Trump in Dearborn says people 'aren't doing their job' on Middle East conflict

DEARBORN, Mich. — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump campaigned Friday in Dearborn, the nation’s largest Arab-majority city, contending that peace in the Middle East can and should be achieved.

Four days before Tuesday's election, Trump greeted a crowd of supporters inside The Great Commoner, a cafe on Michigan Avenue in west Dearborn. The former president was presented with a plaque in the shape of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, and he autographed other plaques that featured a quote about peace from Republican former President Ronald Reagan.

Trump answered a handful of questions from reporters but didn't lay out his specific plans for how he would resolve the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and the militant group Hamas. There are people in the U.S. and the Middle East "that aren't doing their job," Trump said.

"When they get it together, when they get it right, you're going to have peace," Trump said.

"You’re going to have peace in the Middle East," Trump said at another point. "And they should have in the Middle East, but not with the clowns you have in the Middle East."

It wasn't clear whom Trump was referring to as "clowns."

Trump didn’t respond to a question on whether he thought what was happening in Gaza was a genocide.

For months, Trump has been attempting to win over Arab-American voters, many of whom reside in traditionally Democratic-leaning areas of Michigan but have argued that Democratic President Joe Biden hasn't done enough to end the war in the Middle East.

In the February Democratic primary in Michigan, 101,623 ballots were cast for "uncommitted," in protest of Biden’s support of Israel in the ongoing conflict. Biden ended his bid for reelection on July 21, leading to Democrats nominating Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

Among the 50 states, Michigan has the second largest population of Arab-Americans at about 392,000, according to the nonprofit Arab American Institute.

On Oct. 18, Trump visited Hamtramck and campaigned with the city's mayor, Amer Ghalib, who is Muslim. During that trip, Trump told reporters that Biden was trying to hold back Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel.

“He probably should be doing the opposite,” said Trump, who did not elaborate on the remark.

In a social media post Friday, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the only Palestinian American member of Congress, labeled Trump "a proud Islamophobe" and "serial liar who doesn't stand for peace."

But Tlaib, a fierce critic of Israel, hasn't endorsed Harris this fall.

"The reality is that the Biden admin’s unconditional support for genocide is what got us here," Tlaib added. "This should be a wake-up call for those who continue to support genocide. This election didn't have to be close."

However, Sami Khaldi, president of the Dearborn Democratic Club, said Trump was trying to recast himself. He is not the candidate of peace but the candidate of divisiveness, Khaldi argued.

"Vice President Harris has been very clear: She believes it is time to end the war in Gaza, bring the hostages home and end the suffering once and for all — all while ensuring Israel is secure and ensuring Palestinians can realize their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination," Khaldi added.

Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, made a series of comments related to Muslims during an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan on Wednesday. Rogan referenced some group of Muslim activists who are seeking to "out-breed everyone who is not Muslim."

"Scares the hell out of me," Vance replied during the three-hour interview.

"Where you see actual real religious tyranny is increasingly in western societies where you have had a large influx of immigrants who don't necessarily assimilate into western values, but try to create, I think a religious tyranny at the local level," Vance added.

Trump's visit to Michigan Friday, came four days before Tuesday's presidential election. This fall, he's been locked in a tight race in Michigan with Harris, a former U.S. senator from California. She'll make a series of stops in Michigan on Sunday.

Vance campaigned Friday in Kalamazoo County, while Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was holding rallies in Detroit, Flint and Traverse City.

A late October poll of 600 likely Michigan voters, commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV (Channel 4), found Harris was beating Trump by 3 percentage points, 46.7%-43.7%, with 7.3% of the participants saying they planned to vote for a third-party candidate. Another 2.1% said they were undecided.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Four years ago, Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump in Michigan by 154,188 votes or 3 percentage points, 51%-48%.

After his stop in Dearborn, Trump traveled to Warren where supporters gathered at Macomb Community College for what's expected to be his last stop in Macomb County before Tuesday's election.

Trump took the stage in Warren shortly before 5 p.m. Friday.

A couple hours before Trump was set to take the stage in Warren, the seating area for the rally was full, dotted here and there with individuals wearing reflective vests and garbage bags. The outfits were a nod to President Joe Biden’s recent description of Trump supporters as “garbage” and Trump’s donning a reflective vest while riding shotgun in a garbage truck and hosting a rally in Wisconsin.

“I am not a deplorable, I am not garbage, and I certainly am not a dumb or weak woman,” U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., said from the stage ahead of Trump’s stop. “How many of you strong women are with me right now? I mean really, what happened to Kamala’s campaign of joy? Kind of went out the window, didn’t it?”

For Dave Noble, of Howell, Friday’s rally marked his second time seeing Trump. He attended a rally in the same spot in 2020 and is a long-time Trump supporter.

Initially, Noble said, he was attracted to the New York businessman because of his success in business and believed it would be good for someone with that background to sit in the Oval Office. Over the years, he said, Trump has built a coalition of support that will aid his policy goals should he return to the White House.

“He’s now not necessarily in the building phase,” Noble said. “But, instead, he’s now focusing on policy and what really makes a difference in our lives. The economy. Broken borders. Wars. I don’t want my kids to go to war or anyone else’s.”

James Benson, a Ford employee and member of the UAW Local 900, said he initially didn’t support Trump in 2016, describing him at the time as the “guy from 'The Apprentice.'” But he said his impression of Trump began to change in 2017.

“As time went on, I got better paychecks, the tax cuts worked out good for me and all these good things kicked in,” Benson said. “Seeing the policies working in my own life, not even talking to anyone else, it benefitted me. So that’s why, in 2020, I decided to vote for him.”

Benson called UAW President Shawn Fain’s endorsement of Harris as a “slap in the face” that isn’t reflective of a good portion of the union.

Benson, who used to work in Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant where the F-150 Lightning EV is produced, expressed frustration with the push for electric vehicle production, pointing to Ford announcing plans Thursday to idle the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center for seven weeks to address “sales growth and profitability.”

“There are people that want them, and I’ve got no problem,” Benson said. “Want to buy them? That’s great. But for normal people like me who drive up north with a boat or something like that, it’s never going to work.”