Mayor Ghalib makes history by endorsing Trump for president

Mayor Amer Ghalib poses with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump before Trump spoke at a Flint rally recently. Ghalib is now endorsing Trump. Photo from Facebook

By Charles Sercombe
Mayor Amer Ghalib has made national, and even international headlines, in his endorsement of Republican Donald Trump for president.
His support this week came after weeks of speculation over whether he would support Trump.
Ghalib’s support – who is the first Yemeni-American and Muslim to be elected as mayor in Hamtramck –is a break from Hamtramck’s decades-long history of being a Democratic stronghold. Ghalib had been flirting with the idea of endorsing Trump for months, and in recent weeks he has met privately with Trump.
Ghalib, a licensed nurse with the state, is endorsing Trump despite Trump’s promise to reinstate a travel ban of people from Muslim-majority countries and Palestinian refugees from Gaza.
At a speech recently in Washington D.C., Trump said:
“I will ban refugee resettlement from terror infested areas like the Gaza Strip, and we will seal our border and bring back the travel ban.
“Remember the famous travel ban? We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world. We’re not taking them from infested countries.”
In an interview with WXYZ Channel 7, Ghalib seemingly brushed off that threat.
“I may disagree with him about that. I know that Yemen was in the ban before, which is the country I came from. I hope that he will consider that the Yemeni people, the Yemeni neighborhoods in the United States are some of the safest. The crime rates are some of the lowest,” he said.
Ghalib and much of the Muslim population in the metro area turned against President Biden for his continued support and supplying Israeli with military aid in its war on Gaza.
Trump has been a strong supporter of Israel and recently met privately with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has also said that he will deport illegal immigrants and immigrants who support Hamas, the military arm of Palestinians.
Here is what Ghalib announced:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, let me be clear, so our expectations are realistic.
“President Trump and I may not agree on everything, but I know he is a man of principles.
“Though it’s looking good, he may or may not win the election and be the 47th president of the United States, but I believe he is the right choice for this critical time. I’ll not regret my decision no matter what the outcome would be, and I’m ready to face the consequences.
“For this, and for many other reasons, I announce my support and endorsement for the former, and hopefully, the next president of the United States, Donald Trump.
“Now, let the Caravan begin its journey. This is just the starting point.”
After Ghalib posted his endorsement on Facebook, Trump reposted it on his Truth Social platform.
Not everyone in Hamtramck is on board with Ghalib’s endorsement of Trump in the Hamtramck Muslim community.
State Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck), who is the Majority Floor Leader, announced on his Facebook page that he is not supporting Trump.
Aiyash, a Yemeni-American, said:
“Donald Trump is not a man of principle, is uniquely unfit to serve as President, and remains a threat for many communities across our country.
“I hope Hamtramck remembers that in November.”
Aiyash, however, has yet to endorse Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris for president, or anyone else.
He has said recently said that Harris needs to make a “course correction” on the Biden administration’s support of Israel in its war on Gaza.
So how did Ghalib, who still says he is a Democrat, turn away from the party?
In a podcast interview in 2023 with Tudor Dixon, who failed to beat Gov. Whitmer, a Democrat, in her re-election a few years ago, he said it had to do with protests against his support of banning the pride flag being displayed on public property and the push for LGBTQ rights in general.
“So since I took my office, I only see one obstacle in my way, and it’s created by some radical groups in the leftwing here, led basically by the former mayor and the former power structure in my city, supported by high elected officials in the state and other places,” Ghalib said.
“So what are they doing to prevent that shift? They’re doing nothing. They are actually putting more pressure on us. They are sending some elected officials to protest in our city and to threaten us.”
After the pride flag ban, a protest rally was held in Zussman Park where Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, spoke.
At the rally, she criticized the mayor and city council, who are all male and all Muslim, for the ban.
Nessel, who is openly gay and married to a woman, said the city’s ban was a “national embarrassment.”
She further stressed that “homophobia, transphobia, are indeed forms of evil just as much as Islamophobia is.”
One of the biggest champions of LGBTQ rights in the state legislature has been State Rep. Aiyash.
However, on the issue of the city’s pride flag ban, he has remained silent.
In the state legislature, he has been a supporter of three bills that expanded civil rights protections for the LGBTQ community. Those bills eventually all became state laws.
Posted Sept. 27, 2024