trump senses an opportunity with Arab and Muslim voters, who first soured on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris due to frustration over the war in Gaza, then began — however improbably – to consider the staunchly pro-Israel Trump as an alternative, believing that even if he backed Israel, he could put a stop to the war.
(Harris courted the mayor of Dearborn, whose views are radical and even antisemitic; he ended up endorsing no one.)
Many Arab and Muslim voters also support Republican positions on social issues and on the economy as well.
Michigan is a key battleground state, and a few votes in either direction could affect the outcome on November 5th.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.