Muslim American is Pro-Trump

This Muslim American is pro-life and pro-Trump.

Transcript

00:00The things that influence my vote are my Islamic beliefs and my core beliefs in who I am,

00:06which are very much pro-life, pro-family values, pro-traditional marriage,

00:12and that's why I tend to support a lot of Republicans.

00:23I think President Trump was the right choice in 2016,

00:27and I think he's done a good job for the country so far, and we do look forward to

00:30seeing him in office for another six years or so. I grew up in Portland, Oregon, so it's very much

00:35a blue state, and it was very blue all along. Growing up, I didn't know any Republicans.

00:42Mostly everybody around me was Democrat, but the more I looked into Democrats and the more I

00:47studied their platform and their views, it was clear that it was very hard for me to support

00:54those based on my Islamic values. A lot of things were in direct conflict of what I believe in,

01:00and as challenging as it has been to try to make a place for Muslim Republicans,

01:06it's still worth it, and I think as long as I'm okay with my own core beliefs and

01:11why I'm a conservative, I don't care what other people think or say.

01:15The biggest misconceptions that people have about Muslim Republicans is about why we're getting

01:20involved with a party which is very much anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim, but I believe it's

01:26in our interest to get involved and change that view. When we had the initial Muslim ban come out,

01:31people were very concerned about traveling to countries. We had citizens who were from Iran and

01:38various countries that were on the initial list who were concerned about traveling back and forth

01:44to their native lands. When I had discussions with members of our community about how we need to

01:48engage with President Trump on changing his policies, people were very concerned about

01:53even giving him any chance and highly skeptical of our efforts, but at the same time, I think

01:59we had people within the administration that did listen to us and we were able to get involved.

02:04We had people within the administration that did listen to us and we were able to change those

02:10policies, and it was not a blanket Muslim ban. It was more of a national security issue,

02:15limiting immigration from certain countries that were already on the no-travel zone

02:22from the war zones. So I think we just need to work with the administration. We can't afford

02:27to cut them out. It is our president and it is our White House. It is the people's house.

02:33This is our Congress. I think we have to get involved and we have to make sure our voices get

02:38heard. If I had to advise President Trump, I would tell him to hire Muslim Americans in his

02:50administration, especially in the key cabinet-level positions. I want to see more diversity. I want to

02:57see more Muslims involved so that it helps change the perspective of Muslims in America.

03:03I think he needs to reach out to minorities and change the view that

03:07he hates Muslims or that Muslims aren't welcomed at the White House.

03:21I wish I could have done more in 2016 to get more Muslims involved in the Republican

03:26Party. I kept on trying to convince Muslims to support Republicans and it was so challenging.

03:31At that time, everybody was talking about Hillary Clinton and how about we need to support Democrats

03:36and it was so hard within the community, that atmosphere of just one-sided politics. I wish

03:42that we weren't so blindsided by Republican elections. I hope that in 2020 and beyond,

03:49Muslims will get their voices heard and get involved in GOP politics.