The Michigan Senate race between the Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and the Republican Mike Rogers has been subsumed in recent days by an endless stream of bigoted, Islamophobic attacks. A Rogers surrogate—Senator John Kennedy, of Louisiana—stated at a rally that El-Sayed sleeps in a “Bin Laden jersey.” Rogers himself has been saying that El-Sayed would be loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood, and Rogers agreed when the sports podcaster Dave Portnoy called El-Sayed a “terrorist.” President Trump, in the course of trying to get Rogers elected, has said that El-Sayed would bring jihadists to America and referred to him as “Muhammed.”
These attacks have been criticized by Arab and Muslim leaders in Michigan, including Bishara Bahbah, who launched the group Arab Americans for Trump in 2024. That year, he campaigned for the then former President alongside Massad Boulos, the Lebanese businessman who happens to be Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law. I interviewed Bahbah back in August of 2024; we spoke again by phone this week. Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.
Is there anything I should mention to readers about your bio?
I am the chairman of Arab Americans for Peace, and I am still a member of the Republican Party. And I am involved in the current midterm elections.
So, did Arab Americans for Trump become Arab Americans for Peace?
We changed the name last year to Arab Americans for Peace when the President started talking about Gaza as the property of the United States. I believe that Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and no one else, and therefore that kind of talk really was very upsetting and out of line. Therefore, we changed the name.
Didn’t Trump say that Biden has “become like a Palestinian” at the debate in 2024?
He said that about Chuck Schumer.
O.K. He said it about Biden, too.
I released a press release that year saying that the word “Palestinian” is not a slur and it should not be used as such. And it just doesn’t seem to have had an effect because he also recently called Schumer a Palestinian.
You need to keep putting out more statements. Hopefully at some point he’ll understand that it’s offensive. But I want to talk about what’s happening in the Michigan Senate race right now, because you said you’re still a Republican, and what’s happening, as far as I can tell, is that Abdul El-Sayed is running against Mike Rogers and is facing a tremendous amount of bigotry and Islamophobia from the Rogers campaign and its surrogates and from President Trump. How bad has it gotten?
I’m going to Michigan on Wednesday, and I’m a Christian. I’m not even a Muslim, but the fact that Muslims are being targeted in such a demeaning, racist fashion is just crossing a red line, like calling him “Muhammad.” We know that Muhammad is widely considered the most popular name in the world. Would the President like to be called something other than Mr. President or Donald J. Trump? Is it acceptable for somebody else to come up with a different name and call him that just because they would like to do so? It’s not. So Islam and Islamophobia is going to only have a counter-effect with regard to the Arab and Muslim voters in the United States and also voters who are levelheaded because bigotry is just not acceptable.
And I think the fact that the President is escalating his attacks along those lines is a sign of desperation.
But even when Trump has not been desperate—and it seems like he might be a little desperate now, since Republicans seem like they’re about to have a bad election—Trump’s bigotry and attacks on minority groups, including Muslims, have been constant. This is not just that his party’s behind in the Michigan Senate race, so he’s going to launch a few broadsides against Muslims. This is his entire political career, no?
Well, in 2024, the President seemed to have behaved.
Sir, I just said to you that he called Joe Biden a Palestinian during the debate.
I understand that. I understand that. I’m not questioning that either. All I’m saying is that his tone during the elections in 2024 was very different than what it is right now. He said something at one point in 2024 that offended the Yemenis in Michigan, and he immediately apologized.
Oh, he apologized?
He apologized at the time, yes. [Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, who supported Trump in 2024, claims that Trump apologised privately for calling Yemenis “terrorists” but added that Trump declined to do so publicly.] But it seems like in 2024 the President was desperate to get the Arab and Muslim vote.
He made lots of racist comments during 2024. He talked about Haitians eating pets.
Yes.
So when you said that he behaved during 2024, I just wasn’t sure what you meant.
I mean, it was not to the extent that it is right now. And he attacked the Somalis, he attacked the Haitians, and that’s not acceptable.
O.K. But it’s gotten worse now, you’re saying?
It’s gotten a lot worse, yes.
So it’s like if there was a list, the Muhammad thing would be at the top of the list, and then the Haitian stuff and the Somali stuff would be a little lower down the list.
Well, I mean, they’re all offensive. And I wouldn’t say that, because I’m Arab American, I’m more offended by the Muhammad issue. It is just all equally offensive. I feel bad for the Haitians, for the Somalis, for the Palestinians, for the Muslims. It is just not acceptable.
A number of Muslim Americans either voted for Trump or did not vote for Kamala Harris. And one of the main reasons was the devastation that was going on in Gaza, that the Biden Administration had supported. And I think a lot of liberal people were angry when people didn’t vote for Kamala, but a lot of people also felt that what was happening in Gaza was unconscionable. That was part of what you were thinking, correct?
