Michael Hernandez
28 March 2025•Update: 28 March 2025
WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump thanked the "hundreds of thousands" of Muslim Americans who lent him their support during the 2024 presidential election as he hosted the first White House Ramadan iftar dinner of his second term in office.
Trump said the Muslim community "was there for us in November," referring to last year's election, and vowed to "be there for you" in return.
"As we honor the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, let me begin by saying to our Muslim friends, we have many tonight, and I think we have many all over the world based on the results in Michigan, other places, but I just want to say hello to all of the people that supported us so strongly, Ramdan Mubarak," he said in the State Dining Room.
"We're keeping our promises to the Muslim community. My administration is engaged in relentless diplomacy to forging lasting peace in the Middle East, building on the historic Abraham Accords, which everybody said would be impossible, and now we're going to start filling them out," he added.
Trump was alluding to a series of agreements forged during his first term that normalized relations between Israel and several Muslim-majority countries.
A historic number of Muslim Americans cast votes in the 2024 election for Trump, in a stark departure from the community's traditional support for the Democratic Party. That was largely due to widespread discontent driven by ex-President Joe Biden's support for Israel's war on Gaza.
Trump had repeatedly vowed on the campaign trail to end the conflict, and a ceasefire was agreed to shortly before he assumed office in January.
Israel, however, resumed its offensive on the besieged coastal enclave earlier this month, shattering the truce with attacks that have killed hundreds of Palestinians. Amid the unfolding tragedy, Trump has stood in lockstep with Israel and is seeking to supply the country with billions of dollars in new military assistance.
He has also controversially proposed taking ownership of Gaza and displacing the roughly 2 million Palestinians who live there so that the territory can be developed in his image. The proposal has been widely panned.
It is unclear how many Muslims were in attendance for Thursday night's iftar, but there were seats in the room for just over 60 people. Many of those in attendance were non-Muslim Trump political appointees and political allies, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Deputy Middle East Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus.
