Muslim voters who helped elect Trump upset with ‘pro-Israel’ and ‘pro-war’ cabinet picks
Muslim voters who helped swing the election for President-elect Trump because of their anger over Israel’s offensive in Gaza have decried several of his cabinet choices as too “pro-war,” according to a report.
Some of Trump’s earliest cabinet have been pro-Israel die-hards, including: New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who will become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has long been an outspoken supporter of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, another Zionist stalwart, will also become ambassador to Israel.
“We are very disappointed,” Rexhinaldo Nazarko, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), told Reuters.
“It seems like this administration has been packed entirely with neoconservatives and extremely pro-Israel, pro-war people, which is a failure on the side of President Trump, to the pro-peace and anti-war movement.”
“Trump won because of us and we’re not happy with his Secretary of State pick and others,” said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump made historic gains among Muslims voters, particularly in the battleground state of Michigan.
In Dearborn, the state’s largest Muslim city, Trump won 43% of the vote against Vice President Kamala Harris’ 36%.
The community’s anger was fueled by President Biden’s support for Israel. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who was censured by her colleagues for calling or the destruction of Israel, pointedly refused to endorse Harris in the campaign.
Though Trump courted Muslim voters, the American Muslim community in Dearborn has long been a hotbed of antisemitic and anti-American activity.
Dearborn Islamic institutions regularly celebrate Muslim terrorism to the point where the Wall Street Journal declared it “America’ Jihad capital.”
In April, Muslim protesters in Dearborn held a rally chanting “death to America.” And in a poll taken shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, 57% of Muslims felt the attack was “justified.”