US President Donald Trump (left) and Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (right), who is seeking to become America’s first Muslim Senator.
He repeatedly invoked the 9/11 attacks and compared blocking El-Sayed from the Senate chamber with passengers fighting hijackers aboard United Flight 93.
President Trump intensified attacks on Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a rally in Port Huron Sunday, calling him a “jihadist” who was “on the side of the terrorists” and questioning his loyalty to US. Trump said El-Sayed, a former Detroit health official, would “have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into Senate”. The remarks drew condemnation from a former Trump ally in the Arab American community.
Bahbah said the remarks were unacceptable to Arab and Muslim communities, including Christian Arabs, and voters would remember them on Nov 3. Trump won Dearborn in 2024, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate since 2000 to carry the city, which has one of the country’s largest concentrations of Arab Americans.
He has denied any ties to extremist groups and called attacks on his loyalty “shameful”. At a Grand Rapids rally later Sunday, he responded to Trump’s repeated mockery of his name: “I don’t even care that he remembers my whole name because he can just go on and call me ‘senator’ after Nov,” El-Sayed said. “The president’s statements are out of line,” he said. Senator Bernie Sanders, appearing with El-Sayed in Grand Rapids, accused Trump and his allies of using Islamophobia because they had “nothing to say” about healthcare, housing and income inequality. “All they can do is foment hatred and divisiveness,” he said.
El-Sayed would become the first Muslim American senator if elected. “I will be Senator Muhammad to you, bro. “They are crossing a red line. They are racist. The organisation has since been renamed Arab Americans for Peace. Many voters had opposed the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza war. The race between El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers to succeed retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters is among a handful that could determine control of the Senate. With Republicans under pressure over inflation, fuel prices and the Iran war, Trump has portrayed El-Sayed as a threat to US.