Some Arab Americans who voted for Trump are concerned about his picks for key positions

[Pelican Press 0]

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Some ***** Americans who voted for Trump are concerned about his picks for key positions

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Just a week after winning a

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in several of the nation’s largest *****-majority cities, President-elect Donald Trump has filled top administration posts with staunch ******* supporters, including an ambassador to ******* who has claimed “there is no such thing as Palestinians.”

Meanwhile, the two Trump advisers who

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to ***** Americans have not secured positions in the administration yet.

The selections have prompted

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among ***** Americans and Muslims in Michigan, which went for Trump along with all six other battleground states. Some noted Trump’s longstanding support for ******* and said their

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Vice President Kamala Harris was not necessarily an endorsement of him. Others who openly supported him say he will be the final decisionmaker on policy and hope he will keep his promise of achieving an end to the conflicts in the Middle East.

Albert Abbas, a Lebanese ********* leader whose brother owns the Dearborn, Michigan, restaurant Trump

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final days, stood beside the former president during that visit and spoke in support of him.

Now, Abbas says it’s “too early” to judge Trump and that “we all need to take a deep breath, take a step back and let him do the work that he needs to do to to achieve this peace.”

“I just want you to think about what the alternative was,” said Abbas, referring to the current administration’s handling of *******’s war in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon. He added, “What did you expect from myself or many members of the community to do?”

Beyond promising peace in the Middle East, Trump has offered

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on how he plans to achieve it. His transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

Throughout the campaign, his surrogates often focused more on criticizing Harris than outlining his agenda. And visuals of the conflict — with tens of thousands of deaths collectively in Gaza and Lebanon — stirred anger among many in ***** and ******* communities about President Joe Biden and Harris’ backing of *******.

Amin Hashmi, a Pakistani ********* in Michigan who voted for Trump, urged him to stay true to his campaign commitments to bring peace.

“I am disappointed but not surprised,” said Hashmi, who urged Trump to “keep the promise you made to the people of ***** descent in Michigan.”

Trump picks what pro-******* conservatives call a ‘dream team’

Those in the community with concerns have specifically pointed to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, nominated as Trump’s

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. Huckabee has consistently rejected the idea of a ************ state in territories seized by *******, strongly supported ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposed a two-state solution, claiming “there really isn’t such a thing” as Palestinians in referring to the descendants of people who lived in Palestine before the establishment of *******.

While Huckabee has sparked the most concern among community members, other Trump Cabinet picks have strongly spoken in *******’s favor as it targets ****** following the militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, ******* in which it ******* 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds more as ********.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, nominated for secretary of state, has opposed a ceasefire in the war, stating that he wants ******* to “******** every element of ****** they can get their hands on.”

Trump’s pick to be his ambassador to the ******* Nations, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik,

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of university presidents over antisemitism on campuses. She has also opposed funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which oversees aid to Gaza.

The *********** ******* Coalition, which organized for Trump in Michigan, has been outspoken in its support for many of Trump’s Cabinet picks. Sam Markstein, the group’s political director, described the proposed lineup as a “pro-******* dream team,” adding that “folks are giddy about the picks.” He praised Trump’s pro-******* record as “second to nobody.”

“The days of this mealymouthed, trying to have support in both camps of this issue are over,” Markstein said. “The way to secure the region is peace through strength, and that means no daylight between ******* and the ******* States.”

No roles yet for key figures in Trump’s ***** ********* outreach

Among the reasons some ***** ********* voters supported Trump was that they believed his prominent supporters would be key in the next administration.

Massad Boulos, a Lebanese businessman and father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, led

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the ***** ********* community, organizing dozens of meetings across Michigan and other areas with large ***** populations. Some sessions also featured Richard Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence, who was well-regarded by those who met with him.

Neither Boulos nor Grenell has been tapped yet for the coming administration, though Grenell was once considered a potential secretary of state before Rubio was selected. Boulos declined to comment and Grenell did not respond to a request for comment.

“Some people expected Trump to be different and thought Massad would play a significant role,” said ****** Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based ***** ********* News, which declined to endorse a candidate in the presidential race.

Siblani himself turned down a suggested meeting with Trump after the non-endorsement announcement.

“But now people are coming to us and saying, ‘Look what you’ve done,’” Siblani said. “We had a choice between someone actively ********* and ******** you and someone threatening to do so. We had to punish the person who was ********* and ******** us at the time.”

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Associated Press writers Mike Householder in Detroit and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

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#***** #Americans #voted #Trump #concerned #picks #key #positions

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