Loyalty in Question: Mayor Beydoun, the Phone Call, and the Lebanese Legacy

Alright, folks — strap in. It’s time for another episode of Mofawar City Mayor Edition™, and our star tonight: Moe Beydoun, freshly elected mayor of Dearborn Heights. Big win, big dreams, big responsibilities. But there’s one phone call (alleged) that’s clanging louder than the campaign bells. A call from Nabih Berri — yes, that Berri — and suddenly our local leader turned into a puppy wagging his tail. Let’s unpack this.

Who’s Who

• Moe Beydoun: The new face in Dearborn Heights power. He won the mayoral election on November 4, 2025, with about 68% of the vote. He transitioned from Council President to Acting Mayor and then full term.

• Nabih Berri: Long‐time Lebanese political heavyweight, speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, leader in the Shiite Amal movement, deeply tied into Lebanon’s entrenched patronage system.   Multiple investigations and analyses peg Berri as a key part of the “arms, corruption and electoral sabotage” trinity in Lebanon’s crisis. 

The Phone Call & Why It Matters

Word on the street—or at least the Facebook alleys—is that Beydoun took a call from Berri and responded not like a mayor but like a grateful understudy: “Thank you boss,” “I appreciate your support,” tail wag activated. The image: a Lebanese‐American official in Michigan performing obeisance to a Lebanese war‑era patron. If true, it’s juicy.

Why does that matter?

Because we’re talking loyalty. The mayor took an oath to Dearborn Heights. He promised service, transparency, responsiveness to this city, this electorate. And yet this alleged call suggests the loyalty may not run to the city — but to the captor.

The Lebanese Patronage Playbook

Here’s the pattern:

• Berri has for decades used sectarian networks, arms deals, political favour—all as levers to stay in power. 

• Loyalty in that model isn’t to the public good; it’s to the boss, the za’im, the patron who delivers the contracts, the jobs, the protection.

• Now in the diaspora, that legacy doesn’t magically vanish. Immigrants carry with them not just recipes and dialects, but cultural memories: “Who’s your za’im? Who signs off? Who’s your backup?”

So when a local mayor—who campaigned on local infrastructure, safe streets, community renewal—is observed behaving like a protégé of a foreign patron, it raises alarm bells: whose project is this? Yours? Or his?

Beydoun’s Choice: City First or Patron First?

Let’s test the hypothesis with three questions:

1. Transparency & Accountability: If the mayor is beholden to a foreign patronage network, do we expect open bidding, citizen input, fearless oversight? Or whispers in the back hallway?

2. Local vs External Loyalties: Are decisions being made in Dearborn Heights for Dearborn Heights, or for “the network” that transcends the city lines?

3. Symbolism Matters: That phone call (even if informal) is symbolic. It broadcasts: “Someone overseas holds the leash.” For a city where people voted for community uplift, that signal matters.

Why the Community Should Care

Because this isn’t about ethnicity or nationality—this is about governance. Arab‑American, Lebanese‑American, every label in the mix: you deserve a mayor who serves you, not a boardroom in Beirut. When you vote, you’re saying: “You’re accountable to us.” Not the other way round.

The gags of “Hijab Olympics” or “Free Hussayn food = money laundering” aside—there’s a line between satire and cynicism. If the mayor’s loyalty is ambiguous, maybe it’s not funny anymore—it’s concerning.

What to Watch

• Contract disclosures: Are any firms tied to Lebanese networks winning city bids?

• Prominent calls & visits: Is the mayor making unannounced trips, meeting foreign patrons, taking calls at odd hours?

• Decision patterns: Are we seeing policy that favors local + minority communities, or is it favoring external networks, donor logics, patron loops?

• Community oversight: The public should ask: who is pulling the strings behind the scenes?

Final Word

Moe Beydoun had a historic win. The Arab‑American community in Metro Detroit celebrated. But with power comes clarity of where that power originates. The question is not “Is Beydoun Lebanese?” or “Is he Arab‑American?” The question is: Who does he serve when the phone rings at 2 a.m.? His constituents in Dearborn Heights—or someone else’s network halfway across the world?

Until we see the mayor show loyalty to the city first, to its residents, to its public interest—not just to a call, a patron, a pledge—we’ll keep raising our eyebrows. Because satire works when it stings truthfully. And this — well, this stings because it might be true.

Disgracefully,

Habib