American Arab Muslims react to Donald Trump’s political comeback

“I’d be lying if I said I was shocked.”

These were the words of Bushra Amiwalathe first Gen Z Muslim elected official in the US, in response to former President Donald Trump staging one of the greatest comebacks in modern American political history.

However, Bushra is not alone in her views. How could he win since he was a convicted criminal and the first president to become one charged twice?

To better understand the reaction to Trump’s victory: The new Arab spoke to American Arab Muslims, all of whom shared mixed views.

While some spoke out concern On the war on Gaza in the run-up to the elections, others expressed concerns about a second Trump term, according to recent surveys, while some celebrated the result.

Not surprised

According to one election report summary for the city of Dearborn, Michigan, Trump received the most votes in the city, which has the largest share of Arab and Muslim residents in the US.

Bushra shared with The new Arab that she was not surprised by Trump’s victory, but was surprised by the dramatic difference from previous elections. More than 90% of US counties shifted to the right compared to the 2020 election, and Trump became the first Republican candidate in two decades to win the popular vote.

Ibrahim, a former SJP board member at Emory University who was involved in the Solidarity camp in Gaza last spring was also not shocked by the result, saying he was “disappointed but not surprised.”

He added: “The Democratic Party lost its appeal to many people, especially the working class and minorities. They have to do a lot of internal reflection over the next four years and think about who voters are actually looking for. It’s not just identity politics.”

Ibrahim also believes the Democratic Party has moved to the right in an attempt to appeal to centrist and Republican voters, but has lost support from left-wing voters.

Alissa Hakim, a Lebanese-American from Dearborn, also said she was not surprised by the outcome and, like Bushra and Ibrahim, was critical of the Democratic Party.

“What Republicans are doing is proudly revealing their own bigotry, while Democrats are covering it up with flowery language,” she said. “That cost them the election.”

Alissa added that she voted for the third party because she “would not vote for a candidate who would finance the Israeli occupation and genocide in Palestine and the war in Lebanon.”

She continued, “I am tired of the scare tactics politicians use to convince Americans to vote for them. There have been plenty of opportunities to make real change over the past four years.”

Ryan Mirza, a Yemeni-American student at the University of Michigan who grew up in Dearborn, voted for Jill Stein in hopes that the Green Party could secure the 5% of votes needed to qualify for federal funding.

He told it The new Arab that he would have been disappointed by the election results, regardless of the outcome.

“Regardless of who won, I knew the president-elect would not represent me or address the issues I care about, like ending the genocide in Palestine,” he said.

Trump’s victory is no reason to celebrate

It’s been almost a week since the election results were announced, and some have said so The new Arab that Trump’s victory should not be celebrated.

Ryan, for example, says he finds it “ridiculous” that some people do that Arabs celebrate Trump’s victory.

“This is the same Trump who implemented the Muslim ban, the same Trump who said Biden was ‘stopping Netanyahu,’” he said.

At the same time, Ryan expressed concern about the blame placed on Arab and Muslim voters, stating that even if all the third-party votes had gone to Harris, Trump would still have won all seven major battleground states and secured the election .

“Why do we condemn minorities instead of holding the Democratic Party and Harris accountable for their lack of moral compass and abhorrent support of Israel?” he says. “Why don’t we condemn those who voted for Trump? Why don’t we condemn white supremacists and misogynists?”

Vote locally

Looking back on the US elections, Bushra says that the Democrats lacked a substantive platform that went beyond encouraging people to vote against Trump.

She adds that the focus for the Muslim community should now be on 2028 and rally behind a unifying candidate. She also encourages “voting locally, organizing locally” and exercising citizen power.

“There is no reason why a candidate should listen to a group of community members who are not casting their votes,” she says.

Nada Shalash is an Egyptian-American writer based in New Jersey, with bylines in Business Insider, Times Union, Boston Political Review, and other media outlets. She was previously a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she works on projects on racial discrimination in the criminal justice system

Follow her on X: @Nada_Shalash_