By Andrea Tucci,
Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-born businessman, has acted as one of Donald Trump’s key emissaries to the Arab American community during the election cycle, with a mission to secure their support for Trump’s presidential campaign as they moved away from the Democratic Party mainly over the war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Boulos, a billionaire with extensive business ties in Nigeria, joined Trump’s inner circle through family connections; his son, Michael Boulos, married Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump’s youngest daughter, in 2022.
Boulos is born in Lebanon and moved to Texas as a teenager, where he attended the University of Houston, eventually earning a law degree.
After completing his education, Boulos returned in Nigeria to his family’s business specialising in the distribution of motor vehicles across West Africa, where now is the CEO of his company the SCOA Nigeria.
Boulos is no stranger to politics having previously ran for a parliamentary seat in Lebanon in 2009. He reportedly maintains connections with influential Lebanese figures, including Christian politician Sleiman Frangieh, an ally of Hezbollah.
Photo: Suleiman Antoine Frangieh, Lebanese politician. Former Member of the Lebanese Parliament for the Maronite
However, his entry into American politics began following his son’s relationship with Tiffany Trump, which eventually led to his closer involvement with the Trump family.
Boulos’s political reach has focused on mobilising Arab American voters, particularly those dissatisfied with the Biden-Harris administration’s stance on Israel’s genocide in Gaza and war on Lebanon with protests and significant opposition voiced in key states like Michigan. By all accounts, this was a key cause for Kamala Harris losing this state.
Boulos sustained that Trump’s approach has represented a better alternative to guarantee stability and avoid further Middle Eastern conflicts.
It is also true that during his previous term, Trump made several unprecedented moves in support of Israel’s illegal settlements and occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories, including relocating the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, while brokering the controversial Abraham Accords with several Arab nations that sought to sidestep the Palestinian question completely.
But Surely we have to also underline that under Biden-Kamala Harris admnistation it wasn’t possible to engage the Arab and Muslim communities and many shifted away from the Democrats, meanwhile Boulos helped Trump tap into his longstanding connections within the Arab American community.
During Trump’s presidential campaign Boulos, with his role as Trump’s Coordinator of Arab Relations, actively engaged with Lebanese media to communicate the messages of Trump’s outlining strategies to attract Arab American voters where the tragic situation in Gaza has been a top priority for Arab and Muslim voters.
President Trump, during his four years in office, was the only president in modern US history who did not start any wars; he ended wars especially from the Middle East and other regions like Afghanistan, contrary Biden’s administration was unable to reach a ceasefire over one year since the war began.
Speaking in Arabic during an interview with Al Arabiya, Boulos emphasised Trump’s alleged open-mindedness towards Arabs and Muslims, and the alignment of Arab and Muslim American conservative values with the Republican Party.
However, during the Election Days proved many of them were willing to vote Trump to punish the Democrats, a kind of protest vote rather than a reflection of trust in Trump.
Trump’s team was acutely aware of the protest vote that Harris encountered among Arab Americans, particularly in states like Michigan, where this community wields significant political influence.
Boulos, through provate fundraising and public engagements, has argued that a vote away from Harris, indirectly supported Trump’s return to the White House, a message designed to resonate amid Arab American frustration with US foreign policy, as well as running cynical ads targeting Arab Americans targeting Harris’ very poor results on Gaza.
On the Lebanon-Israel conflict, Boulos had stated that “if Trump he had won the elections he would act immediately to end the war in Lebanon and won’t wait until his inauguration in January”.
Now there is nothing left for us to do but wait and pray for an early PEACE!!
