President Trump launched a blistering personal attack on Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed during a Las Vegas event Wednesday, accusing him of antisemitism and labeling him a “man of hate.” The broadside came hours after El-Sayed narrowly edged out Rep. Haley Stevens in the state’s Democratic Senate primary.
Speaking at a rally-style gathering to promote the “No Tax on Tips” provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump claimed that pre-election polls had wrongly predicted a “landslide victory” for El-Sayed, whom he described as “a hater of Jews and a hater of Israel.” The president doubled down, saying, “This guy hates Jews. Somebody said, ‘Oh that’s a little strong.’ No, he hates Jews and hates Israel.”
Trump went on to characterize El-Sayed as deceitful, saying, “Abdul El-Sayed, can you believe this? He’s a man of hate, and now he’s going around saying, ‘Oh I love everybody.’ He doesn’t love everybody. Put him in office, and you’re going to find out what he loves.” The president added that El-Sayed’s animus toward Jewish people and Israel burns “with a burning passion in his heart,” and that “there’s not a frickin’ thing he can do about it.”
The president also took aim at El-Sayed’s progressive platform, blasting it as socialist and communist, before returning to his personal attack: “When I watch Abdul, he’s full of s—.”
Earlier Wednesday, Trump had taken to Truth Social to dismiss El-Sayed’s primary victory as “a victory for Republicans.” El-Sayed will face former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) in November’s general election.
El-Sayed has long faced accusations of antisemitism from critics, largely due to his outspoken criticism of Israeli government policies. He has consistently denied the charge, insisting that his criticism is directed at policy, not at Jewish people. In an interview Wednesday on MSNBC, El-Sayed reaffirmed his commitment to Jewish safety, stating, “My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. We have a responsibility to take on antisemitism in all of its forms, wherever we see it. It’s the same responsibility we have to take on Islamophobia.”
The president’s remarks come as Democratic heavyweights consolidate behind El-Sayed following his narrow win, and as he targets Rogers as a “corporate sellout” in the general election campaign. Trump’s trip to Las Vegas was part of a broader push to sell his tax-cut agenda ahead of the midterms, a theme he is likely to repeat on the campaign trail.
The president’s inflammatory language is likely to intensify an already heated Senate race in Michigan, a key battleground state. El-Sayed’s campaign has dismissed Trump’s attacks as a distraction, focusing instead on economic and healthcare issues that resonate with Michigan voters.
