Dem
47
GOP
53
Arab American leaders in Dearborn, MI, which has a very high percentage of Muslims and Palestinians, are happy with the election results. They pleaded with Kamala Harris to separate herself from Joe Biden's Middle East policies and she did not or could not. Michael Sareini, president of the Dearborn City Council, said: "Now, many Arab American residents in Dearborn feel like they've been redeemed. They wanted to send a message and they did. This stance on endless wars and killing of innocent women and children has got to end."
Trump won Dearborn with 42% of the vote, Harris got 36% and Jill Stein got 18%. In 2020, Biden got 69%, so Harris did 33 points worse than he did. In one Dearborn precinct with a very heavy concentration of Muslims, Trump got 51% and Harris got 13%. However, downballot, Democrats did very well in Dearborn. The message was specifically aimed at Harris. Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, said: "They didn't vote for Trump because they believe Trump is the best candidate. No, they voted for Trump because they want to punish the Democrats and Harris."
Mission accomplished. Trump won Michigan by about 81,000 votes. The Muslim population of Michigan is about 240,000 people. It could be that Muslims defeated Harris, although she had a lot of trouble with young Black men as well, and there are many young Black men in nearby Detroit. Even if Harris had won Michigan, she would have fallen below 270 EVs, so her failure to win the Arab American vote is not what did her in. She had other troubles elsewhere, especially with Latino men. Also, the exit poll data from Michigan show that 45% of voters said their personal financial situation was worse than 4 years ago. In 2020, only 15% said that.
Have we ever pointed out that you should be careful what you wish for? You might get it. Trump has promised to revive his ban on Muslims entering the country, only this time done so it passes legal muster easily. Last time, it was very controversial, but ultimately the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the president has control of who may enter the country. On his first day in office, Joe Biden revoked Trump's Muslim ban. Apparently word of that never made it to Dearborn. Trump has promised to reinstate the Muslim ban on Day 1. Perhaps word of that will make it to Dearborn quicker. It is not a secret that he hates Muslims, since he campaigned on it.
It is also well known that Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are great buddies. What Bibi wants, Bibi gets. Also, in Trump's transactional world, his policy on the Middle East is something like: Rich Arabs, good; poor Arabs, bad. He can comfortably do business with murderers like Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud because MBS has lots of money, but the Palestinians have nothing to offer Trump, so he will act accordingly. We hope some reporter from Politico goes to Dearborn in a year to update the story linked to above and check out how much joy remains. (V)