For John Akouri, whose father immigrated from Tripoli, Lebanon, in 1955, there is only one choice for president in November’s election: Donald Trump, despite the Muslim travel ban during his presidency, the felony falsifying business records conviction and the unadulterated drama constantly surrounding him.
“After almost two decades of wars and watching [the Islamic State] cause devastation in Syria and in Iraq we needed someone to come in and clean things up,” he said of his initial draw to Trump for the 2016 election. “So, I thought on a foreign policy and national level he was saying the right things. He was a breath of fresh air,” he continued, referencing Trump’s withdrawal of thousands of US troops from Syria in 2019.
