President Trump launched a blistering personal attack on filmmaker Michael Moore Wednesday, calling him a "lowlife" and predicting continued political defeats after Moore voiced support for progressive Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed following his primary upset.
In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump ridiculed Moore, a longtime critic, as a "failed political 'pundit'" who has been "losing to me for years." Trump wrote, "Michael Moore, the failed political 'pundit' who has been losing to me for years, was ranting that, 'We lost in 2024, and just can't take it anymore.' No Michael, just get used to more losing! You've been a Loser all your life, and nothing's going to change."
Trump also targeted El-Sayed, the former Detroit health director who won Tuesday's Democratic Senate primary over Rep. Haley Stevens. Trump dubbed El-Sayed Moore's "new Communist Comrade" and claimed the progressive "will not be able to save" Moore. "He knows you are a failed LOWLIFE, and he wants to pick up where you have left," Trump added, asserting that "for thousands of years, the concept of Communist Policies have never worked."
The president framed the current political moment as a "Golden Age of America" and warned that "a small group of misfits, like you, Abdul, and others, won't be able to destroy it." He concluded, "It's too big, it's too powerful, and it's too good. See you on the Political Battlefield."
Trump's outburst appeared to be a direct response to a CNN interview Moore gave Wednesday night, in which he described El-Sayed's victory as the "Midwest's Mamdani moment," drawing a parallel to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a progressive who has also challenged the party establishment. Moore had urged Michigan voters to back El-Sayed over Stevens, who had the support of more moderate Democrats.
During the interview, Moore took a swipe at critics who dismiss Michigan voters as uneducated. "The Democratic Party, the traditionalists were unable to stop Trump twice ... Whoever was on before me talking about how 'uneducated' we are in Michigan, and I thought, 'Well, don't get upset. I mean, I really only have a high school degree and, you know, only been able to win that one Oscar, that's not much, you know,'" he quipped.
Moore also lambasted the Democratic Party for failing to energize key constituencies, particularly young, Arab, and Muslim voters who sat out the 2024 presidential election in protest over the Biden administration's handling of the war in Gaza. That discontent has fueled a wave of progressive primary victories across the country, with candidates like New York House hopeful Darializa Avila Chevalier also winning primaries on anti-war platforms.
El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel's government, said in a June interview that the U.S. should treat Israel "the same way we would treat any rogue nation." After his primary win, he struck a populist tone on social media, writing on X: "Money out of politics. Money in your pocket. Medicare for All. Michigan... We won. I am so proud to be your Democratic nominee for US Senate. Let's win in November."
The Michigan race is shaping up to be a key test of the party's progressive wing versus its establishment. Trump's attack on Moore and El-Sayed is likely to intensify the spotlight on the Senate contest. For more on the fallout, see El-Sayed's response to Trump's attacks and Trump's earlier criticism of El-Sayed.
