In Islamophobic rant, Trump seeks to stir Republican base in Michigan
David E. Sanger and Bayliss Wagner
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Trump → seek → Sanger
President Donald Trump turned to Islamophobic stereotypes to motivate Michigan Republicans on Oct 25, claiming at a rally that Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee, if elected, would bring a wave of jihadis to the United States.
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Sayed → turn → States
“If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadis to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas,” Trump told more than 4,000 supporters gathered in Port Huron, a working-class, waterfront city in a deep-red congressional district 60 miles northeast of Detroit.
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Trump → win → Detroit
Trump called El-Sayed, 41, whose family immigrated from Egypt, a “jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member” – a baseless claim.
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family → call → Egypt
He then contrasted El-Sayed, a Muslim who was born in the United States, with his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, who is white and also born in the United States.
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who → contrast → States
“I call him apple pie,” Trump said of Rogers, who is 63.
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who → call → Rogers
“He’s like, perfect, this guy.
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He → ’ → ?
He’s like central casting.
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He → ’ → casting
He’s what your state is all about.”
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state → ’ → what
Trump’s comments, coming in a key midterm battleground nine days before the elections, underscored the dark themes and personal vilification he and his allies have embraced as part of their closing pitch.
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he → come → pitch
And while he has often used crude and racist language, Trump’s message in Michigan seemed aimed at overtly stoking a fear of Muslims to get voters to the polls.
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message → use → polls
But a broader question about Trump’s rally here – which followed several in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, among other stops – is whether his presence helps or hurts Republican turnout in a year when polls show deep dissatisfaction with the president.
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polls → follow → president
His audience in Port Huron seemed enthusiastic, and thousands strained to take Trump’s picture as he took to the stage.
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he → seem → stage
But he held the rally in a conservative district of a state that pollsters believe is swinging back to Democrats.
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pollsters → hold → Democrats
Trump’s deep unpopularity has complicated Republicans’ path to victory.
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unpopularity → complicate → victory
While Trump carried Michigan by 2 points in 2024, just 34% of likely voters now approve of him, according to a New York Times/Siena poll conducted in mid-September.
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% → carry → September
Polls indicate that El-Sayed has a narrow edge over Rogers in a race that will be pivotal to determining control of the Senate.
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that → indicate → Senate
Trump’s attacks on El-Sayed on Oct 25, questioning his loyalty to the United States, began before he got on Air Force One outside of Washington and accelerated after he landed in Michigan.
Speaking in a town on the Canadian border, Trump did not dwell on his battle with Prime Minister Mark Carney, one of the few world leaders who has directly confronted him on tariffs and other issues, and he did not repeat his frequent call for Canada to give up its independence and become the 51st state.
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Canada → question → independence
Instead, he focused on El-Sayed, his religion and his relatives.
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he → focus → Sayed
Trump also disparaged Jewish voters who were considering voting for El-Sayed.
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who → disparage → Sayed
“Any Jewish person that supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump said, adding that he “cannot understand how anybody who’s Jewish can even think about voting for this guy”.
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who → support → guy
Hundreds of Jewish voters in Michigan publicly announced they were backing El-Sayed, while others have said they are voting for Rogers or threatened to withhold their support.
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they → announce → support
Trump made the statement after claiming that El-Sayed’s half sister, Eman Abdelhadi, celebrated the Oct 7, 2023, massacre of Israelis by Hamas fighters.
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sister → make → fighters
She posted a video on the first anniversary of the attack that said that “no matter how great the brutality, the oppression, the intensity of what we’re going through, the horizon of justice is just around the corner”, but did not mention the massacre directly and did not celebrate the violence.
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horizon → post → violence
El-Sayed’s campaign told Fox News that he disagreed with her “on a number of political positions and the rhetoric she’s chosen to use”.
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she → tell → positions
El-Sayed has repeatedly disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political movement, and has said comments about his name and faith are attempts to distract from voters’ economic woes.
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comments → disavow → woes
His aides have said claims of ties to overseas terrorist groups are racist and Islamophobic.
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claims → say → groups
But his opponents have raised an open letter he signed in 2012, when he was a medical student.
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he → raise → 2012
It was addressed to Mohammed Morsi, then the new Egyptian president, from a party that represents the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
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that → address → Brotherhood
It asked him to “purge the media and police” of loyalists to the government that was overturned during the Arab Spring.
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that → ask → Spring
El-Sayed has not discussed the letter.
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Sayed → discuss → letter
But his spokesperson, Cole Wozniak, said, “Abdul remains laser-focused on his plans to bring down costs and stand up to the chaos and corruption in Washington”.
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Abdul → say → Washington
“Michigan knows Trump is on the ballot on Nov 3,” he added, “and they will vote like it by rejecting Trump’s rubber stamp Mike Rogers and sending Abdul to the Senate.”
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they → know → Senate
Trump deepened his critique as the day went on, saying that someone with El-Sayed’s background “would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane”.
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someone → deepen → airplane
“They certainly should not give him a seat in the United States Senate,” he added.
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he → give → Senate
He also said that El-Sayed should not be given access to classified information.
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Sayed → say → information
At his own rally on Oct 25 in Grand Rapids, El-Sayed said the Republican strategy was “to point at me and my name and my faith”.
“But my name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford your gas,” he said.
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he → say → gas
In Michigan, Trump also veered into a discussion of Greenland.
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Trump → veer → Greenland
He insisted, “Oh, you know we did get Greenland”, suggesting that it was now owned by the United States.
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it → insist → States
In fact, Trump was forced to drop that demand and instead signed a new treaty with Denmark, which handles Greenland’s foreign affairs, that envisions opening two new US bases on the island and bars similar arrangements with foreign powers, notably China.
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that → force → powers
…and 16 more, not listed.
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