LANSING, Michigan – One of Donald Trump’s emissaries to Arab-Americans is a Lebanese-born businessman who moved to Texas as a teenager, speaks Arabic, English and French and recently joined the Trump family when his son married his youngest daughter. new from the former president.
Massad Boulos took on the challenge of trying to convince a politically influential community nervous to President Joe Biden that Trump is the best option. But many Arab-Americans also note that Trump has positioned himself as more pro-Israel than Biden and has made a series of comments and political announcements that critics consider Islamophobic.
Trump has long ago put members of the family It is Your family in key roles in his campaigns and in the White House. Boulos, whose son Michael married Tiffany Trump two years ago, is the latest relative to rise into Trump’s political orbit as he uses longtime connections in an effort to build support for the presumptive Republican nominee’s 2024 campaign.
Some Trump allies think they can capitalize on dissension within Biden’s Democratic base over his support for Israeli offensive in Gaza, where more than 37,000 people have died since Oct. 7 from Hamas, according to health officials in Hamas-administered territory who do not provide detailed information on civilians and fighters. Biden faced a significant protest vote during the Michigan primary in February, in areas with large numbers of Arab Americans, who constitute a major Democratic bloc.
“Obviously, the No. 1 high priority issue within the Arab-American community is the current war in the Middle East,” Boulos said in an interview. “And the question is: who can bring peace and who is bringing war? And they know the answer to that.”
Several of the people who met with Boulos also point to Trump’s statements about Arabs and Muslims. As president, Trump prohibited immigration from several Muslim-majority countries and questioned the loyalty of Muslim legislators serving in Congress. Now, as he campaigns for a second term after losing in 2020, Trump has at times criticized Biden for insufficiently supporting Israel and threatened to deport pro-Palestinian protesters he labels as Hamas supporters.
“I told Massad, ‘This isn’t about you being Lebanese and me being Lebanese,’” said Osama Siblani, editor of Arab American News in Dearborn. “You can’t just buy votes. You have to give something substantial to the community. And Trump hasn’t done it yet.”
Boulos, who is of average height, with graying black hair, square glasses and a warm, friendly smile, is often praised for his calm demeanor and humility — qualities not always associated with someone who oversees a billion-dollar conglomerate.
Born in Lebanon, Boulos moved to Texas shortly before attending the University of Houston and earning a doctorate in jurisprudence. Boulos said he actively participated in Republican politics when he was a student.
After graduating, he eventually joined his family business for three generations and became managing director and CEO of the SCOA Nigeria conglomerate, specializing in the assembly and distribution of motor vehicles and equipment.
Boulos has a political background in his home country, having unsuccessfully run for a parliamentary seat in Lebanon in 2009. He describes himself as a “friend” of Sleiman Frangieh, a Christian politician allied with the Shiite party and the militant group Hezbollah. Frangieh is currently Hezbollah’s endorsed candidate for Lebanon’s presidential seat.
A long-distance Trump supporter since his first campaign, Boulos became more directly involved after meeting Trump at a White House Christmas party in 2019. At the time, Michael Boulos was dating Tiffany Trump.
Massad Boulos has made no recent donations, according to campaign finance records. But on a trip to Michigan this month, he participated in what he described as a “private fundraising event” with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., and about 50 Arab Americans.
Boulos helped with the 2020 campaign, but his role has expanded significantly since his son married Tiffany Trump in 2022, especially as Arab-American dissatisfaction with Biden has presented what Trump’s allies see as a greater political opportunity. .
“One less vote for Biden is one vote for Trump,” said Bishara Bahbah, president of the group Arab Americans for Trump.
Boulos maintains a “very close working relationship” with the group, Bahbah said.
The group, which claims to be independent of the Trump campaign, has established operations in Michigan and Arizona, states identified as priority areas by “people close to Trump,” Bahbah said.
One May meeting held in Troy, Michigan, included Massad and Michael Boulos, as well as Richard Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and is a top foreign policy adviser to the former president. Approximately 40 Arab American activists from across the country attended.
Although Arab Americans for Trump was involved in the event, Boulos said it was primarily started by Grenell. The meeting received mixed feedback, with some participants saying it lacked substance and did not address their concerns about Trump.
“Grenell didn’t say what they would do, but he continued to remind us that when Trump was president there was no war and that he launched the largest peace effort in the Middle East. But most Arabs and Muslims do not consider the Abraham Accords a peace agreement,” said Khaled Saffuri, an Arab-American political activist who was present.
Grenell tried to call Trump so he could address attendees by phone, according to several people present at the meeting. The former president did not respond.
Grenell and the Trump campaign declined to comment.
Just over a week later, Boulos returned for another round of commitments. This time, he had several meetings with nearly 50 members of the Arab-American community, along with one-on-one sessions with individuals identified as “high-target” leaders by Mike Hacham, Trump’s coordinator for Arab Americans in Michigan.
Boulos said his efforts so far have been “more of a personal effort to reconnect with friends.” He said he typically begins meetings by speaking for about 20 minutes, presenting the records of the Biden and Trump presidencies. He then opens the floor for any questions.
Siblani had a nearly two-hour meeting with Boulos, who was accompanied by Bahbah, president of Trump’s Arab Americans.
According to Siblani, Boulos argued that things were better for Arab Americans under Trump and that the world saw less conflict and fewer wars during his presidency, suggesting that Trump could help resolve the Gaza conflict.
But when Siblani reacted, he said that Boulos lacked “facts that would prove his claim that Trump is better”.
“Massad can’t convince people to side with Trump because he hasn’t offered anything substantial to the community except that his son is married to Trump’s daughter and he has access,” Siblani said. “That’s fine, but what we need is politics and what Trump will do.”
In interviews, Boulos said Trump “respects and admires” the Arab-American community. He denied the existence of a “Muslim ban,” which is how many Trump opponents refer to his ban on immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries. Boulos argued that it was actually “an extreme check on certain parts of the world.”
The main messages arising from these meetings, Boulos said, are communicated to Trump. Boulos highlighted a recent social media post by Trump that promised to bring “peace to the Middle East” if he were reelected as evidence. Boulos said the timing of the post was “not a coincidence” but rather a response to “listen to the community’s concerns.”
Trump’s statement, posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, on June 4, did not go far enough for several community leaders who met with Boulos.
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes said the campaign is “grateful that President Trump’s supporters are working to communicate with this community.”
“We share the belief that Biden’s failed Middle East policies have brought death, chaos and war to the region. This failure led tens of thousands of Democrats to vote “disengaged” in the Michigan presidential primary. The Trump campaign has and will continue to communicate with these voters and remind them that President Trump’s policies in the Middle East have brought that region historic levels of peace and stability,” said Hughes.
Some members of the community still think there are other options besides Trump and Biden. Green Party candidate Jill Stein visited Dearborn this year to meet with leaders and recently spoke with the city’s mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, about the possibility of him becoming her running mate.
Hammoud, 34, is not eligible to serve as vice president. The US Constitution requires the president and vice president to be at least 35 years old.
Biden administration officials also visited Dearborn to meet with local leaders and kept in progress contact with them, including Siblani.
Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for Biden’s campaign, criticized the outreach by Trump’s allies, saying in a statement that Trump “is the greatest threat to the Muslim and Arab community.”
“He and his allies believe we don’t belong in this country and Trump is openly talking about allowing Israel to bomb Gaza without consideration,” said Moussa, who is Arab-American. “Trump and his campaign are racist and Islamophobic. Period. President Biden, on the other hand, is working tirelessly for a just and lasting peace.”
Until the November elections, Boulos said he will continue to divide his time between running his company and meeting the Arab-American community.
He emphasized that he is motivated solely by being a “concerned citizen and a Republican.” He did not contemplate a role in Trump’s administration if the Republican won.
“I honestly have no idea about that at this point. I haven’t thought about it at all, but I definitely don’t aspire to anything,” he said.
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Associated Press reporters Jill Colvin in Washington, Abby Sewell in Beirut, Lebanon, and Chinedu Asadu in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
