The Democratic Party’s nominee for the Senate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, has captured the nation’s attention including that of President Donald Trump. But when Trump made a bigoted attack on El-Sayed, the latter responded with a scathing observation about Trump’s marriage.
On Saturday (Aug. 8), Trump went on his Truth Social media platform and posted a side-by-side comparison of himself and First Lady Melania Trump with a photo of El-Sayed and his wife Dr. Sarah Jukaku. He captioned the post “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s (sic)” and used El-Sayed’s full first name.
The Islamaphobic post was raised during El-Sayed’s appearance on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper on Sunday morning (Aug. 9). The doctor replied, “Yeah, he’s right. One in which your overlords are two people who don’t like each other but joined in the interest in making billions of dollars off of you, or two people who genuinely love each other enjoying some pancakes together, who want to come together to build the kind of America where they can raise a family and know that that family is going to have the good things.”
The former public health official continued, “So yes, you’ve got two different visions of America,” he added. “Donald Trump’s vision is the one you’re living in right now. Can you afford your gas? Can you afford your groceries? Do you believe that when you look your kids in the eye, that they’re going to have a better future than you did?”
“And actually, Sarah and I like each other,” El-Sayed concluded, adding: “I don’t know about the First Lady and the President, but from what I’ve heard it’s a rocky road.”
Trump’s attacks on the Senate candidate began shortly after El-Sayed’s narrow victory over Haley Stevens in the primary race. “When I watch Abdul, he’s full of s—“, he said to a crowd in Las Vegas last Wednesday (Aug. 5), claiming he was part of a wave of “communists.”
El-Sayed was praised for his biting retort to Trump’s social media post, with some noting how his unflappable persona might signal that he’s poised to be Michigan’s next senator in the fall.
1 Ahmed Baba