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Trump's In-Laws Celebrate his Election Win in Kfaraakka, Lebanon

From right to left: Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Sara Zuhair Fadoul and Massad Boulos. (Social media)
From right to left: Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Sara Zuhair Fadoul and Massad Boulos. (Social media)
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Trump's In-Laws Celebrate his Election Win in Kfaraakka, Lebanon

From right to left: Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Sara Zuhair Fadoul and Massad Boulos. (Social media)
From right to left: Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Sara Zuhair Fadoul and Massad Boulos. (Social media)

Mary-Therese, 75, Michael Boulos’ grandmother, couldn’t hold back her tears of joy at her home in Kfaraakka, northern Lebanon, when she heard the news of her grandson-in-law Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

Michael is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany.

Mary-Therese followed the election closely on TV and stayed in touch with her children in the US, who were actively involved in the campaign.

The Boulos family, some traveling from Kfaraakka, worked hard to support Trump’s victory. Michael’s father, Massad, played a key role in connecting with the Arab community, especially in Michigan, securing votes from Lebanese Americans.

Massad was joined in his efforts by his sister, Michael’s sibling, and his sister Viviane and her daughter. Michael’s fourth sibling, Philippe, couldn’t participate due to business commitments in Africa and Lebanon.

As family friend Dr. Lily Mleha Fayyad shared, it’s common for Trump to involve his family in his campaigns.

The residents of Koura celebrated Trump’s victory, feeling connected through Michael. Well-wishers filled the family’s home, and the phone never stopped ringing.

“We were so happy when Michael and Tiffany married,” said Marlene from Kfaraakka.

“We were proud to see his father, Massad, on TV, especially for his efforts in convincing the Arab community to support Trump. We hope to see him as a US envoy to Lebanon soon, helping bring peace, as promised.”

Few in Kfaraakka know Michael personally, as he was born in Lebanon, raised in Nigeria, and educated in the US, but always spent his vacations in Lebanon.

“We’d see him visit with his family, but we know Massad well,” Marlene added. “He grew up here, and everyone loves him for his kind and friendly personality.”

Fayyad praised Massad as “a devoted son” who took great care of his parents, especially his father before he passed away 12 years ago.

“He’s a great example of a dutiful son, which earned him the respect of everyone around him.”

In Kfaraakka, locals admire the Boulos family for their closeness. Massad and his wife, Sara Zuhair Fadoul, along with their children, Fares, Michael, Sophie and Oriane, continue to visit Lebanon despite living in Lagos.

“They’re a humble, kind family, not like the nouveau riche,” said Fayyad.

“Their doors are always open, and they have a special place in their neighbors’ hearts,” she added.

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Varieties

Muddy Footprints Suggest 2 Species of Early Humans Were Neighbors in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP
An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP
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Muddy Footprints Suggest 2 Species of Early Humans Were Neighbors in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP
An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP

Muddy footprints left on a Kenyan lakeside suggest two of our early human ancestors were nearby neighbors some 1.5 million years ago.
The footprints were left in the mud by two different species “within a matter of hours, or at most days,” said paleontologist Louise Leakey, co-author of the research published Thursday in the journal Science.
Scientists previously knew from fossil remains that these two extinct branches of the human evolutionary tree – called Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei – lived about the same time in the Turkana Basin.
But dating fossils is not exact. “It’s plus or minus a few thousand years,” said paleontologist William Harcourt-Smith of Lehman College and the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who was not involved in the study.
Yet with fossil footprints, “there’s an actual moment in time preserved,” he said. “It’s an amazing discovery.”
The tracks of fossil footprints were uncovered in 2021 in what is today Koobi Fora, Kenya, said Leaky, who is based at New York's Stony Brook University.
Whether the two individuals passed by the eastern side of Lake Turkana at the same time – or a day or two apart – they likely knew of each other’s existence, said study co-author Kevin Hatala, a paleoanthropologist at Chatham University in Pittsburgh.
“They probably saw each other, probably knew each other was there and probably influenced each other in some way,” The Associated Press quoted him as saying.
Scientists were able to distinguish between the two species because of the shape of the footprints, which holds clues to the anatomy of the foot and how it’s being used.
H. erectus appeared to be walking similar to how modern humans walk – striking the ground heel first, then rolling weight over the ball of the foot and toes and pushing off again.
The other species, which was also walking upright, was moving “in a different way from anything else we’ve seen before, anywhere else,” said co-author Erin Marie Williams-Hatala, a human evolutionary anatomist at Chatham.
Among other details, the footprints suggest more mobility in their big toe, compared to H. erectus or modern humans, said Hatala.
Our common primate ancestors probably had hands and feet adapted for grasping branches, but over time the feet of human ancestors evolved to enable walking upright, researchers say.
The new study adds to a growing body of research that implies this transformation to bipedalism – walking on two feet — didn’t happen at a single moment, in a single way.
Rather, there may have been a variety of ways that early humans learned to walk, run, stumble and slide on prehistoric muddy slopes.
“It turns out, there are different gait mechanics – different ways of being bipedal,” said Harcourt-Smith.