“We have to make Biden lose”: Arab-Americans are switching to Trump

By Dan Halpern

In Dearborn, Michigan, on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, I met three young men outside America’s largest mosque. The Islamic Centre of America is an enormous sandstone and limestone building, its central golden dome is flanked by two towering minarets. The mosque lies on a thoroughfare called Ford Road, named after Henry, who came from the city, which is just outside Detroit. Thousands of people had congregated to mark the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.

This Eid, though, was different. Most of the mosques in Dearborn, where over half of the population is Arab-American, had cancelled their usual festivities. The mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, who was planning to host an Eid breakfast followed suit. It did not seem appropriate, they felt, given the suffering in Gaza. “We are breaking the fast, and in Gaza they are starving,” said one of the men, who asked me not to use his name. “Who knows what lists the government is making right now,” said his friend.