Democratic senator-elect calls Trump 'unserious fool' while defending combative political style

Abdul El-Sayed, who won Michigan's Senate seat over Republican Mike Rogers, defended his sharp-edged style in an appearance on Pod Save America, saying Democrats must confront President Donald Trump bluntly rather than with traditional politeness. Host Jon Favreau noted that El-Sayed had forecast a seven-point win, which some labeled cocky, and then delivered exactly that margin. El-Sayed replied that Democrats have a duty to treat Trump as an "unserious fool.", according to Fox News.

He argued that Trump has reset what counts as acceptable political speech, and that his own party has been slow to drop old norms. Democrats, he said, need to leave behind the idealized politics associated with the television drama The West Wing. Likening Trump to a bully, he said that failing to resist only makes such a person stronger.

El-Sayed's criticism of Trump predates his Senate run. During his campaign he repeatedly blamed the president for coarsening political rhetoric, and in 2020 he said Trump bore responsibility for stoking terrorism, citing the thwarted abduction conspiracy targeting Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The stance raises the question of whether this approach will produce results in Congress.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at Fox News →