Arab and Muslim leaders are slamming Biden for refusing to meet them in Michigan to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza and accusing him of keeping details of his trip ‘secret’ to avoid protesters while taking selfies in a restaurant
- Donald Trump has led Biden in four consecutive polls in the state
- The White House was asked whether secrecy was an attempt to avoid protesters
- Biden visited a black-owned business and union building
President Joe Biden took selfies at a Black-owned sports bar and met with union workers during a campaign trip to Michigan on Thursday, but could not escape controversy over the war in Gaza as he was accused of shielding his movements to avoid protesters.
The president grinned with customers at They Say, a sports bar where patrons focused on the pre-Super Bowl hype of the NFL and Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark.
It was the site the Biden-Harris campaign chose to meet with religious leaders, on a day when he also held an event at a UAW union building in Warren, days after winning the powerful union’s endorsement.
He was joined by UAW President Shawn Fain, who gave a rousing speech last week in which he said Biden, who joined the union’s picket line during the strike, “deserved” the support.
The White House said it was in “regular contact” with Muslim and Arab leaders when asked why Biden did not meet with Arab-American groups during his visit to Michigan. He visited a black-owned bar and a union hall
Details about the locations he would visit were kept secret from the president’s official schedule, prompting questions from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about whether the secrecy was a plan to deter protesters. to avoid.
Khalid Turaani, whose group ‘Abandon Biden Campaign’ is demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, complained that he was kept in the dark about the location of Biden’s events.
βI believe Biden has failed his voters on such a monumental scale that he is afraid to meet them in a public forum,β he told the Detroit News. Either way, the optics are embarrassing for him.β
βWhy not have a meaningful conversation about how to change course with a community that knows firsthand what it’s like to live in the countries where your decision-making takes place?β said Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud.
Biden was accused of keeping his movements secret to avoid protests like the ones that followed him at fundraising and political events during Israel’s war against Hamas.
His city is home to one of the country’s largest Arab-American communities, amid the prospect that Biden’s support for Israel with its war against Hamas in Gaza could cost him political support in the state.
Michigan was part of Biden’s “Blue Wall” in 2020. Donald Trump wore this in 2016.
Asked whether Biden would meet Arab-American or Muslim leaders during the visit, Jean-Pierre said: “The president has met with Americans with diverse views on the conflict between Israel and Hamas” and said White House officials were “in regular contact with Islamic leaders’. and Arab-American leaders in Michigan across the country.β
She said administration officials will travel to Michigan in February to βhear directly from community leaders on a range of issues important to them and their families, including the Israel-Gaza conflict.β
Polls show Biden’s support among younger voters waning amid disapproval of his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza.
He signed an executive order Thursday allowing new financial sanctions against Israeli settlers who have gone after Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
In the union hall, Biden touted his economic agenda. ‘For me it is something fundamental, and I mean this sincerely. Wall Street didn’t build the middle class. Labor built the middle class, and the middle class built the country,β he said.
βWe’re going to fight hard and we’re going to make sure Joe Biden becomes the next president,β Fain said.
Donald Trump has led Biden in four consecutive polls in the state.