Trump hurls partisan insults at Abdul El-Sayed while praising Haley Stevens at Iowa rally
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At an Iowa campaign stop, President Donald Trump used his remarks to elevate Haley Stevens for backing Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan, then attacked Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed with inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and baseless insinuations.
President Donald Trump addressed a crowd in Iowa, using the stage to praise former Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens for endorsing Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan. He said, “I don’t know Haley, I’ve never met Haley, but Haley said what few people are willing to say,” and added that she showed “great and almost unprecedented loyalty to the great people of Michigan.”
Trump then pivoted to a vicious attack on Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim physician, branding him a “jihadist” and implying that voters should subject him to metal detectors, in a moment that underscored the openly nativist tone of the rally. El-Sayed responded, “I’ll go through a metal detector if you’ll sit for a lie detector. Simple. I got nothing to hide. You’ve got so much to hide.”
The comments were part of Trump’s final push before the November midterm elections, where he also urged supporters to vote and predicted a “tremendous victory” for Republicans on Election Day.