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In November 2023, I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days in Ann Arbor—a vibrant campus town where I was invited to give a guest lecture at the University of Michigan’s Centre of Middle Eastern and North African Studies (CMENAS) colloquium. 

I strolled through the quaint, leafy streets, ate a reuben at the legendary Zingerman’s deli—Barack Obama once called it a “killer” sandwich—and spent time with a collection of smart, engaging students. Despite spending most of the time on topics related to the lecture about the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s sports strategy, dinner conversations often turned to Israel’s war on Gaza, which had started less than six weeks prior. 

Among the students at the dinner following the lecture were two Muslim Americans, one of whom was an Arab American from Dearborn, Michigan, the first Arab-majority city in the US. I listened as they shared their feelings of despair over the destruction in Gaza and described the resistance they encountered from pro-Israel students whenever they tried to protest in Gaza’s support. They also expressed their disdain for President Joe Biden for his handling of the war, including the administration’s unrestricted military aid to Israel despite the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. 

Even then, just a few weeks into the war, you could already sense the anger towards Biden and the Democratic party. I remember one of the students blaming Biden directly for the war and suggesting that “there were no wars when Trump was in office.” And though I agreed with their views on Biden’s administration, I challenged their retelling of Trump, saying that Trump supported Saudi Arabia’s bombings in Yemen, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, and increased aggression in Syria, it did not sway their views. To them, Trump—the architect of the Muslim ban—was the candidate for Muslims, and for peace. 

Nearly a year later, Trump’s campaign is still pushing this narrative. Just days before the election, Trump made a campaign stop in Dearborn, seeking to win Arab American votes by tapping into their anger over Biden’s response to the war in Gaza. Trump, who already secured endorsements from Arab American leaders like Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi and Hamtramck Mayor Dr. Amer Ghalib, visited a Lebanese cafe where he vowed to bring peace to the Middle East.  

Shortly thereafter, a crop of former UFC champions—Rashad Evans, Frankie Edgar and Henry Cejudo—visited a Yemeni restaurant in Dearborn, where they urged the Arab Americans in attendance to vote for Trump to secure peace. 

Ali Aljahmi, the 19-year old host of the event whose family owns the restaurant, told the New York Post that Dearborn’s Muslim community considers these fighters to be “heroes.” 

“They absolutely love the UFC,” he said. “They admire them. They are heroes to them. We had a lot of people, most of them come out for that reason why. That’s the reason that they’re here.”

Edgar, who is referenced in Sports Politika’s In The Red Corner series as one of the UFC fighters who has pivoted to far-right politics, including support for the Jan. 6 insurrection, attempted to relate to the audience by referencing his past as a union plumber. Meanwhile, former UFC champion and Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo focused on conservative talking points such as transgender exclusion in sports. 

“You’re fighting for your dreams, and next you know it, there’s a guy in a woman’s sport that’s winning your daughter’s or your son’s trophy,” he said.

The invite-only event was orchestrated by Richard Grenell, a political operative who served as acting director of national intelligence under Trump in 2020. He is the first openly gay man to hold a cabinet level position in US history. 

Grenell is a familiar name to me, as I had previously reported on how he leveraged his position in Trump’s administration to help Moroccan UFC fighter Abu Azaitar secure a waiver to enter the US despite his violent criminal past. 

You can read more of more reporting on Abu Azaitar here.

Abu Azaitar’s relationship with Grenell dates back to at least August 2019, when the fighter posted a photo on his Instagram page with his arm around the man who was then U.S. ambassador to Germany. The caption read, ““Amazing time with Mr ambassador @richardgrenell. Great hospitality and what a great experience. Thank you for opening to door for me.”

While Azaitar did not specify which door was opened for him exactly, it is likely that he is referencing Grenell’s reportedly pivotal role in securing him a waiver into the United States. Such exemptions are difficult to obtain and would likely have required Grenell to use his personal friendship with Trump and other senior officials to secure it.

Following in Trump footsteps of maintaining relationships with the UFC and select fighters, Grenell has also learned how to tap into fighters to engage with young, conservative men. He has also established a friendship with  controversial MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz, himself a former undercover informant who was recruited by the New York Police Department to help investigate an extremist Islamist group in 2002. He eventually lost favour with the FBI and NYPD for being “deceitful.”

Abdelaziz, who manages all the fighters attending the Dearborn event and was present himself, has continued to express support for Trump. He previously appeared at Trump rallies during the 2020 campaign alongside UFC President Dana White.

Trump’s use of UFC fighters to help secure a sought-after voting demographic is nothing new. In 2020, Trump enlisted fighters like Cejudo and former champion Tito Ortiz to help secure the Latino vote in states like Florida. The Trump campaign even organized a “Fighters Against Socialism” bus tour, also in Florida. 

This time, the focus is on the Arab American vote in Michigan, a key battleground state, where Trump hopes to turn anger over Gaza into an election victory. And it appears to be working. 

In the August Primary, more than 100,000 Michigan Democratic party voters cast protest ballots for “uncommitted” in the race. Though Biden eventually won the state with more than 623,000 votes, it served as a warning for the administration to shift its stance on the Israel-Gaza war. However, the war has since expanded into Lebanon, further fuelling the Arab shift away from the Democratic party. 

Nevertheless, I feel it is important to note that Trump’s position on Israel-Palestine is hardly better than Biden or Harris. Despite telling former UFC champ Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 302 that he would “stop” the war, there is little evidence to suggest Trump would do any such thing. A few weeks later, Trump told wealthy donors that he would “set [the pro-Palestine] movement back 25 or 30 years,” referring to the anti-war demonstrations as a “radical revolution.” He also praised New York police who violently cleared the student encampments at Columbia University. 

Trump has also been boasting about his Middle East policies during his presidency, namely the decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the recognition of the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights, which Israel onnexed from Syria in the 1967 six-day war.

Though I am not American and cannot vote in the 2024 election, I am deeply troubled by Trump’s attempts to manipulate fellow Arabs by exploiting our anguish over Gaza and Lebanon. I share the anger over how Biden and Harris have handled the war, and I won’t advocate that you should vote for them despite this. However, I also believe that a vote for Trump would only further harm Arabs. Neither party is our ally, but voting for an aspiring authoritarian will not bring about a free Palestine. 

Some Arab Americans see this clearly. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, a former Democratic state representative, issued a statement condemning Trump’s visit to his city. But his message wasn’t just about rejecting Trump—it was a pointed warning to Democrats. 

“To the Dems — your unwillingness to stop funding and enabling genocide created a space for Trump to infiltrate our communities. Remember that.”

A note to readers: Trump’s strategic use of sports and entertainment as part of his campaign strategy is a central theme of Sports Politika’s three-part audio series, In The Red Corner. Listen to the entire series here. 

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