Traditionally Dem leaders in key Michigan voting bloc ditch Harris, endorse Trump

"Just look where we're at right now and look where we were before," Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi told reporters during an online call Monday.

In Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit with the largest per capita Muslim population in the U.S., a movement bubbled up earlier this year to "Abandon Biden" during the state's Democratic primary. While President Biden was still able to secure the nomination, leaders of the campaign against him hailed its success, noting that over 100,000 people failed to support the president and arguing they would continue to use their influence as the general election drew near.

However, questions remained whether members of a community who have traditionally voted Democrat for so long and where Trump was deeply unpopular could suddenly turn around and support his latest bid for the White House, something Bazzi is now encouraging them to do.

"I can tell you, a lot of people are actually swaying to voting for Trump because they really don't like what going on," Bazzi said. "They think their future doesn't look bright with the administration and the way they're heading."

"The current administration has done nothing, and the war is expanding to other countries, and it could be a regional war and maybe even World War III," Ghalib said. "President Trump keeps saying that he will end the chaos in the Middle East, and I talked to him personally, I told him 'your strength is that no wars happened during your term, so we want it to stay that way.'"

While Ghalib acknowledged that some of Trump's past rhetoric offended those in the community, his outreach since has made a difference. That outreach has worked, the mayor argued, noting that there is a "portion of the community that's considering supporting Trump, and historically, those people used to vote Democrat."

"Some people are trying to vote for a third party because they predict that President Trump may do the same thing or even worse," he said. "What could be worse than what's going on now? There's nothing worse."