Democrats are united by a common purpose: putting a check
on Donald Trump by defeating his Republican enablers and taking back the
Senate. We look forward to working with Abdul and Democrats across Michigan to
win this seat in November,” the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and
Kirsten Gillibrand, who chairs the Democratic Senate campaign arm, said in a
joint statement.
They could have sat this one out, as thus far has Michigan senator Elissa Slotkin, whose courage rivals that of Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, who voted for the nomination of Todd Blanche as Attorney General because, it appears, Donald Trump otherwise would be even meaner to him. Slotkin also did not endorse in the primary race between el-Sayed and Haley Stevens, preferring the Sgt. Schultz approach.
In promoting the nominee, Schumer and Gillibrand might have stated "hurt people hurt people" while explaining the bruising primary battle between el-Sayed and Stevens. Theoretically, they could have endorsed el-Sayed's vigorous campaigning featuring his friendship with Hasan Piker. Piker, who has himself enthusiastically endorsed Hamas over Israel and blamed the USA for 9/11, has added to his greatest hits collection:
Hey @AbdulElSayed, do you agree with Piker on this? Do you agree it is ok to rape the daughters of wealthy people? https://t.co/ajZYa5fInU
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) August 7, 2026
More realistically, such Democrats could defend the nominee's scapegoating of AIPAC and defend his constant refrain about Israel committing genocide in Gaza. A few lies from a Senate candidate cannot compare to the never-ending lies from the President. Instead, they gave about the best possible argument for supporting Abdul el-Sayed, that the highest priority is "taking back the Senate".
Certainly, they could have done even better, such as by lauding the party's nominee for supporting "universal health care". El-Sayed goes further by advocating Medicare for All, which is the means to the end of assuring universal health care. Most of the more centrist Democrats, such as Haley Stevens, either oppose Medicare for All of have remained noncomittal.
The sweet spot for centrist or moderates endorsing progressives such as el-Sayed would be to applaud the candidate's support for universal health care while they ignore the issue of the more ambitious Medicare for All. Whatever Americans think of the latter approach, most clearly approve of the goal of health care for all. Done smoothly, Democratic politicians can assert support for universal health care and, if they wish, avoid offering specifics.
For some bizarre reason, prominent centrists and moderates (unfortunately) skeptical of MFA avoid coming out even for universal health care. Nonetheless, Chuck Schumer and the others did their best to rally support for the party's candidate, even though they- wisely- wanted him to lose to Haley Stevens.
They didn't lavish praise on their candidate; they attacked the very unpopular Donald Trump. And they took a dig at his "Republican enablers," subtly ridiculing the opposition, including their own Senate colleagues. Democrats act as if they're allergic to criticizing Republicans lacking the initials "DJT," but here they did.. If other Democrats follow suit, they even have a chance of wresting the Senate from Republicans, even with candidates such as Abdul el-Sayed.
No comments:
Post a Comment