'The right choice': Michigan city's popular Democratic Muslim mayor endorses Trump

The Democratic mayor of the only American city entirely governed by Muslims has endorsed President Donald Trump, signaling possible trouble for Kamala Harris and highlighting the fragility of leftists' supposed intersectional coalition.

Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck in the swing state of Michigan, announced Sunday that he is backing the Republican candidate, stating, "I know [Trump] is a man of principles."

"Though it's looking good, he may or may not win the election and be the 47th president of the United States," wrote Ghalib, "but I believe he is the right choice for this critical time. I'll not regret my decision no matter what the outcome would be, and I'm ready to face the consequences."

"Let the Caravan begin its journey. This is just the starting point," added Ghalib.

Days earlier, Ghalib — one of the many religious Americans who have taken issue in recent years with LGBT activists' cultural imperialism — briefly met with Trump in Flint, indicating on Facebook, "It's a new era."

Ghalib, who last year defended banning the display of LGBT flags on public buildings, told the Detroit Free Press, "It was a productive meeting," and indicated Trump had asked for his endorsement.

The Trump campaign appears keen to take advantage of the current administration's alienation of Muslim voters and Arab Americans over its Middle East policies and promotion of LGBT propaganda.

FiveThirtyEight's polling average presently shows Harris leading Trump in Michigan 48.6% to 45.9% — a state Biden allegedly won by 155,000 votes in 2020. According to NPR, there are roughly 240,000 Muslims in Michigan.

According to the Hamtramck Review, 61% of Hamtramck residents voted "uncommitted" in the Democratic primary election. Biden ultimately won with 32% of the vote.

Some Muslim Americans who previously supported Democrats may throw their weight behind Trump, as Ghalib indicated he will. Others may instead support the Green Party's Jill Stein.

Reuters noted that an August poll by the radical group Council on American-Islamic Relations indicated that 40% of Muslim respondents in Michigan signaled support for Stein, 18% for Trump, and 12% for Harris.

The Hamtramck mayor, a native of Yemen who has protested the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and demanded divestment from Israel, said that Trump "knew a lot about me prior to the meeting. We talked about various topics including the debates, the polls updates, the statistics of votes in Michigan and Wayne county, the Arab American concerns and the Yemeni Americans in particular."

Trump has made no secret of his contempt for Hamas, his opposition to radical Islam, and his affinity for Israel — having worked in office to normalize relations between Israel and Arab states as well as formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. However, his criticism of American interventionism and foreign entanglements apparently appeals to some disaffected Democrats.

Trump's criticism of Biden's missile strikes on Yemen earlier this year may, for instance, have resonated with Ghalib and other former Democrats in the Yemeni community.

'A lot of people are shifting to the right.'

In January, Biden ordered military strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen in response to their repeated targeting of Israel-linked ships transiting the Bab al-Mandeb strait. This was something of an about-face granted the Biden-Harris administration previously dropped the Houthis from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time of the strikes:

So, let me get this straight. We’re dropping bombs all over the Middle East, AGAIN (where I defeated ISIS!), and our Secretary of Defence, who just went missing for five days, is running the war from his laptop in a hospital room. Remember, this is the same gang that 'surrendered' in Afghanistan, where no one was held accountable or FIRED. It was the most embarrassing 'moment' in the history of the United States. Now we have wars in Ukraine, Israel, and Yemen, but no 'war' on our Southern Border. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Crooked Joe Biden is the worst President in the history of the United States!

"A lot of people are shifting to the right," Hassan Aoun — a Republican activist in Dearborn, Michigan, another Detroit-area city with a significant Muslim population — told the Free Press, adding that it is understood Trump will not support new wars.

Ghalib also appears to be one of many Muslims out of line with the Democratic Party's thinking on social issues, especially when it comes to the party's support for the mutilation and sterilization of children and its promotion of LGBT pornography in schools.

Last year, Ghalib reportedly hosted Trump's former national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, and discussed gender ideology, illegal immigration, critical race theory, and other social issues.

Bernadette Smith, ethnic vice chair of the Michigan GOP, called the meeting "historic."

"We must focus on those things that unite us and rise above those things that divide us," said Smith. "I do believe this is a history maker today. And we're going to give our God all the glory and honor right for this meeting tonight. ... We want to continue to build bridges. ... We don't want to see our children mutilated."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!