Arab leaders in Michigan meet with Trump envoy and it goes how you’d expect

[GAinDC]

Here’s yet another example of people shockingly getting their face eaten by the Leopards Eating Faces Party:

Trump envoy to Arab-Americans flops at Michigan meeting, talks about Gaza's real estate potential

Joe Biden's continued support for Israel is tanking his approval ratings among Arab-Americans, but Donald Trump's attempt to divert some of that support into his corner ended poorly on Tuesday when his chosen envoy flopped and offended at a meeting with about 40 Arab-American leaders in Michigan.

A source that attended the meeting told NOTUS, a nonprofit media outlet, that Trump's outreach lead was Richard Grennell, the former Trump administration official who The Washington Post refers to as Trump's "shadow Secretary of State." He did not impress, the source said, describing him bluntly as "clueless on the Middle East."

The meeting took place at an Italian restaurant in Troy, Michigan, a swing state — with an Arab-American population of more than 200,000 — that Biden won in 2020 by 250,000 votes. According to sources at the dinner, Grenell fixated on what Arab-Americans could do for Trump without seriously offering anything Trump could do for them, all while expressing little sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza.

Grenell even doubled down on comments made by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, that Israel should remove Palestinians from areas that could be developed as "valuable waterfront property," according to an attendee. “He repeated Jared Kushner’s statement about beachfront property, which I think floated like a lead balloon in the room,” the person said.

……

The Arab-American participants told Grenell that they had three conditions for supporting Trump: support for an immediate ceasefire; funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the primary source of humanitarian aid in Gaza; and passing the Leahy Laws, which prohibit the U.S. from funding foreign military forces that violate human rights laws.

Grenell, who came to make the case for Trump, did not commit to those conditions, and both sides left the meeting unsatisfied, sources said.

[GAinDC]

I get that they are not happy with Biden’s actions, but did they really think Trump was going to bend to these demands?

Better to stick with Biden and continue putting pressure on him to secure a ceasefire.

[SnowLabrador]

Yeah, I don't understand what these people were thinking either. Do they really believe Trump is any better than Biden on this issue? It's ridiculous, and yet when I used to have BlueSky, these people would just dodge the question. And this is the biggest reason why I remain pessimistic about the election: The Republican base is all-in for Trump, whereas some of the Democratic base looks for any reason possible not to vote for Biden.

[henster]

Does any other voting group base their vote solely on US policy toward their nation of origin? I just never hear about Mexican-American voters being passionate about US relations with Mexico or Indians caring about how Biden is treating Modi and BJP. It just seems this group hasn't assimilated as others immigrants have.

[GAinDC]

Does any other voting group base their vote solely on US policy toward their nation of origin? I just never hear about Mexican-American voters being passionate about US relations with Mexico or Indians caring about how Biden is treating Modi and BJP. It just seems this group hasn't assimilated as others immigrants have.

Cubans?

[Open Source Intelligence]

Arab-Americans this election might as well be libertarians in the sense of they can't vote for either Trump ot Biden.

[GAinDC]

Does any other voting group base their vote solely on US policy toward their nation of origin? I just never hear about Mexican-American voters being passionate about US relations with Mexico or Indians caring about how Biden is treating Modi and BJP. It just seems this group hasn't assimilated as others immigrants have.

Also, a lot of Arab Americans aren’t even from Palestine. They are from countries like Egypt (which is blocking asylum seekers from Gaza), Jordan, Lebanon, etc. So it’s more a religious/ethnic tie than a national one.

[Open Source Intelligence]

Does any other voting group base their vote solely on US policy toward their nation of origin? I just never hear about Mexican-American voters being passionate about US relations with Mexico or Indians caring about how Biden is treating Modi and BJP. It just seems this group hasn't assimilated as others immigrants have.

Cubans?

Armenians, Venezuelans, Colombians, Israelis, Arabs, Vietnamese, Ukrainians now.

[GAinDC]

This sort of reminds me of the dilemma the gays and lesbians faced in the 70s — 00s when they  became a cohesive voting block.

Neither Republicans or Democrats were very amendable to the changes they wanted, which seemed very extreme at the time. I mean, as recently as 2008, Obama didn’t even support same sex marriage. But they stuck with Dems because they knew they had the best chance to become a real political force within that party. And look at us now!

Arab Americans need to do the same with Dems, since the vast majority of voters and elected officials sympathetic to their cause are aligned with the Democratic Party. In time, their influence in the Democratic Party could necessitate real change in US policy toward Israel, where they’re still allies but we can force major changes that would help the Palestinian people.

If they throw all that away by supporting Trump, who could give two s**ts about their concerns, while also severing ties with the Democratic Party, then their movement will be greatly set back.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

I get that they are not happy with Biden’s actions, but did they really think Trump was going to bend to these demands?

Better to stick with Biden and continue putting pressure on him to secure a ceasefire.

Leads to the same kind of unssatisfaction.

Sure, Trump is not the answer but Biden at the moment isn't either. Lots of you don't care more about Gaza children more than the Trump campaign does. You just act as you're entitled to owning these voters.

Meanwhile Biden continues to show what side he's on by talking about sanctioning ICC because of the decision to issue a warrant for Netanyahu.

You can all claim what you want but you're not on the side of Arab Americans, don't represent them and are in no position to claim one candidate is entitled to these voters.

At the end Biden and Democrats will listen to AIPAC's money, not to Arab American voters.

[GAinDC]

I get that they are not happy with Biden’s actions, but did they really think Trump was going to bend to these demands?

Better to stick with Biden and continue putting pressure on him to secure a ceasefire.

Leads to the same kind of unssatisfaction.

Sure, Trump is not the answer but Biden at the moment isn't either. Lots of you don't care more about Gaza children more than the Trump campaign does. You just act as you're entitled to owning these voters.

Just like the people in this article, your anger is clouding your judgment.

Only one candidate in this race is calling for a ceasefire and has blocked the transfer of weapons over concerns about civilian deaths. If that’s not enough for you, fair, but you can’t say Biden and Trump are equally ambivalent to their concerns.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Does any other voting group base their vote solely on US policy toward their nation of origin? I just never hear about Mexican-American voters being passionate about US relations with Mexico or Indians caring about how Biden is treating Modi and BJP. It just seems this group hasn't assimilated as others immigrants have.

That's rhetoric used by European far right parties, just as an FYI.

And it makes a lot of sense they wouldn't endorse the mass killing of people who share something culturally similar to them. The difference is that nobody is doing that to Mexico.

I don't understand how some users can be this clueless.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

I get that they are not happy with Biden’s actions, but did they really think Trump was going to bend to these demands?

Better to stick with Biden and continue putting pressure on him to secure a ceasefire.

Leads to the same kind of unssatisfaction.

Sure, Trump is not the answer but Biden at the moment isn't either. Lots of you don't care more about Gaza children more than the Trump campaign does. You just act as you're entitled to owning these voters.

Just like the people in this article, your anger is clouding your judgment.

Only one candidate in this race is calling for a ceasefire and has blocked the transfer of weapons over concerns about civilian deaths. If that’s not enough for you, fair, but you can’t say Biden and Trump are equally ambivalent to their concerns.

And it's because of this assumption that these voters aren't going to come back. It's not working.

At the end the fight still continues, and USA at the end still supports Netanyahu which again is shown by the decision to call for sanctions against the ICC.

Arab Americans aren't dumb people. They know that Biden isn't with them.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Armenians, Venezuelans, Colombians, Israelis, Arabs, Vietnamese, Ukrainians now.

I wonder how Ukrainian-Americans will vote in 2024? They are a traditionally Republican-leaning voter group.

However, with Republicans lack of support for Ukraine aid, maybe that will change things and they'll turn in Democrats favor?

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Also, GAinDC you can joke about how the meeting between Arab leaders and Trump was a disaster. But i can guarantee you, that our meeting wouldn't have end up better since i would also have left the meeting unsatisfied already lol.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

They are right to be unhappy with Biden but like have they forgotten Trump was president ? There's literally a West Bank settlement named after him. Their list of demands is delusional and honestly something out of a dark comedy.

"We want a ceasefire, humanitarian aid and progress to a two state solution"

"Best I an do is no Muslim Ban and here's how you can help us, btw Gaza should totally become part of Israel with all the palestians gotten rid off"


Pathetic Spin at the end.
"At lease they're talking to us "

[ProgressiveModerate]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here; many Arab Americans who have voted straight Dem since 2004 are fundamentally Conservative in their values, especially social values - just look at how Prop 3 did in these parts of MI in 2022 for instance and how Whitmer struggled pre-10/7

I think most of the rightwards shift we’ll see in these communities in 2024 was already baked in and these aren’t realistic voters for Biden to try and win back - not because Biden hasn’t been pro-Palestine enough but because his support of things like abortion. Rights or gay marriage at at odds with this community.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Trump will probably end the war, but not in the way supporters of Palestine want. There won't be much of Palestine left when it's all over and I'm sure supporters of Palestine will be so shocked.

[wnwnwn]

This sort of reminds me of the dilemma the gays and lesbians faced in the 70s — 00s when they  became a cohesive voting block.

Neither Republicans or Democrats were very amendable to the changes they wanted, which seemed very extreme at the time. I mean, as recently as 2008, Obama didn’t even support same sex marriage. But they stuck with Dems because they knew they had the best chance to become a real political force within that party. And look at us now!

Arab Americans need to do the same with Dems, since the vast majority of voters and elected officials sympathetic to their cause are aligned with the Democratic Party. In time, their influence in the Democratic Party could necessitate real change in US policy toward Israel, where they’re still allies but we can force major changes that would help the Palestinian people.

If they throw all that away by supporting Trump, who could give two s**ts about their concerns, while also severing ties with the Democratic Party, then their movement will be greatly set back.

Well...
1 Some muslisms are leaving the democrats for social issues, as the party do is nowadays the party of LGTB rights.
2 Progressive muslims want Biden and dems to take their side.
Look at the protests at colleges: once they reach their BDS objectives, they end.
3 I think that a good number of christians arabs are R

[Progressive Pessimist]

They are right to be unhappy with Biden but like have they forgotten Trump was president ? There's literally a West Bank settlement named after him. Their list of demands is delusional and honestly something out of a dark comedy.

"We want a ceasefire, humanitarian aid and progress to a two state solution"

"Best I an do is no Muslim Ban and here's how you can help us, btw Gaza should totally become part of Israel with all the palestians gotten rid off"


Pathetic Spin at the end.
"At lease they're talking to us "

Exactly. Perfect should not be the enemy of good.

You can criticize Biden's stance on the conflict all you want, fairly reasonably, but he is more likely to act in good faith in considering Arab American and Palestinian interests more than Trump and the GOP ever could be.

A big, frustrating, factor in this election seems to be Americans lacking the imagination of what Trump is capable of, who he is, and what he has already done...again...

[Sir Mohamed]

The biggest threat to Biden here isn't Trump making huge inroads, but voters in MI and potentially MN sitting the election out. Whether that will be final straw to sink him is another question.

[Lief 🗽]

Trump will probably end the war, but not in the way supporters of Palestine want. There won't be much of Palestine left when it's all over and I'm sure supporters of Palestine will be so shocked.

It’s okay, once Trump is president most of these people will go back to not caring about Palestine again, like during the entirety of his presidency and before October 7th.

[Diabolical Materialism]

I imagine that the community leaders somewhat expected this meeting to turn out this way. No shame in seeing what the politicians will offer you though. That part about Grennell repeating Kushner's statement about the waterfront property had to have gone done like a Larry David bit, Republicans have completely forgot how to be people or something.

Trump will probably end the war, but not in the way supporters of Palestine want. There won't be much of Palestine left when it's all over and I'm sure supporters of Palestine will be so shocked.

It’s okay, once Trump is president most of these people will go back to not caring about Palestine again, like during the entirety of his presidency and before October 7th.

I don't think that's fair at all. Arab-American groups have pretty consistently been concerned about the Israel-Palestine issue for a very long time and are pretty vocal about it. If this is your first time hearing them talk about it, that says far more about you than them.

[Lief 🗽]

I just don’t think it’s possible to have been “concerned” about Palestinians from 2017-2021 and ever think that Trump could possibly be an ally.

[Diabolical Materialism]

I just don’t think it’s possible to have been “concerned” about Palestinians from 2017-2021 and ever think that Trump could possibly be an ally.

Politics has a history of making strange bedfellows. I can imagine that these leaders are feeling more than a little desperate to get someone to at least play ball with them. Those sort of feelings are going to lead to experimentation.