The Michigan Senate race between the Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and the Republican Mike Rogers has been subsumed in recent days by an endless stream of bigoted, Islamophobic attacks. A Rogers surrogate—Senator John Kennedy, of Louisiana—stated at a rally that El-Sayed sleeps in a “Bin Laden jersey.” Rogers himself has been saying that El-Sayed would be loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood, and Rogers agreed when the sports podcaster Dave Portnoy called El-Sayed a “terrorist.” President Trump, in the course of trying to get Rogers elected, has said that El-Sayed would bring jihadists to America and referred to him as “Muhammed.”

These attacks have been criticized by Arab and Muslim leaders in Michigan, including Bishara Bahbah, who launched the group Arab Americans for Trump in 2024. That year, he campaigned for the then former President alongside Massad Boulos, the Lebanese businessman who happens to be Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law. I interviewed Bahbah back in August of 2024; we spoke again by phone this week. Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.

Is there anything I should mention to readers about your bio?

I am the chairman of Arab Americans for Peace, and I am still a member of the Republican Party. And I am involved in the current midterm elections.

So, did Arab Americans for Trump become Arab Americans for Peace?

We changed the name last year to Arab Americans for Peace when the President started talking about Gaza as the property of the United States. I believe that Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and no one else, and therefore that kind of talk really was very upsetting and out of line. Therefore, we changed the name.

Didn’t Trump say that Biden has “become like a Palestinian” at the debate in 2024?

He said that about Chuck Schumer.

O.K. He said it about Biden, too.

I released a press release that year saying that the word “Palestinian” is not a slur and it should not be used as such. And it just doesn’t seem to have had an effect because he also recently called Schumer a Palestinian.

You need to keep putting out more statements. Hopefully at some point he’ll understand that it’s offensive. But I want to talk about what’s happening in the Michigan Senate race right now, because you said you’re still a Republican, and what’s happening, as far as I can tell, is that Abdul El-Sayed is running against Mike Rogers and is facing a tremendous amount of bigotry and Islamophobia from the Rogers campaign and its surrogates and from President Trump. How bad has it gotten?

I’m going to Michigan on Wednesday, and I’m a Christian. I’m not even a Muslim, but the fact that Muslims are being targeted in such a demeaning, racist fashion is just crossing a red line, like calling him “Muhammad.” We know that Muhammad is widely considered the most popular name in the world. Would the President like to be called something other than Mr. President or Donald J. Trump? Is it acceptable for somebody else to come up with a different name and call him that just because they would like to do so? It’s not. So Islam and Islamophobia is going to only have a counter-effect with regard to the Arab and Muslim voters in the United States and also voters who are levelheaded because bigotry is just not acceptable.

And I think the fact that the President is escalating his attacks along those lines is a sign of desperation.

But even when Trump has not been desperate—and it seems like he might be a little desperate now, since Republicans seem like they’re about to have a bad election—Trump’s bigotry and attacks on minority groups, including Muslims, have been constant. This is not just that his party’s behind in the Michigan Senate race, so he’s going to launch a few broadsides against Muslims. This is his entire political career, no?

Well, in 2024, the President seemed to have behaved.

Sir, I just said to you that he called Joe Biden a Palestinian during the debate.

I understand that. I understand that. I’m not questioning that either. All I’m saying is that his tone during the elections in 2024 was very different than what it is right now. He said something at one point in 2024 that offended the Yemenis in Michigan, and he immediately apologized.

Oh, he apologized?

He apologized at the time, yes. [Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, who supported Trump in 2024, claims that Trump apologised privately for calling Yemenis “terrorists” but added that Trump declined to do so publicly.] But it seems like in 2024 the President was desperate to get the Arab and Muslim vote.

He made lots of racist comments during 2024. He talked about Haitians eating pets.

Yes.

So when you said that he behaved during 2024, I just wasn’t sure what you meant.

I mean, it was not to the extent that it is right now. And he attacked the Somalis, he attacked the Haitians, and that’s not acceptable.

O.K. But it’s gotten worse now, you’re saying?

It’s gotten a lot worse, yes.

So it’s like if there was a list, the Muhammad thing would be at the top of the list, and then the Haitian stuff and the Somali stuff would be a little lower down the list.

Well, I mean, they’re all offensive. And I wouldn’t say that, because I’m Arab American, I’m more offended by the Muhammad issue. It is just all equally offensive. I feel bad for the Haitians, for the Somalis, for the Palestinians, for the Muslims. It is just not acceptable.

A number of Muslim Americans either voted for Trump or did not vote for Kamala Harris. And one of the main reasons was the devastation that was going on in Gaza, that the Biden Administration had supported. And I think a lot of liberal people were angry when people didn’t vote for Kamala, but a lot of people also felt that what was happening in Gaza was unconscionable. That was part of what you were thinking, correct?

Absolutely. I mean, our priority in 2024 was to end the war in Gaza, and our pleas with the Democrats at the time went nowhere. And President Trump, at the time, promised that he would end the war in Gaza. [During the debate with Biden in June of 2024, Trump also urged Biden to let Israel “finish the job” in Gaza.]

I think your critique of the Democratic Party is one that a lot of people have become more and more sympathetic to over the past few years. But when I talked to you last time it wasn’t your critique of the Democratic Party on Gaza that I found so surprising. It was that you seemed to be putting personal and political trust in Donald Trump, and I think that’s the part that people find a little hard to wrap their minds around.

You’re right. You’re right. I had faith. I believed his words. And now, on the Gaza situation, well, we were able to get a ceasefire in Gaza, and you might have heard or read that I was personally involved in the negotiations leading up to the ceasefire in Gaza, beginning with my intervention on behalf of the White House as a background negotiator between Hamas and the White House. [Asked for comment about Bahbah’s claims, a Trump Administration official told The New Yorker, “None of this is accurate. This individual was not involved in peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas.”]

The ceasefire that happened in January of 2025, or the ceasefire in October of 2025?

Well, both. There was a ceasefire that was forced upon Netanyahu by Trump in January of 2025. Then, in March of 2025, Netanyahu was able to convince the President that he had to finish the job, meaning finish Hamas, and broke his word with regard to the ceasefire.

And then proceeded to cut off aid to Gaza for months.

Let me tell you the way things have transpired from my perspective. So, in March of 2025, Netanyahu was able to convince Trump to allow him to break the ceasefire and resume the fighting, which led to famine in Gaza during the summer of 2025. After that, I was asked by [the United States special envoy to the Middle East Steve] Witkoff to get involved in the negotiations with regard to the ceasefire in Gaza. And the initial Witkoff proposal that was made public then was a proposal that I had written for Witkoff. So we got engaged in the ceasefire negotiations, which really took a very long time and ended up in another ceasefire in October of 2025. So there were two ceasefires at the time, and now, of course, the ceasefire of October 2025 was supposed to go into phases, and it led to the release of the Israeli hostages, and it led to the release of the Palestinian hostages in return.

You said earlier that you changed the name of the organization when he said that Gaza belonged to the United States, correct? That happened in February of 2025. But you were still working with the Trump Administration well after this, correct?

Yes. I was asked by Witkoff to mediate between Hamas and the White House.

You were communicating with Witkoff, and you also campaigned with Massad Boulos, who is Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law. And these are people that you have real relationships with, I assume. What do they say now? Are you still in touch with them?

No, I’m not in touch with Massad Boulos. Our relationship ended right after the elections.

Which elections?

After the Presidential elections. He just cut off communication, and all the promises that were made with regard to what the President would do for the Arab American community were never really fulfilled. And Massad Boulos essentially cut off the relationship with me.

He just didn’t respond to messages, that type of thing?

No. One of the things that Mossad Boulos reportedly did was meet with the head of the Regional Council of Judea and Samaria. And he called him Governor. Governor of what? A governor of the West Bank, which is an occupied territory. That, to me, was a reason to sever ties with Massad Boulos because—

Oh, so you’re the one who severed ties?

I severed the ties.

You say you’re still a Republican. Does that mean you’re still hoping for Republican success, but not in Michigan? How are you thinking about what you’re rooting for in these elections?

Well, as far as I’m concerned, community comes first before the Party, and the country comes before the Party and community. So this is where I stand right now.

Where is where you stand?

Community comes first before the Party.

So you’re not hoping Republicans win in 2026?

Well, all I’m saying is that the rhetoric that has been lobbed against our community has turned off the community, and I don’t see the community voting Republican this time around.

But what about you? How are you going to vote?

I’m not going to answer that question.

O.K. Do you think that some people might think that the stand you’re taking against Trump and his bigotry now is slightly undermined by not even saying that you believe people should vote for the opponents of Trump and that bigotry?

People can interpret what I’m saying any way they want, and that’s fine with me. All I’m saying is our support of Trump in 2024 was for the primary and sole reason of ending the war in Gaza. That was it. It was not necessarily . . . I mean, a lot of the values of the Republican Party match with the values of the Arab and Muslim American voters, which is fine, but sometimes there is a breaking point because when there is no respect for the community, how is the community going to behave? I mean, the community is not dumb. They expect to vote for people who support them. They’re not to be expected to vote for people who attack them.

When I look back at our previous interview, it’s a lot of me asking you questions about things Trump said, and you essentially denying them or saying that he’s been misunderstood, or essentially that it won’t be that bad, or it was so great because you got on a phone call with Trump.

I did say those things.

And do you feel like you were vying for influence, and so you had to say them? Do you feel like you were a little bit brainwashed and you actually thought that Trump was a different person? How do you understand looking back?

Well, I was counting on his commitment to end the war in Gaza. That was my primary reason.

Right. And I’m asking why you believed it.

He told me that in person multiple times. I mean, he told the whole country that he demanded—

Sir, you must know Donald Trump saying something, whether it’s to you in person or to the country, has no meaning, right? You know that.

Well, he told the entire country that he’s a man of peace, that he has not waged any wars during his time, and that he wants to bring about peace in the world. And, honestly, I believed him at the time.

Right. I believe that you said something about him being a President who ends wars, and I had to remind you that Joe Biden had ended the war in Afghanistan. Trump actually increased drone strikes. You seemed to be of the opinion that Trump was much more of a man of peace than perhaps the record suggested. That’s why I’m asking these questions.

If you’re asking that I had put too much faith in President Trump at the time, I did. If you’re asking me if I had believed his words at the time with regard to the ceasefire in Gaza, I did. If I was misled, I was misled along with the entire country.

I guess there were also a lot of people in the country who were horrified by what was happening in Gaza and were angry about it, but also never put any faith in Donald Trump. And it seems like that position has been somewhat vindicated.

We’re all different in terms of how we react to people and statements, but at the same time the fact that I knew that in his first term he imposed the Muslim ban, and then when we asked him about it during 2024, he said, “No, no, no, there’s not going to be a Muslim ban, and there’s not going to be wars.” Unfortunately, it seems to me that maybe I was too naïve at the time.

I know I’ve asked you a version of this before, but just to try to reflect on it, when you do think back to those days when you were campaigning with Massad Boulos, campaigning for Trump, talking to him on the phone, what do you think about that now? What pops into your mind?

I did what I did for Gaza, and Biden did not listen to us, and a wise individual should make a choice between a bad situation and a worse situation, and I was forced to make that type of a choice.

And do you think you made the right choice?

Well, we ended the war in Gaza. It’s not a perfect ceasefire right now because there are people who are getting killed by the Israelis on a daily basis, and the United States is not saying a word about those violations. And, also, you look at what’s happening in the West Bank, which is being literally overtaken by extremist Jewish settlers who are doing whatever they want to do with the acquiescence of the Israeli Army and the Israeli government, and without any objection from the U.S. government. So I am terribly disappointed in what has transpired, and given that I’m that disappointed, I don’t really hold much hope for the coming two years as far as anything happening with regard to Gaza. ♦