Approving the Deplorable

Hopefully, Abdul el-Sayed will defeat Mike Rogers and become the junior senator from Michigan, bringing the Democratic Party a majority in the chamber or at least within shouting distance of that. It's unfortunate that it will have to be el-Sayed to defeat the Republican but as then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once said "you go war with the Army you have, not the Army you want to have...."

Joe Walsh is exactly correct. Here, Tim Miller argues

One thing he has stated clearly is he is committed to Jewish safety and opposes anti-Semitism in all forms and he loves his Jewish brothers and sisters. Are we hearing the same thing from the other side? Are we getting a statement that clear from Mike Rogers about the bigoted attacks against Muslims? I have not seen that....

It's understandable that Miller hasn't seen that. However, Bernie Sanders (presumably) has.

 

Hey Bernie — unlike Abdul El-Sayed, I have no issue disavowing fringe extremists who promote violence and seek to divide our state and country. Jake Lang is all of those things.

While I have your attention, I would like to know if Abdul will definitely say that he will not… https://t.co/vC0K60j1eg

— Mike Rogers (@MikeRogersForMI) August 24, 2026

As Miller suggests, el-Sayed, in response to a stupid question on Meet the Press, did in fact state "I love and revere Judaism and the Jewish people." Of course, if he "loved" Judaism, he could become a Jew. It would be more credible if he had said that he respected Judaism.

And if the candidate loved Judaism, his response to the March attack by a Lebanese-American man on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan would not have included "I also think it's critical for us to understand that hurt people do hurt people and the circumstances happening 6,000 miles away can afftect the lives that we live here..." Loving Jews does not include excusing an attempt at murdering them by referring to a war 6,000 miles away they have nothing to do with. This wasn't a hurt person but a would-be mass murderer.

Miller added

I think it is important that we have a standard here that is equal on both sides and I don't feel that is happening and I feel like every time that el-Sayed goes anywhere, he has to answer for whatever anti-Israel or anti-Semitic or borderline anti-Semitic or imaginarily anti-Semitic statement that some supporter of his said, and Mike Rogers gets to walk around carte blanche....

Respectfully @Timodc, bullshit. Quit making excuses for Abdul El-Sayed. He has welcomed the support of, repeatedly campaigned with, and is very close to a bigoted, America-hating, communist-loving, Israel-hating, antisemite. And he refuses to condemn him. His choice. But bcuz he… https://t.co/QYKmmscMjX

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 26, 2026

That "supporter" is not a nobody. He is Hasan Piker, who has been openly pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah, pro-China, and pro-rape, equated "liberal Zionists" with "liberal Nazis," and referred to Orthodox Jews as "inbred". Those are among the "borderline" or "imaginarily" bigoted statements made by a prominent supporter of the Democraric Senate candidate. 

After Piker's latest putrid comment, el- Sayed commented "nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople."  That was his way of asserting that he's his own man while lacking the courage- or maybe an actual disagreement- with the guy whose name he did not utter and whom he has not accused of saying anything wrong. His primary reference to Piker, still not mentioning his name, was to maintain that "politicians and pundits" are trying "to make this race about a Twitch streamer."  

He would be a Twitch streamer with merely 2.9 million followers and an average of  720,000 live viewers. (The number of  dead viewers is unknown.)  

This alone does not make Abdul el-Sayed a bigot. It does mean that he condones rabid, virulent bigotry and as Joe Walsh notes, no excuses should be made for that. 

 

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