Trump escalates attacks on Michigan Senate candidate as Obama pushes back on campaign trail
President Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed over the weekend, accusing him without evidence of being a Muslim extremist and invoking the September 11 terrorist attacks during a rally. The remarks came just a day after former President Barack Obama defended El-Sayed against attacks on his religion and patriotism during campaign events in Michigan and Ohio.
Writing on social media and speaking directly to supporters at a Sunday rally in Port Huron, Michigan, Trump leveled unverified accusations against El-Sayed, a physician and former public health official who is running against Republican Mike Rogers. Trump claimed that El-Sayed sought to impose Sharia law in the United States and referred to him using inflammatory religious and political labels. He offered no evidence for either accusation.
During the Port Huron event, where Trump campaigned alongside Rogers and Republican gubernatorial candidate John James, the president also invoked the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He compared political opposition to El-Sayed’s candidacy to the actions of passengers who fought back against hijackers aboard United Flight 93, specifically referencing passenger Todd Beamer.
David Beamer, the father of Todd Beamer, also addressed the Port Huron crowd. He questioned El-Sayed’s claim to American identity, arguing that being born in the United States and holding an American birth certificate is not sufficient, by itself, to make someone a genuine American.
El-Sayed, who would become the United States Senate’s first Muslim member if elected, has repeatedly denied any affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood and rejected ongoing attacks targeting his faith and patriotism.
The weekend campaigning also featured broad attacks by Trump on Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, alongside repetition of unsubstantiated claims regarding the 2020 presidential election.
Those rallies followed weekend campaign appearances by former President Barack Obama in Cleveland and Detroit aimed at rallying Democratic voters and supporting local candidates. In Cleveland, Obama campaigned alongside Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, who is challenging Republican incumbent Jon Husted, and gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, who faces Trump-backed Vivek Ramaswamy. During the Cleveland event, Obama criticized a Ramaswamy campaign advertisement that featured Acton’s estranged mother, arguing that political ambition did not justify personal attacks.
Obama also used his platform to criticize Trump’s leadership and offer a lighthearted critique of the gold-heavy renovations made to the White House. Shifting to Detroit, Obama campaigned for El-Sayed and Benson, directly addressing the scrutiny surrounding El-Sayed’s background by drawing parallels to the racist birther conspiracy theories Trump previously promoted against him.
“We have seen this movie before. I starred in it,” Obama told supporters in Detroit, adding that he maintained his own long-form birth certificate to prove his citizenship.
Despite their sharp political divisions and conflicting visions for the country, both former and current presidents underscored a shared premise during their weekend speeches: that Trump remains a central figure on the ballot in the upcoming November midterm elections, even when his name does not appear directly on it.
