Trump to become first major 2024 candidate to visit majority-Arab Dearborn
Donald Trump is set to visit Dearborn, Michigan — the nation's largest Arab-majority city — on Friday, according to a local business owner who first insisted the former president call for peace in Lebanon before hosting him.
Metro Detroit is home to the nation's largest concentration of Arab Americans, with a large chunk of them living in Dearborn. The city — which President Joe Biden won by a 3-to-1 margin — has been roiled by political turmoil, with many upset with the Biden administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
While Vice President Kamala Harris has been working through surrogates to ease community tensions, Trump's visit will mark the first by either candidate, according to a local leader, Osama Siblani. Earlier this year, Harris met with the city's Democratic mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, though their discussion took place outside Dearborn.
Employees of The Great Commoner in Dearborn confirmed to CBS News Detroit that Trump was set to visit the restaurant.
The Trump campaign declined to comment on the visit. It follows Trump's rally in Michigan last week when he brought local Muslims up onstage with him. Trump has also received endorsements from two Democratic mayors of Muslim-majority cities. The former president is also holding a rally in Warren at Macomb Community College at 4:30 p.m. The former president previously hosted a town hall at the college in September.
While many Democratic leaders in the community have not endorsed Harris, they are still deeply negative toward Trump and say his endorsements don't reflect a majority of the community. They also remember his call for a "total and complete shutdown" on Muslims entering the country and his travel restrictions on visitors from Muslim-majority countries. And some point out that Trump has suggested he would give Israel even more leeway to attack its rivals in the region.
Even so, Democrats worry that traditionally loyal voters may shift to Trump or third-party candidates like Jill Stein — or skip the top of the ballot altogether. This could prove pivotal in Michigan, a state both parties see as a toss-up.
Sam Abbas, owner of The Great Commoner, said Trump allies had reached out to him several weeks ago about hosting Trump in Dearborn. Before hosting Trump, Abbas said he wanted to see a statement from Trump that he said showed Trump "has the intentions of ending the war and helping us rebuild Lebanon and helping the displaced and the injured."
That statement came Wednesday when Trump posted on X that he wanted to "stop the suffering and destruction in Lebanon."
"I will preserve the equal partnership among all Lebanese communities," Trump said on X. "Your friends and family in Lebanon deserve to live in peace, prosperity, and harmony with their neighbors, and that can only happen with peace and stability in the Middle East."
Once Trump put out the statement, Abbas said he agreed to host the event. He expects close to 100 people from the community.
"He's coming to us to basically tell us, look, I did what you guys asked. My intentions, my true intentions are to bring peace and to end the war," said Abbas.