Free Press op-ed: Why Democrats should reject Abdul El-Sayed

Democrats are putting party loyalty ahead of their principles by supporting Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, a senior editor at The Free Press argued in a recent opinion piece, urging voters to reject the progressive candidate despite the high stakes of the race.

In his Oct. 25 column titled “The Democratic Case Against Abdul El-Sayed,” Peter Savodnik argued that Democratic voters “are being instructed to do exactly what Democrats lectured Republicans not to do in 2016 — which is to put party over country.” 

“They are being lulled into a tribalist fury, made to believe they have to set aside any reservations they may have about their nominee or the creeping forces of illiberalism co-opting their party, because right now the only thing they are allowed to worry about is Donald Trump,” Savodnik wrote.

The op-ed follows former President Barack Obama’s Oct. 24 appearance at a Detroit rally for the Democratic nominee, who faces Republican Mike Rogers in a competitive Nov. 3 race. 

>> El-Sayed, Rogers trade personal and policy jabs in heated Michigan Senate debate <<

At the rally, Obama warned that El-Sayed’s opponents might use his name or faith to suggest that he was “less than trustworthy and less patriotic and less American” and compared those attacks to tactics previously used against him.

“The subtext of all this was: There’s nothing radical about this guy. He’s like me,” Savodnik wrote. “The subtext of the subtext was: And anyone who falls for anyone who says otherwise is a racist.”

Savodnik argued that Obama’s remarks sidestepped substantive concerns about El-Sayed, including questions raised by Jewish Michiganders about his comments and political associations. 

“El-Sayed is not an old-school liberal like Obama, but an apologist for antisemites and Islamists and terrorists — and voting against that doesn’t make you Islamophobic,” Savodnik wrote.

He pointed to El-Sayed’s past campaigning with streamer Hasan Piker, who said in 2019 that America “deserved 9/11.” Piker later retracted the remark, and El-Sayed has disavowed it and said the terrorist attacks were not justified. 

>> El-Sayed says he has ‘no plans’ to campaign with Piker as Democrats seek distance from progressive streamer <<

Savodnik also cited a 2012 open letter that El-Sayed signed, in which Americans urged then-Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to “purge” the police and media of holdovers from former dictator Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Savodnik characterized the proposed purge as targeting non-Islamists.

Savodnik additionally pointed to the Michigan Democrat’s response to a March attack on Temple Israel, a synagogue in suburban Detroit. As Zeale News previously reported, El-Sayed condemned the attack but also said “hurt people hurt people,” referring to the attacker, whose brother had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Some criticized El-Sayed’s response as appearing to excuse the attack. He later apologized for his remarks.

But Savodnik argued that it “does not matter that El-Sayed has apologized for or tried to distance himself from some of his excesses” because that is “what one does in the heat of a campaign.” 

“We should assume his beliefs are unchanged,” he wrote. “Which should be more than enough for Democrats to reject him.”

>> NBC presses Democrat Abdul El-Sayed over alleged family ties to Muslim Brotherhood <<

Savodnik argued that Democratic leaders are focused on the immediate goal of opposing Trump and winning control of Congress, while overlooking what he sees as the longer-term consequences of supporting El-Sayed.

“Democrats should not simply reject El-Sayed because he’s hateful. They should reject him because he will cost Democrats elections,” Savodnik wrote. “His victory will confirm voters’ worst fears about the Democratic Party, that the red-green alliance — the partnership between radical leftists and Islamists that threatens France and other European countries — is coming for America.”

He argued that Democratic leaders must uphold “the guardrails around their party,” and Democratic voters must show they are willing to defend their values, even if doing so means losing a Senate seat.

“Imagine a party that actually led,” Savodnik wrote. “Imagine Democratic voters seizing control of their feckless, amorphous blob of a party and saying, “We’re staunchly anti–anti-Americanism.’” 

He concluded, “It is up to [Democratic politicians’] voters, Democrats of all stripes and backgrounds and faiths and colors, to remind them what they expect, to steer them away from the precipice. That is the most important thing. That is the only thing.”

>> Catholic commentator challenges El-Sayed’s comparison to JFK: ‘You’re no Jack Kennedy’ <<