Trump's Muslim allies savour 'sweet win' in presidential election

Washington, DC — He was "ostracised", he was "threatened", he was called "a talking tom" — but when the results came everything changed.

For Bishara Bahbah, President-elect Donald Trump's ally on Michigan Muslim outreach project, the "sweet" taste of victory will linger on for a long time.

"It's a sweet win and a sweeping win," says Bahbah, head of Arab Americans for Trump — an independent group that is separate from the official Trump campaign — which campaigned forcefully in the swing state of Michigan and elsewhere for the Republican leader Trump and against Democratic Party's Kamala Harris.

"The victory tastes beautiful for me because I was ostracised. They thought I was crazy for supporting him (Trump). I was made fun of. I was cursed and, and now I am vindicated," Bahbah tells TRT World of some fellow Arab and Muslim Americans who, during the campaign, thought it was risky to back Trump in the US presidential elections.

Bahbah had been working closely with other powerful Trump allies, including Richard Grenell — former acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration who hopes to become US secretary of state — and the Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos, whose son is married to Tiffany Trump, Trump's daughter.

Trump ultimately beat Harris, securing a massive 295 Electoral College votes, as of now, well above the required 270.

When the results were announced, the unexpected victory drew wide cheers from celebrating crowds in parts of Michigan — where Muslim Americans hold sway — who, until recently, had been resolutely Democratic.

Bahbah, a wealth management expert and author, also used to be a Democrat and was registered as such until earlier this year. He joined the ranks of the Republicans after "repeated pleas" to have the US stop arming Israel in Gaza war were ignored by Biden and Harris.

"We won Dearborn for the president (Trump), we won Detroit, Hamtramck, Dearborn Heights, you know, that's a big thing," says the Trump ally, adding it was hard to convince a community that was skeptical of Trump's past and often mentioned his "Muslim Ban", the recognition of occupied Jerusalem as Israel's capital and Syria's Golan Heights.

Bahbah claims it was the inner Trump circle which approached him for the Michigan election campaign.

"They said 'if you help us win, we will deliver, we will give you a place in the room and a seat at the table and a voice to be heard," he says.

Bahbah says a lot of his work was concentrated in Michigan swing state — also called the Arab American capital of the US — "because we (Republicans) knew if we got the Sun Belt states, which was quite highly likely, then we need just one more state."

The Trump ally says that Muslim Americans are now deeply and powerfully involved with the next US administration "which will end wars" in the Middle East, especially in Gaza and Lebanon.

"Now we can say, 'hey, Mr President, we helped you get to the presidency, you promised us an end to the wars and peace, it's time to deliver'," says Bahbah.

Historic split from Dems

In the election, Muslim and Arab Americans, in a historic allegiance transfer, split from Democratic Party after two decades of ties.

It was after the Dems, led by US President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris, refused to impose weapons embargo on Israel over the latter's mass slaughtering of Palestinians in besieged Gaza.

And while Harris was accused of ignoring Muslim community leaders, Trump, despite his past anti-Muslim remarks, met with many Muslim mayors and leaders, stitching together deals with them in Michigan and elsewhere and promising to end wars in Middle East.

Those meetings and promises yielded him wins in the state as well as in its cities and counties which in 2020 had voted Democrats.

In Dearborn city of Michigan, for example, where majority of the residents have Middle Eastern roots, Biden received 68.8 percent of votes in 2020 while Trump received only 29.9 percent.

In 2024, however, Trump won 42.48 percent of the vote, compared with 36.26 percent for Harris and 18.37 percent for the Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

'He will deliver'

"You know, I had zero doubts about him winning, to be honest with you," says Omar Alhammouri, another Trump ally who campaigned for the Republican in Michigan and Arizona, another swing state.

Alhammouri who's a chairman of Jordanian American Chamber of Commerce tells TRT World that the Michigan victory is going to "give us some kind of weight in future elections."

Alhammouri says Harris lost the election because Muslim voices over "Gaza genocide" were neglected. Poor economy and degrading social values, he says, were other factors.

"They did not pay attention to the genocide in Gaza. The economy was doing really bad. The social values are going down the drain," he says.

Even as Trump has promised to end wars in Middle East, he has a history of strong support for Israel. During the campaigning he insisted Israel should have completed its mission in Gaza quickly. Uncertainty shrouds over how and when he will deliver the promises he made to Muslim Americans.

"He will deliver. Absolutely," asserts Alhammouri.

"Look, I think he promised a lot of things in his first term as a president and he did deliver a lot of those campaign promises. President Trump cares about his legacy and what he promises."