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October 3, 2024 - 10:00am
Imran Salha proudly declared himself “the first Muslim Palestinian imam in America” to endorse Donald Trump for president. Salha, described in previous media reports as a “prominent” Detroit imam, made the endorsement in late September after a meeting with Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law. Boulos, a wealthy businessman born in Lebanon, has been working hard to make inroads with the Muslim community on Trump’s behalf.
“Michigan Arabs are coming out for Trump,” Richard Grenell, a staunch ally of the former president, posted on X last week. Amer Ghalib, the mayor of America’s only Muslim-led city, endorsed Trump just days before, landing him another boost in Michigan.
Salha, though, quickly rescinded his endorsement. In an Instagram post, the imam explained that his enthusiastic video on Trump’s behalf had been “a statement to say that our vote for Trump would be best to punish democrats”. “I was not endorsing HIM, I was proving a point,” Salha wrote, adding that “out of respect to my community” he’d decided to rescind the endorsement.
Whether voting for Trump is seen by Michigan’s large Muslim community as the best way to “punish Democrats”, Kamala Harris will still be punished in one way or another. If Trump and Boulos don’t manage to win converts, the Uncommitted movement will surely make a dent in Democrats’ margins merely by persuading voters to stay home.
In a mid-September statement, Uncommitted — a group of delegates who sought to undermine Joe Biden during the primaries — declined to endorse Harris, attacking her “unwillingness” to meet their requests on US weapon policies and international law. The group also specifically said it did not recommend allies vote for a third party, at risk of “inadvertently” tossing the election to Trump.
But at least one poll found Green Party nominee Jill Stein with a commanding 28-point lead over Harris among Muslim voters nationwide. So strong is the frustration with Biden and Harris, the same survey found Trump with a six-point lead over the Vice President.
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SubscribeBeggars belief that they should ever support her. She’s a female after all.
“When the Prophet heard the news that the people of Persia had made the daughter of Khosrau their Queen, he said ‘Never will a nation succeed which makes a woman their ruler.’ ”
Sahih Bukhari 7099
He never met Margaret thatcher.
Ouch!
The maths in Michigan is very simple.
Umm…”maths” Emily??
I lived in Dearborn for 30 years. I’m not of Middle Eastern/Arab descent nor of any Muslim faith. I lived in the area my entire life and got to see the demographic change in real time.
Similar to “Asians” there is no generic Muslim, or Arab, or ME. There are Christians of Iraqi descent living there, also. Etc. Lots of different people from lots of different countries and faiths.
One thing almost all of these fairly recent immigrants have is a strong entrepreneurial spirit. If I had to guess, I would say a large part of Trump’s appeal is economic. Yes, the politics of the ME plays a role as on a recent visit I saw Palestinian flags flying on houses on the street I lived on. That surprised me. But, increasing government involvement in people’s lives (Dearborn residents were non too excited about some recent attempts to introduce gender ideology into classrooms) is not going to be well received and Harris is a representative of that.
As always, the story is complicated.
“I was not endorsing HIM, I was proving a point,” Salha wrote, adding that “out of respect to my community” he’d decided to rescind the endorsement.
That is what an unprincipled person looks like. Taking a stand implies the willingness to take any heat that comes, not to tuck your tail and run because someone might get upset.
Or simply changing your mind when you know your dead wrong.
They believe their prophet had a flying horse.
I think he’s saying the same thing both times. When you have to decide between two bad things it doesn’t make one of them good.
One might almost say “deplorable” (we might just get away with that as we’re not standing).
Harris’ polling is NOT “mostly on an upwards trajectory in the state”. According to the RCP polling average, Harris’ spread over Trump peaked on Sept. 25th with a 2.0 percent advantage. It has fallen since. As of October 4, Harris’ advantage is only 0.7 percent. Worse for Harris, three of the last four most recent polls place her behind Trump.