President Donald Trump stepped up his anti-Muslim rhetoric against Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday, casting the Democrat as a national security threat and questioning his loyalty to the United States. The remarks drew a sharp response from a former leading Arab American supporter of the president.
Speaking in Port Huron, Trump described El-Sayed, a former Detroit health official, as a "jihadist" who was "on the side of the terrorists." He said El-Sayed would "have to go through a metal detector before he's allowed to go into the Senate," and repeatedly referred to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, likening the effort to keep El-Sayed out of the Senate chamber to the actions of passengers who fought hijackers aboard United Flight 93. Trump also said he had come to Michigan "to keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator."
El-Sayed would be the first Muslim senator in the country if elected. He has called attacks on his loyalty "shameful" and has repeatedly denied any links to extremist groups. Bishara Bahbah, a founder of Arab Americans for Trump, which helped lead the president's 2024 outreach to Arab American voters, condemned the comments. "They are crossing a red line. They are racist," he said in a phone interview. His group has since renamed itself Arab Americans for Peace.
Bahbah said the remarks were unacceptable to Arab and Muslim communities, including Christian Arabs. He noted that Dearborn helped Trump carry Michigan in 2024 after many of its voters were angered by the Biden administration's handling of the war in Gaza. "People are going to remember that on Nov. 3," he said.
Republicans are on the defensive over inflation, rising fuel prices and the Iran war, and Trump has sought to boost turnout by presenting El-Sayed and other Democrats as existential threats rather than political rivals. The Michigan race between El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers is one of a few that could decide control of the Senate. Port Huron sits about an hour north of Detroit, near communities where Trump made big gains among Arab American voters in 2024. He became the first Republican presidential candidate since 2000 to win Dearborn.
Republicans have focused on tying El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose branches the U.S. government has designated as terrorist organizations. There is no evidence he is affiliated with the group. His half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, wrote on social media in 2012 that "my family has long been MB." El-Sayed was born in the United States to Egyptian immigrant parents who divorced when he was young, and he was raised by his father. Trump also criticized El-Sayed's association with streamer Hasan Piker, who appeared with him during the primary and whose past comments include saying "America deserved 9/11."
El-Sayed has faced criticism of his own. He has repeatedly declined to say whether Iran or Israel poses a bigger threat to the country. After an attack on a synagogue in the Detroit area earlier this year, he said "hurt people hurt people," and later apologized, saying he was not trying to justify what happened.
At a Grand Rapids rally later Sunday, El-Sayed responded to Trump's mockery of his name. "I don't even care that he remembers my whole name because he can just go on and call me 'senator' after November," he said. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who spoke at the event, said Trump and his allies resort to Islamophobia because they have "nothing to say" on health care, housing and income inequality.
Rogers, who is competing to fill the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, questioned El-Sayed's loyalty during their final debate, asking, "Are you for America, or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?" Before Trump spoke Sunday, Rogers repeated his Muslim Brotherhood claims.
Unlike at other rallies, Trump announced no new factory investments in Michigan, instead repeating ones automakers are already making. Rapper Nicki Minaj appeared on stage and urged attendees to vote Republican. Earlier, Trump had commented on her body, then said, "I hope Nicki wasn't insulted, but we love Nicki."
