President Donald Trump used his Sunday appearance in Iowa to target Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He labeled the Democrat a “jihadist” several times. His remarks come as Republicans and Democrats get ready to fight over control of the chamber in Tuesday’s midterms.
Donald Trump uses racist term to attack Abdul El-Sayed in Iowa rally
The president told the crowd that backing Abdul El-Sayed amounts to madness. “If you vote for this jihadist lunatic who wants to destroy you, you’re crazy,” Donald Trump said. Abdul El-Sayed practices Islam, and Trump’s attacks on him drew on racist language. The president claimed Congress would need to “get a special metal detector for Abdul” if Michigan voters sent him to Washington.
Polls show a tight contest in Michigan, and its result could help decide which party runs the Senate. That made the state a natural target for Trump’s final push, even though he spoke more than 800 miles away at the Iowa rally. The president also seized on a rift inside the Democratic camp. Hayley Stevens, who lost to El-Sayed in August’s primary, refused to appear alongside him. She wanted him to publicly reject a political ad from an outside group that tied higher prices to American military backing for Israel’s war on Gaza.
El-Sayed answered by asking Stevens not to attend a joint event planned for Sunday. She then endorsed his Republican rival, Mike Rogers. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, condemned her decision to switch sides so close to Election Day. Trump celebrated Stevens’ move and hinted she might change parties. “It was an incredible thing,” Trump previously said. “I’d love her to join the Republican Party. I think that could happen.”
He then turned to Rogers with an unusual comparison. “Mike Rogers is apple pie,” Trump said. “And you know what this country needs? A little apple pie. We don’t need the communists or jihadists, the Muslim Brotherhood. We need apple pie. He’s apple pie. He’ll be good.”
