Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, a Muslim immigrant who has peddled anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda, endorsed Donald Trump for president on Sunday — despite the Republican presidential candidate’s past islamophobic statements and policies.
The endorsement, which Ghalib made on Facebook on Sunday, came three days after Trump said he would reinstate his travel ban on majority-Muslim countries. In 2017, Trump restricted entry into the U.S. from seven majority-Muslim countries, including Yemen, where Ghalib was born.
Ghalib’s support of Trump made international news because he’s the mayor of the first U.S. city with an all-Muslim council.
“President Trump and I may not agree on everything, but I know he is a man of principles,” Ghalib wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “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.”
Ghalib’s endorsement is not surprising. He has been building an alliance between socially conservative Muslims and Republicans in Michigan.
In an interview on Sunday with Breitbart, a right-wing news site that fuels anti-immigration rhetoric, Trump expressed interest in going to Hamtramck and speaking with leaders of the Arab American community.
“The answer is if the opportunity presents itself I would do that,” Trump said. “It can’t remain the way it is now with the hatred that’s going around.”
A day before the endorsement, Ghalib spoke on Breitbart Saturday and said he had a “productive meeting” with Trump last week.
“The meeting was very good,” Ghalib said on the podcast. “I talked to President Trump about, you know, some statistics here in Wayne County and how it used to be a stronghold for the Democrats, and we always used to vote Democrat. This is not the case anymore here.”
A health care worker and immigrant from Yemen, Ghalib ran for mayor in 2021 and staunchly opposed the LGBTQ+ Pride flag being displayed in public spaces. He handily defeated Karen Majewski, a four-term mayor who supported displaying the flag outside of City Hall.
In June, the all-Muslim city council banned the Pride flag from being flown on city property.
A month later, Ghalib appeared on failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon’s podcast, despite her past disparaging comments about Muslims. Ghalib took aim at a group of LGBTQ+ supporters who defiantly displayed a Pride flag over a public sidewalk following the ban, saying “they are acting like a militia.”
Ghalib also said Muslims and Republicans have a lot in common.
“Muslims are conservative,” he said. “They give high value to their faith and their families and their freedom, the three Fs. But I will say they put faith and family first and, and some people will sacrifice some of their freedoms in order to protect their faith and family structure.”
Then in early September, Ghalib was a featured speaker in a meeting between Muslims and Michigan Republican leaders and Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser who previously called Islam “a cancer” and defended the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban.
Ghalib said the point of the meeting was to build bridges with the Republican Party and forget about past clashes.
“We are here to strengthen our unity and focus on what unites us and rise above what is trying to divide us,” Ghalib said. “We have so much in common. We are here to open a new page, build new channels of communication. We can learn about each other.”
In his endorsement, Ghalib didn’t mention Trump’s Muslim travel ban or his staunch support of Israel.
Ghalib’s endorsement drew nearly 700 comments on Facebook as of Monday morning. Some were supportive, and others were not.
“History will remember you as a hero,” Austin Rogers wrote.
Others scoffed at Ghalib’s contention that Trump is “a man of principles.”
“A man of principles doesn’t publicly cheat on 3 separate wives,” Cody Kidd wrote. “A man of principles doesn’t call everyone he disagrees with a demeaning name. A man of principles doesn’t say insane things day in and day out. I don’t care who [you] vote for or why, but don’t call him a man of principles. [That’s] disingenuous and we all know it.”
Petros Mekonnen chimed in, “The guy that hated Muslims is the guy you support. Good luck.”
