Dearborn Heights is a blue suburb of Detroit whose mayor is an Arab American named Bill Bazzi. Today, Politico published an interview in which Bazzi explained why he decided to endorse Donald Trump for president.

This is still considered a really blue section of Michigan, so your endorsement of Trump raised lots of eyebrows. Talk me through the process of that decision.

Both my parents were auto workers. It was always taught: You’ve got to work hard. My parents were socially conservative. But my parents always voted with Democrats. They thought, “Democrats are gonna take care of people like us.” All our life, we grew up thinking that.

With my experience with the military, spending time overseas, deployed to different countries that I served in and visited, getting to know leaders of different countries ... I wasn’t making a decision on the fly. In this election I was supporting Trump all the way.

Bazzi says Trump didn't outline a specific plan for ending the war in Gaza but did commit to bringing peace to the region. He also says he was put off by Harris when she brought Liz Cheney to the area to campaign. For him, that was a reminder of Cheney's father and the Iraq war, the opposite of the peace in the Middle East that he is hoping to see. 

Bazzi was also enthusiastic about something else Trump said on a different topic.

When he was talking about countries sending their criminals into the United States, that he’s going to send these people back.

I heard him say a few times that if these countries don’t want to take their people back, then we just cut their military aid or aid period.

So immigration is also a factor in his decision to endorse. What I take away from all of this is that Bazzi sounds a lot like a conservative. He was raised in a socially conservative family, he's apparently a veteran and he's concerned about immigration getting out of hand and public safety. Given all of that, his endorsement of Trump doesn't seem like a stretch, it seems inevitable. The interview wrapped up with a question about what happens if Harris wins. His answer was amusing.

So if Trump loses, will you be able to work with a Harris administration?

All I can say is, God help us.

Generally speaking i'm not convinced that endorsements, especially the ones coming from newspapers, make a big difference. But this seems different. Bazzi is stepping out and really going against the grain here, the assumption that Arab Americans are always going to vote blue. We'll find out later today or tomorrow if other Arab Americans in Michigan felt the same way in significant numbers.