Mayor on election: ‘Our mission was statewide, nationwide’

Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib poses with former President Donald Trump when Trump was campaigning in the metro area a few months ago. Trump won the presidential election in November. Photo supplied by Facebook

By Charles Sercombe
Although President-elect Donald Trump didn’t win in Hamtramck, he did win the state.
And Mayor Amer Ghalib is taking some credit for that by his backing of Trump, and for convincing other Muslims and Arabs to follow his endorsement.
Ghalib is a Muslim immigrant from Yemen.
That voting bloc here in the metro area, particularly in Hamtramck, Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, likely helped put Trump over the top in the state.
Ghalib had considered himself a Democrat up to this election, but he and many others in the Muslim community turned against the party when President Biden’s administration continued to support Israel’s war in Gaza, which has resulted in about 50,000 deaths of Palestinians since the war broke out last October.
Israel invaded Gaza to retaliate against Hamas for its invasion into Israel last October, where about 1,400 Israelis were killed or taken hostage.
During the Democratic Presidential Primary Election, many Muslims (and even non-Muslims) voted “uncommitted.”
That drift away from the party continued as Biden’s administration kept funneling military aid to Israel, where a number of observers say Israel has been committing genocide.
Ghalib then saw a possible path to the end of the war in former President Trump, who promised to bring peace to the region as soon as he became president.
However, Trump has very close ties to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and it’s unclear how Trump would bring about peace.
Ghalib’s endorsement also came despite Trump’s ban on allowing people from Muslim countries, including Yemen, to enter the U.S. during his first term in office.
Consider, too, Trump’s association with others who have spoken out against Muslims, such as hard-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, a self-proclaimed Islamophobe, and Stephen Miller, who was a senior advisor to Trump’s presidency and the architect of the Muslim travel ban.
And then, after winning Ghalib’s endorsement, Trump publicly, at a campaign rally, called those who come from Yemen “terrorists.”
That comment did not seem to faze Ghalib, who said he later talked with Trump about it. Trump, said Ghalib, privately apologized for the comment, and promised not to say it again.
Ghalib also helped engineer bringing Trump to Hamtramck, where Trump met with a number of invited Muslims at a campaign office in the city.
With the election over, Ghalib spoke at length at a city council meeting about the next step forward.
“Now that the election is over, we need to go back to focus on our unity, and working together to serve our people, our community,” Ghalib said.
“In Hamtramck, there is no loser, no winner. We all work as a team.”
Ghalib said the point of the local campaign extended beyond Hamtramck.
“Our mission was statewide, nationwide. It was accomplished,” he said.
Ghalib said his connection to Trump could pay off for the city.
“Hopefully, good stuff will come to our community,” Ghalib said. “Hopefully, we will use this line of communication with the president to serve our community and to help our community.”
Ghalib further said that bringing the City of Hamtramck to the attention of Trump has put the city “on the map like it had never before.”
And that political recognition will resonate for years to come, Ghalib said.
“In the future, people will come to us – both parties from the highest level, they will ask us for support because they know we can make a difference, and we did make a huge difference.”
Hamtramck has a long history of attracting presidents and presidential candidates, going back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The city had been known as a Democratic stronghold for decades.
Councilmember Mohammed Hassan, who supported Vice President Kamala Harris for president, said that, going forward, Democrats “have to learn from their mistakes.”
(Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee after Biden unexpectedly dropped out.)
The city council and the mayor were divided in this presidential election, with three councilmembers siding with Trump and three backing Harris.
Councilmember Hassan, an immigrant from Bangladesh, said he took offense over Trump’s “terrorist” comment about Yemenis.
“I cannot believe that,” Hassan said, about Trump’s comment. “I cannot take it as a human.”
Hassan also said that Trump has said he has no problem with transgendered people using the same restrooms as those who are not transgender.
Issues of LGBTQ rights and transgenderism alienated a number of Muslims here in the metro area, and drove many into the Trump camp.
They said Trump was for “family values,” a conservative code phrase that includes being anti-LGBTQ rights.
Friction between Ghalib and Hassan, the longest serving current councilmember, grew as the presidential campaign went on.
Ghalib at one point appeared to take Hassan’s support of Harris as a political challenge, saying Hassan will have to resign from office to run against him as mayor.
“You will lose,” Ghalib told Hassan.
Ghalib, who is up for re-election next year, is now taking a conciliatory approach.
On his Facebook page, he said:
“Together we will achieve our goals in uplifting the society we live in, divided and torn we will return to the margin.”
Posted Dec. 6, 2024