Donald Trump has tasked the Lebanese-American businessman Massad Boulos—who happens to be his son-in-law’s father—with rallying Arab-American and Muslim voters to his side. The Republican candidate hopes to capitalize on part of this electorate’s opposition to Joe Biden’s pro-Israel stance. However, this charm offensive is likely to be challenging.
A wild hope or a brilliant electoral strategy? For the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump appears determined to appeal to Muslim and Arab-American voters. Yet, this is the same Trump who, in 2017, introduced the highly controversial “Muslim travel ban,” a presidential decree barring entry to the U.S. for nationals of several Muslim-majority countries.
In the Trump family, Donald even sought out his daughter Tiffany’s father-in-law, Lebanese-American businessman Massad Boulos, to help capture this vote, according to a report from the Associated Press on Sunday, June 16. Nationwide, this electorate comprises only 3.5 million people—just 1% of the total U.S. population.
Michigan as a Target
Michigan, one of his key “swing states,” was the focus of Trump’s campaign visit on Saturday, June 15. It’s where his charm campaign is in full force. Behind the scenes, Trump’s team has been making various efforts to bring Arab-Americans and Muslims into the fold. This is no surprise; in the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden narrowly won Michigan with around 154,000 votes, and the Arab-American community there is significant, with over 310,000 voters. Massad Boulos has already made several visits to Michigan to strengthen ties with local voters.
The support group Arab Americans for Trump has also established a presence there, and with Boulos’ backing, the first meeting of the PAC “Arab Americans for a Better America,” a political action committee focused on fundraising, took place on May 21.
Opposition to U.S. Support for Israel
To Republican strategists, this effort may represent a return to form for these voters. “Up until 2000, they tended to vote conservative,” notes Dominique Cadinot, a specialist in Muslim and Arab-American communities at the Laboratoire d’études et de recherches sur le monde anglophone (LARMA) at Aix-Marseille University. Arab-Americans were once drawn to the American right’s messaging on traditional family values and “the emphasis on free enterprise, for a population that includes many self-employed individuals,” says Cadinot. However, the September 11 attacks and the Bush administration’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan brought a shift in voting behavior.
Since then, this demographic has leaned Democratic. But Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has altered the political landscape. Trump’s team is closely watching as some Arab-American and Muslim voters distance themselves from Biden, with over 70% stating that the situation in Gaza is their top electoral concern, according to a mid-May New York Times survey.
Massad Boulos, the Billionaire Father-in-Law
Will Massad Boulos, tasked with reaching out to Arab-Americans, succeed in mitigating the fact that Donald Trump, too, has unwavering support for Israel? The Lebanese-born businessman has been actively working on this mission since 2022, the year his son Michael married Tiffany Trump, Ivanka’s sister.
Boulos’ primary advantage is his financial resources. He is the CEO of SCOA Nigeria, a Lagos-based conglomerate primarily involved in vehicle sales. He is often referred to as a billionaire, though no official estimate of his wealth exists.
A ‘Parachuted’ Campaigner
“Boulos seems like a figure ‘parachuted’ [by Donald Trump] into the U.S. without a previous active role in the Muslim or Arab-American community,” observes Dominique Cadinot.
Yet, this does not necessarily mean Boulos is pursuing a lost cause. First, because the Muslim vote in the United States is not monolithic. “There is always a minority within this community that is responsive to Republican arguments, primarily Indo-Pakistani Muslims,” Cadinot explains.
