Extracts: Hassan Abdel Salam, a former professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and co-founder of the “Abandon Harris” campaign which endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein said,
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Trump's staffing plans were not surprising but had proven even more extreme than he had feared
Salam added,
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"It's like he's going on Zionist overdrive" "We were always extremely skeptical ... Obviously we're still waiting to see where the administration will go but it does look like our community has been played"
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment
Richard Grenell: Several Muslim and Arab supporters of Trump said they hoped Richard Grenell, Trump's former acting director of national intelligence, would play a key role after he led months of outreach to Muslim and Arab American communities and was even introduced as a potential next secretary of state at events
Massad Boulos: Another key Trump ally, Massad Boulos, the Lebanese father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany, met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders
Both promised Arab American and Muslim voters that Trump was a candidate for peace who would act swiftly to end the wars in the Middle East and beyond Neither was immediately reachable
Trump made several visits to cities with large Arab American and Muslim populations, include a stop in Dearborn, a majority Arab city, where Trump said he loved Muslims and Pittsburgh, where he called Muslims for Trump "a beautiful movement
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“They want peace They want stability"
Bill Bazzi, mayor of neighboring Dearborn Heights, who endorsed Trump, said he met the president-elect three times and still believed he would work to end the war, despite the cabinet appointments
Rola Makki, the Lebanese American, Muslim vice chair for outreach of the Michigan Republican Party, agreed
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"I don't think everyone's going to be happy with every appointment Trump makes but the outcome is what matters"
"I do know that Trump wants peace and what people need to realize is that there's 50,000 dead Palestinians and 3,000 dead Lebanese and that's happened during the current administration"
*Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Peter Graff and Clarence Fernandez
