The first time Donald Trump ran for president, he campaigned on a promise of a Muslim ban on entry into the U.S. This time, he attempted to make inroads with Arab and Muslim American communities. 

“We have to get this whole thing over with,” he told a crowd assembled at The Great Commoner coffee shop in Dearborn, Michigan, a few days before the election, speaking to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and recent escalation in Lebanon, which directly impacted many members of Dearborn’s Palestinian and Lebanese-American communities. 

“We want to have peace,” he added. “We want to have peace on earth.”

His words earned him the support of prominent community leaders, such as Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi and neighboring Hamtramk’s Yemeni-American Mayor Amer Ghalib. He was also careful to leverage the support of his daughter Tiffany Trump’s Lebanese-American father-in-law, Massad Boulos, to speak to Dearborn’s substantial Lebanese community, many of whom have lost family members in Israel’s recent invasion into Lebanon.

But just a few days after the election, Trump had already announced multiple pro-Israel appointments, including but not limited to Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, who has openly said that Israel should destroy “every element” of Hamas, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who is known for introducing a bill cracking down on criticism of Israel to protect “God’s chosen people.” Many within Arab and Muslim American communities are concerned that this will only wreak more havoc in the Middle East.

“We are deeply concerned, but not surprised by President-elect Donald Trump’s recent pro-Israel cabinet appointments,” said Hudhayfah Ahmad, national spokesperson for the Abandon Harris campaign. “These selections signal a likely continuation of U.S. policies that undermine Palestinian human rights and contribute to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

Still, according to organizers, the Democratic party only has themselves to blame for losing the Arab and Muslim vote.

“This election cycle, not only did the Republicans out-organize the Democrats, the Democrats left many of us out of the coalition,” said Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. “They did not care about us or our causes.”

Nowhere was this disillusionment with the Democratic Party more apparent than in cities such as Dearborn, where only 36% of the majority Arab American population voted for Kamala Harris—even though it overwhelmingly supported Joe Biden four years ago. While some Arab Americans, such as Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi, who fled Lebanon as a child, always supported Trump, more than 18% of the vote went to Jill Stein, who campaigned largely on a platform of being the only political candidate to prioritize putting an end to the genocide in Gaza.

“It’s going to be a rude awakening for some people,” Rania Batrice, a political strategist and Bernie Sanders’ 2016 deputy campaign manager, said of Trump’s victory.

“I’m not talking about the hateful people who voted for Trump because they hate Black and brown people and women. I’m talking about the people who voted for him because they thought it would usher in something different.”

Along with Rubio and Noem, Trump has appointed Mick Huckabee as the Ambassador to Israel and Elise Stefanik as United Nations ambassador. Huckabee is a Christian Zionist who has openly said that he doesn’t believe in a two-state solution, and Stefanik is notorious for accusing students protesting the genocide of antisemitism. Even though Trump promised Arab and Muslim communities that he would usher in “an era of peace,” he also promised to “finish the job” in Gaza and set the Palestine solidarity movement back by 25 years. This plan is made clear in Project Esther, which, similar to Project 2025, was also drafted by the Heritage Foundation and pledges to crack down on antisemitism in the United States. It proposes to do this by targeting a network of “Hamas Support Organizations,” which includes social justice organizations and advocates who have expressed any criticism of Israel.

“It’s going to be really tempting to point fingers and blame people,” Batrice said, pointing out that Trump’s “divide and conquer” tactics won him the election. “The reality is, we have to come together—if we want any hope of literally defeating fascism, stopping a genocide, and stopping ethnic cleansing.”

However, Abuznaid pointed out that the Democratic party is also to blame for many of the policies that have impacted Arab Americans and, crucially, their family members in the Middle East. On top of failing to meaningfully advocate for a permanent and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, Biden’s administration has approved a $20 billion military aid package to Israel, contributing directly to the genocide.

“Trump is a Trump, and the reality is, we know they were coming for us—but the Democrats have been coming for us, too,” Abuznaid said, pointing out that bills like HR 9495, also known as the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, have bipartisan support. If enacted, the bill would give the U.S. Department of Treasury the power to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit deemed a “terrorist supporting organization.” Its opponents point out that, like Project Esther, it will disproportionately impact pro-Palestinian groups that are openly critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza. 

“But just because the Democratic party and the Republican party have rejected the Palestinian movement doesn’t mean that the masses have rejected us,” Abuznaid said, pointing out that over the past year, people have consistently turned out to protests in the thousands and advocated for ceasefire resolutions in their cities, sometimes successfully.

“We have to figure out how to absorb all of these people,” Abuznaid said, noting that regardless of their political affiliation, plenty of people have shown their solidarity with Palestine. “I’m not going to reject any of my community members away based on how they voted on election day. I want to build more power and bring more people in.”

Even though many people are hurt by Trump’s election and his appointments, Batrice says now, more than ever, it is important to organize and come together.

“We aren’t going to be able to organize like we used to—but that isn’t to say that we shouldn’t organize,” she said. 

“The cornerstone of white supremacy is division,” Batrice said, pointing out that the way that Trump made inroads with so many was to blame immigrants and people of color for their economic concerns. “Its goal is to keep us divided and see one another as competition—and this is the kind of scarcity mentality that Donald Trump is really, really good at.”

Batrice cautioned against leaning into those divisions.

“It’s really easy to say that every Trump voter is a bigoted asshole—and sometimes that’s true,” she said. “But I think the willingness to have conversations is going to be more important than ever.”