Dr. Massad Boulos is a prominent figure in the campaign of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, where he serves as the coordinator for Arab relations. Dr. Boulos is of Lebanese descent and is known for his active role in building bridges of communication between the Arab community in the United States and American politicians. He has extensive experience in international relations and Middle Eastern affairs, and through his role in the campaign, he aims to represent the interests and aspirations of Arab Americans in the U.S. political arena. During his visit to Houston, Lebanon Times magazine conducted an interview with him to shed light on the purpose of the visit.
What is the primary purpose of your visit to Houston at this time?
The main purpose of visiting Houston at this time is to reconnect and strengthen the links with our fellow Middle Easterners, friends, family, and great community which is very large, powerful, and influential in Texas, and will make a difference in these upcoming 2024 elections.
What message do you want to convey to the Arab community in Houston through this visit?
The message is that President Trump has nothing but love, respect, and admiration to our community. But above all, we need a strong President like Trump who loves peace, can end all wars, and prevent world war three. In addition, we must save America from the serious decline we’re experiencing for the last 4 years, including the economy and inflation, border crisis, rising crime, and the serious attack on our social values and principles. Only President Trump can achieve this promptly.
How do you view the role of the Arab community in the upcoming presidential elections, and what makes their voice impactful?
Arab-American voters have a very key role to play during this election cycle, much bigger than ever before, especially in key swing states such as Michigan, Arizona, and others where the margins of victory have recently been just some few thousand votes (about ten to eleven thousand votes in Georgia and Arizona in 2020, and about sixteen thousand votes in Michigan in 2016). Arab-Americans in Michigan alone are close to half a million in number, so any voter turnout within this community will play a significant role in determining the next winner.
What are the key policies that Donald Trump supports regarding issues important to the Arab community?
Arab-Americans have been very angry with the Biden/Harris Administration. As a result of this administration’s perceived weakness on the global stage, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have started and kept on for months. In addition to serious tensions between China and Taiwan, tensions with Iran, North Korea, Africa, etc. Gaza is the single most important issue at this time with regard to this big voter block. As a consequence of the Biden/Harris failure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and failure to put an end to the outrageous civilian casualties, Arab-Americans have created several movements to express their anger and discontent with this administration, including hundreds of thousands of uncommitted votes during the Democrat Party’s primary elections. President Trump has made it clear that the war in Gaza should never have happened, and it wouldn’t have happened had he been in the White House. He’s totally against civilian deaths, and he’ll work tirelessly, from day one, to end this war and to bring back peace to the Middle East. We must not also forget the social issues which are very dear to our communities who are culturally and religiously conservative by nature and cannot accept the extreme radical leftist social agenda of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
How do you plan to rally support for Donald Trump among the Arab community during this campaign?
President Trump is the President of peace. He’s the only President in the United States’ modern history who didn’t start any wars; in fact, he ended wars and withdrew US troops. He’s the only President who was able to achieve four piece accords (the Abraham Accords) with four important Arab countries, and was about to achieve the fifth one with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – in addition to his efforts and attempts toward achieving a two-state solution that would be acceptable to both the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Do you have a vision for strengthening relations between the United States and Arab countries if Donald Trump wins the election?
President Trump has made it clear that he’ll work toward achieving peace in the Middle East very fast. And that’s what matters the most to Arab-Americans, in addition to the other important domestic matters such as strong economy, no inflation, low taxes, less regulations, strong borders, conservative social policies, etc. President Trump has enjoyed great and cordial relationships with most Arab countries. The bilateral relationships have been very successful with many of them during President Trump tenure both politically and economically. He’ll continue with this trend of positive engagement, win-win approach, and he’ll strengthen the US relations with additional Arab countries as well. President Trump was the only President who had two Arab-Americans as members of his cabinet in very important positions. In addition to these two crucial secretaries, he also had many others in his administration. Most Arab-Americans are highly educated and very successful professionals, and many others are highly successful business people, and they certainly qualify to play serious functions in various roles in Government.
In your opinion, what challenges does the Arab community in America face, and how can the presidential campaign address these challenges?
The Biden/Harris foreign policies have been a disaster, and they’ve brought nothing but chaos all over the world, including the Middle East, Ukraine/Russia, China/Taiwan, North Korea and several African regions. The Biden/Harris policies regarding the Palestinian matter have been a total and complete failure. They failed to achieve a seize-fire in Gaza for several months, and they’ve even failed with the humanitarian aspect as well. They also ignored a proposal for a two-state solution submitted to them by the Palestinian Authority, despite the fact that this proposal was fully supported by all the key regional Arab states. President Trump worked tirelessly for four years with his great team to achieve peace and prosperity in the Middle East. President Trump has also indicated severally that Iran was ready to sit at the table and talk, towards the end of his first term, and would have negotiated a new nuclear deal had time permitted. If reelected, the plan is to forge ahead on all of these three fronts: Abraham accords with more Arab states, Palestinian-Israeli solution, and a new deal with Iran.
