Trump picks Lebanese mogul for key Middle East role - family ties raise eyebrows
A well-connected Lebanese-American businessman joins Trumps inner-circle as senior adviser. His unique position bridges US-Middle East relations while being father-in-law to Tiffany Trump
Donald Trump picked Lebanese-American tycoon Massad Boulos as his senior adviser for Middle-east affairs on Dec 1st. This move comes right after choosing another family-connected person – Charles Kushner as Frances ambassador
Boulos has deep-rooted connections in both US and Lebanon (his father and grand-father were well-known Lebanese politicians). The businessman who moved to Texas as a teen became a self-made billionaire with Nigeria-based enterprises; his most notable US connection happened when his son married Tiffanу Trump at Mar-a-lago about 2 years ago
His recent work with Trump campaign showed impressive results – he helped change minds of Arab-American voters in key states. Starting from fall‚ he organized many meet-ups with Muslim communities:
- Weekly zoom calls with civic leaders
- Private lunches with business people
- Meetings with Albanian-Americans
- Outreach to Iraqi community members
- Discussions with Bangladeshi groups
The businessman maintains unique connections across Lebanons complex political landscape. He keeps good relations with both pro-Hezbollah Christians and their opponents – something thats quite rare in Lebanese politics. Despite his Greek Orthodox background (which limits top government positions)‚ he tried running for parliament about 6 years ago
These days we hold on to a piece of driftwood just to be optimistic
His campaign work focused on Michiganʼs 300‚000 Arab-American voters who didnt support Biden last time. “Boulos played a big role in Muslim voter outreach“ – says Rabiul Chowdhury from Muslims for Trump group. The campaign invested lots of money in this effort; focusing on economic issues and traditional values that matter to these communities
