Trump launches racist diatribe against Abdul El-Sayed at Iowa rally

At a campaign stop in Iowa on Sunday, President Donald Trump repeatedly called Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, a practicing Muslim, a "jihadist" and suggested Congress would need a special metal detector for him if he won. The remarks, which The Guardian describes as racist, were aimed at a tight contest that could help decide which party controls the Senate after Tuesday's midterm elections.

The Michigan race had already drawn national notice. Haley Stevens, who lost the August primary to El-Sayed, refused to campaign alongside him unless he publicly rejected an outside group's advertisement tying higher prices to American military backing for Israel's war in Gaza. El-Sayed then told her not to come to a joint Sunday event. She instead endorsed his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, criticized the late switch.

Trump, by contrast, applauded Stevens and said he would welcome her into the Republican Party, calling it plausible. He described Rogers as wholesome, comparing him to apple pie, and set him against communists and the Muslim Brotherhood. Trump added that rallies had kept him from watching football over the weekend.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →