by Benjamin Baird
Foul-Mouthed Bigot and Med School Dropout Could Be Next Ambassador to Kuwait
 |
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee convenes tomorrow, Thursday, October 23, 2025, to consider Hamtramck, Michigan Mayor Amer Ghalib’s nomination as U.S. ambassador to Kuwait. Shutterstock |
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee convenes tomorrow, Thursday, October 23, 2025, to consider Hamtramck, Michigan Mayor Amer Ghalib’s nomination as U.S. ambassador to Kuwait. After facing months of delays stemming from Ghalib’s controversial past, the Senate now has the opportunity to demand on-the-record answers from Ghalib regarding his abysmal qualifications and character. Members should grill the nominee for lying to media and government officials about his medical schooling, and they should ask tough questions about Ghalib’s use of racist and hateful commentary aimed at African Americans, Jews, Christians, and the gay community. Ghalib should also answer for his administration of Hamtramck, which is plagued by scandals involving systemic voter fraud and the adoption of Islamist policies.
Amer Ghalib, a Yemeni American, the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, and has been nominated by President Trump to be the next U.S. ambassador to Kuwait. #USAwithYemen pic.twitter.com/a9PBbyxFOK
— U.S. Embassy Yemen السفارة الأمريكية لدى اليمن (@USEmbassyYemen) April 8, 2025
Thursday’s hearing will give the committee the chance to ask Ghalib about his apparent habit of padding his resumé. Prior to his election as mayor in July 2021, the local Hamtramck Review asked the candidate why he allowed his supporters to refer to him as “Dr. Ghalib” despite his not being a physician.
“People call me doctor because I finished medical school in an American foreign medical school, and I’m still working on equivalency to obtain full certification,” he told the newspaper, adding he was “waiting for residency,” or the post-graduate training required for full certification as a practicing doctor. However, when Ghalib spoke to the Detroit Free Press a few months later, there was no uncertainty about his qualifications. He insisted he never referred to himself as a doctor, because he wasn’t certified as one. Certification records from Michigan show he is an active registered nurse.
Ghalib’s assertion that he completed medical school was used to buttress his credibility as a diplomatic nominee when the Trump Administration announced his appointment, declaring that Ghalib “earned his M.D. from the Ross University School of Medicine” and continued to “serve his community as a proud healthcare professional.”
Responding to a press inquiry, Adtalem Global Education, the parent company to Ross University School of Medicine, verified that Ghalib “attended” classes, “but did not earn a degree.” In other words, the would-be ambassador to Kuwait is a Caribbean medical school dropout.
Ghalib has a track record of statements at odds with administration policies
Ghalib’s efforts to burnish his reputation should come as no surprise in light of the comments he made at 2021 speech in front of an intimate audience of Yemeni American supporters in California. At this event, Ghalib spoke about his transition from medicine to politics. “In medicine, it’s an evidence-based practice. Everything’s based on research and facts. In politics, everything is based on opinion. And, you know, sometimes you don’t have to say the truth. You just have to say something to make people happy,” he admitted.
Ghalib’s Bigoted Expressions
Unfortunately, Ghalib’s relationship with the truth is hardly his only problem. Members of the Senate Foreign Relationships Committee will need to consider a nominee who has endorsed statements referring to African Americans as “animal” and “inhuman,” and Jews as “monkeys.”
Arabic language social media posts first highlighted by the Middle East Forum cast Ghalib as a foul-mouthed political novice. He once shared an online meme mocking black people as alcoholics and looters, inviting a torrent of racist commentary on his Facebook page. He used derogatory terms to describe Christians and accused weak and insincere Arab leaders of secretly becoming Jewish.
Crucially, Hamtramck‘s mayor praised Saddam Hussein as a “martyr” and denounced the “Satanic media” coverage of the Iraqi dictator, whose army invaded Kuwait, executing and torturing its citizens under occupation.Ghalib also decried the media’s treatment of the Muslim Brotherhood, a violent Islamist movement banned throughout much of the Persian Gulf.
As mayor, Ghalib banned the flying of “gay pride” flags in June 2023, arguing that there should be no political symbols “to confirm the neutrality of the city towards its residents.”Yet, the mayor sang a different tune six months later, when he cast the tie-breaking vote for a resolution to rename the main thoroughfare in Hamtramck “Palestine Avenue.” So much for neutrality.
Hamtramck’s all-male, all-Muslim city council is entangled in accusations of ballot fraud that have plagued the city for more than a decade. In August, two Hamtramck city councilmen were indicted on charges election and absentee ballot fraud. During the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, Ghalib admitted on Facebook to filling out ballots on behalf of other voters, whom he urged to change their votes from Joe Biden to Bernie Sanders, “the Jewish guy.”
Did Ghalib Deliver Votes?
Although Ghalib has been credited for rallying Muslims behind Trump in a key battleground state, questions remain about his actual impact on the presidential race. After all, Kamala Harris won in Hamtramck, which experienced an abysmally low turnout. Commenting on Election Day, Ghalib insisted that his support for Trump drove his own critics to the polls to vote for the Democratic candidate out of spite.
The nominee also has a track record of statements at odds with administration policies. Back in 2020, Ghalib disagreed with Trump’s characterization of the Abraham Accords, the Trump-brokered normalization between Arab countries and Israel, as a “great historic achievement,” calling it a scheme to “antagonize the Arab peoples and their sentiments.” A self-described Democrat, Ghalib lauded Republicans who defied Trump on January 6, 2021, and he denounced Trump’s “displacement plans” for Gazans.
The nomination of an individual with misrepresented medical credentials, concerning statements about racial and religious groups, and praise for Saddam Hussein—the dictator who brutally invaded Kuwait—raises serious questions about his suitability to serve as ambassador to that very nation.
Americans concerned with Ghalib’s nomination can sign up for an MEF Action campaign and call on their senators to grill the nominee with tough questions about his past during Thursday’s confirmation hearing. By signing up, participants will ensure the Senate carefully examines Mayor Ghalib’s qualifications and reports his nomination unfavorably.
Benjamin Baird is a public affairs specialist who organizes grassroots advocacy
campaigns in support of Middle East Forum projects. He mobilizes
constituencies to support MEF policy objectives, coordinates effective
public pressure campaigns, and uses bold and creative techniques to
disrupt the policy-making arena. Mr. Baird is a U.S. Army infantry
veteran with a B.A. from American Military University. His writing can
be found at National Review, New York Post, Jerusalem Post, and other prominent media outlets.
Source: https://www.meforum.org/fwi/fwi-opinion-interview/senate-to-hold-confirmation-hearings-for-disgraced-michigan-mayor-amer-ghalib
No comments:
Post a Comment