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A plurality of one of America's largest Arab American communities voted for President-elect Donald Trump this election. Dearborn, Michigan, backed Democrats for years, then Trump gained major support there with a simple promise - to end the wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Since his victory, Trump has picked staunch supporters of Israel for key roles. As NPR's Ziad Buchh reports, that's making some residents nervous.
ZIAD BUCHH, BYLINE: Less than a week before the presidential election, then-candidate and former President Donald Trump stopped at a cafe on the west side of Dearborn.
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ALBERT ABBAS: This meeting is for the community of Dearborn. So please let us welcome Mr. Donald J. Trump.
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BUCHH: A crowd of supporters cheered as he shook hands and took questions from reporters.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Yelling) Dearborn is Trump country. Always was.
BUCHH: He stood at the end of the cafe's espresso bar. Next to him was the owner's brother, Albert Abbas, who read some pre-prepared remarks.
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ABBAS: Please help us stop the bloodshed. No amount of money or power should be prioritized over human life.
BUCHH: Trump makes him that promise.
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DONALD TRUMP: And we have to get this whole thing over with. We want to have peace. We want to have peace on earth. All over. All over.
BUCHH: After Trump's victory, the Dearborn-based chamber of commerce that represents the Arab American community wrote an open letter asking him to demand an immediate ceasefire. Abbas co-signed it.
ABBAS: We wanted to put a little bit more pressure and reiterate, you know, the promise that he made for the peace.
BUCHH: Trump has not yet called for that ceasefire publicly, but his transition team credits Trump for the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire brokered by President Biden's White House. In a statement, the transition says, quote, "Iran-backed proxies clearly see the clock ticking as President Trump will soon return to the White House with a strong national security team." That team of Trump nominees is also causing concern. Samra'a Luqman is a community organizer in Dearborn who previously identified as a Democrat. This year, she worked to elect Trump after he met with her and promised to end the war.
SAMRA'A LUQMAN: I'm not happy with any of them. I can't say I'm happy with any of the picks.
BUCHH: She points to Trump's choice for secretary of state, Marco Rubio. He's repeatedly opposed a ceasefire, calling for Israel to, quote, "destroy every element of Hamas they can get their hands on." And to Mike Huckabee, his pick for ambassador to Israel, who said there is, quote, "no such thing as a Palestinian."
LUQMAN: My fear is that, after all that we've done, all the political muscle we've exerted, that people would still not take our vote or our concerns seriously.
BUCHH: But Luqman doesn't regret her community's vote for Trump. She says Trump's cabinet will ultimately do what he tells them to do.
LUQMAN: Regardless of the players, the president is in charge, and he will fulfill his promise to stopping the war.
BUCHH: Not everyone sees it that way.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: Hey, those lies Trump told you, that's what they were. They were lies and he's about to drop you like a hot potato.
BUCHH: That's Abbas Alawieh. He co-founded the Uncommitted Movement in Michigan to protest President Biden's support of Israel's war effort. He sees no room to work with the Trump administration.
ALAWIEH: Donald Trump is an agent of chaos and white supremacy. And his White House is not going to be the kind of White House that we can engage with in a way that is coherent.
BUCHH: Alawieh himself voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, but he understands the people who didn't.
ALAWIEH: There are people in this community who decided to vote one way or another, but I think there's a common thread that we shouldn't be investing so heavily in destruction over peace.
BUCHH: And Trump voter Samra'a Luqman says the community won't stop advocating.
LUQMAN: I think what this has done, this election has done is really woken up a sleeping giant in terms of our community's political awareness and their political activism.
BUCHH: She says if Trump doesn't deliver on his promises, her community will organize to hold Republicans accountable, just like they did with the Democrats.
Ziad Buchh, NPR News, Dearborn, Michigan. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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