Trump smears Abdul El-Sayed at Michigan rally, invoking 9/11 in escalating anti-Muslim rhetoric
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
President Donald Trump urged Michigan voters to reject Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, comparing him to the hijackers of United Flight 93 as the state’s Senate race moves toward the November 3 election.
President Donald Trump used a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, to spread fearmongering warnings that a "jihadist, Muslim Brotherhood member" could become a U.S. senator if Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed wins. Trump dragged the September 11 attacks into the race, declaring that Michigan must "stand up and fight, just like Todd did, to stop a jihadist from walking into the Capitol," and even suggested El-Sayed would have to pass through a metal detector to enter the Senate.
El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim elected to the Senate if victorious, forcefully rejected the attacks and said in a campaign advertisement, "Faith is a thing there's just too little of in Washington." Former U.S. Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican contender, has made an evidence-free allegation that El-Sayed has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a claim the candidate called "shameful."
Rogers told NBC's "Meet the Press" that El-Sayed had not answered questions about the allegations and portrayed him as a "Democrat Socialist of America-aligned candidate" with "radical support groups" opposed to America. Trump later amplified Rogers on Fox News, calling him "an amazing senator" and "solid as a rock. Apple pie."
The race is seen as crucial for control of the Senate, with Democrats needing only a small number of seats to overturn the current Republican majority. Former President Barack Obama also campaigned in Michigan, criticizing the attacks on El-Sayed as transparent attempts to paint him as unpatriotic.