Trump Escalates Anti-Muslim Attacks    10/26 06:22

   

   PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) -- President Donald Trump intensified his anti-Muslim 
rhetoric against Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday, portraying 
him as a threat to national security and questioning his loyalty to the United 
States in remarks that drew a sharp rebuke from a former top Arab American ally.

   Trump called El-Sayed, a former Detroit health official, a "jihadist" who 
was "on the side of the terrorists" and would "have to go through a metal 
detector before he's allowed to go into the Senate." He also repeatedly invoked 
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, drawing a comparison between stopping 
El-Sayed from entering the Senate chamber and the passengers who fought back 
against the hijackers aboard United Flight 93.

   El-Sayed, who would become the nation's first Muslim senator if elected, has 
called attacks on his loyalty to the country "shameful" and repeatedly denied 
any ties to extremist groups. The Republican president's remarks were condemned 
by Bishara Bahbah, a founder of Arab Americans for Trump, the group that helped 
lead the president's outreach to Arab American voters in 2024.

   "The president's statements are out of line," he said in a phone interview. 
"They are crossing a red line. They are racist."

   With Republicans on the defensive over inflation, soaring fuel prices and 
the Iran war, the president has been trying to generate turnout by claiming 
that El-Sayed and other Democrats are existential threats to America, instead 
of electoral rivals. Michigan's Senate race between El-Sayed and Republican 
Mike Rogers is among a handful of contests that could determine control of the 
chamber.

   Trump made his remarks in Port Huron, a Canadian border city about an hour 
north of Detroit and near communities where he made significant gains among 
Arab American voters in 2024. He became the first Republican presidential 
candidate since 2000 to win Dearborn, a city with one of the nation's largest 
concentrations of Arab Americans.

   Trump, who imposed a travel ban targeting several predominantly Muslim 
countries during his first term, has increasingly leaned into anti-Muslim 
rhetoric as Election Day approaches. He also attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan 
Omar of Minnesota at Sunday's rally, where he declared that he had come to 
Michigan "to keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United 
States senator."

   Responding to Trump, who also regularly mocks his name, El-Sayed told 
supporters at a rally in Grand Rapids later Sunday that he doesn't care how 
Trump pronounces or misrepresents it.

   "I don't even care that he remembers my whole name because he can just go on 
and call me 'senator' after November," El-Sayed said, drawing cheers. "I will 
be Senator Muhammad to you, bro."

   El-Sayed's faith, associations and past statements become campaign 
flashpoints 

   Central to Republicans' strategy against El-Sayed in the final weeks of the 
campaign has been an effort to link him to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic 
movement with branches that the U.S. government has designated as terrorist 
organizations.

   There is no evidence that El-Sayed has any affiliation with the Muslim 
Brotherhood. His half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, wrote on social media in 2012 
that "my family has long been MB" and described a conversation with her mother 
about her involvement in the Muslim Brotherhood in the early 1970s.

   El-Sayed was born in the United States to Egyptian immigrant parents who 
divorced when he was young. He was raised by his father, not his biological 
mother.

   Trump on Sunday also targeted El-Sayed's ties to popular streamer Hasan 
Piker, who appeared alongside the Democrat multiple times during the primary 
campaign, including at his election night event.

   Piker in the past has said that "Hamas is a thousand times better" than 
Israel, describing some Orthodox Jews as "inbred" and that "America deserved 
9/11."

   El-Sayed has faced criticism for his own rhetoric. He has repeatedly refused 
to answer questions about whether Iran or Israel poses a bigger threat to the 
country. Earlier this year, he said "hurt people hurt people" after an attack 
on a synagogue in the Detroit area. The attacker had lost four relatives in an 
Israeli airstrike on Lebanon the week earlier. El-Sayed later apologized, 
saying he was not trying to justify what happened.

   "To anyone who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I'm really 
sorry," he said. "That was not my intention."

   Founder of Arab Americans for Trump calls the president 'racist' 

   Bahbah, whose organization has since changed its name to Arab Americans for 
Peace, said Trump's remarks were unacceptable to Arab and Muslim communities, 
including Christian Arabs.

   "The remarks are out of line and crazy. I mean, no sane individual would say 
these things," Bahbah said.

   Dearborn helped Trump win Michigan in 2024 after many voters in the city 
were outraged by the Biden administration's handling of the war in Gaza.

   "The president of the United States saying that about a person because of 
his religion, that is just not acceptable," said Bahbah. "And people are going 
to remember that on Nov. 3."

   Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking at the Grand Rapids rally, said Trump and his 
allies were using Islamophobia because they have "nothing to say" about the 
issues most important to working people, such as health care, housing and 
income inequality.

   "All they can do is foment hatred and divisiveness," Sanders said.

   The campaign has been one of the most contentious this year 

   Rogers and El-Sayed have been locked in a bitter race to fill the seat of 
retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

   During their second and final general election campaign debate, Rogers 
questioned El-Sayed's loyalty to the United States.

   "Are you for America, or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?" 
Rogers asked.

   El-Sayed said that questioning was "shameful."

   "I'm proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray 
as we choose to pray," he said.

   Speaking before Trump's appearance Sunday, Rogers repeated his allegations 
linking El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood.

   "The Muslim Brotherhood celebrated exactly one victory in the United States 
in the primary this year," Rogers said on stage. "Abdul El-Sayed's."

   Rally doesn't deliver a new economic handout, but gets boost from Minaj 

   Trump has routinely announced new investments in factories at his campaign 
rallies, but he did not do so as part of his speech in Michigan, a state 
defined by the auto industry.

   The president instead repeated investments already being made by domestic 
automakers. Those automakers could see their finances slump if the president 
expands his trade war with Canada, which has been an essential partner for the 
U.S. automotive sector.

   While it lacked a fresh promise for Michigan's economy, Trump's rally did 
deliver a bit of star power.

   Rapper Nicki Minaj appeared on stage and urged people to get out and vote 
for the state's Republican ticket. Her appearance followed an awkward moment 
from Trump, who has increasingly been fixated on commenting about other 
people's body parts.

   After praising the body of Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican in a close 
election contest, Trump turned his eye toward Minaj and commented on her 
posterior.

   The president then signaled for Minaj to stand for the crowd and she did, 
after which Trump said, "I hope Nicki wasn't insulted, but we love Nicki. She's 
been with us for a long time."