Updated 1w+ ago · Politics
Photos Show El-Sayed With Nation of Islam Leaders Amid Controversy
Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary, and within 24 hours a network of social media accounts spread clipped footage of his victory speech to frame his candidacy as a threat to the US.
- 1,966 accounts and 2,500-plus connections spread anti-El-Sayed content in the first 24 hours.
- 193,000 views accumulated on influencer Benny Johnson's clip of El-Sayed saying 'inshallah.'
- President Trump called El-Sayed a 'hater of Jews' and 'hater of Israel' after results were certified.
- PolitiFact rated 'Pants on Fire' the claim that El-Sayed 'openly calls for Sharia law in America.'
Why it matters: The attacks rest on two main clips: El-Sayed saying 'inshallah' on election night and a 2022 CAIR-Oklahoma speech mentioning a state Sharia ban.
- PolitiFact reviewed the full 16-minute speech: El-Sayed linked the Sharia ban to a broader history of discrimination and quoted the US Constitution, not calling for Sharia to replace American law.
- Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Nancy Mace amplified the clips; Cruz urged voters to investigate 'who is behind him.'
How 46 sources split on this story
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46 sources · 83 articles · 63% Right coverage
Where they split: The core dispute is whether the clipped footage fairly represents El-Sayed's views or deliberately strips context to manufacture a threat that does not exist in the full record.
Center coverage, 7 sources: The center focuses on fact-checking specific claims — rating as false the assertion that El-Sayed called for Sharia law — while noting Republicans have made similar distorted attacks against other Muslim candidates.
PolitiFact1w+Distortions about El-Sayed of Michigan and ShariahFactCheck.org1w+Rogers Makes False 9/11 Claim About El-Sayed - FactCheck.orgForbes1w+Woke 1? El-Sayed Says His Views Have Changed After July 4th Criticism ResurfacesJerusalem Post1w+Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan victory shows growing power of anti-Israel new media - analysisRealClearPolitics1w+How Hamas’ Attack on Israel Is Transforming American PoliticsSnopes1w+Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed didn't say he believes America deserved 9/11. Here's who didYahoo News1w+Fact check: How Tim Scott and a Republican attack ad misleadingly snipped key context from El-Sayed’s ‘dangerous’ speech
Left coverage, 10 sources: The left frames the campaign as a documented, coordinated smear rooted in anti-Muslim bigotry, driven by far-right influencers and pro-Israel groups seeking to stop a progressive candidate who beat their money.
Al Jazeera1w+Trump warns of ‘jihadists’ ruling in Washington as Democrats show momentumMediaite1w+Never-Trump Pundits Try to Use Nick Fuentes Against GOP to Excuse the Left’s Embrace of Hasan PikerCNN1w+Fact check: How Tim Scott and a Republican attack ad misleadingly snipped key context from El-Sayed’s ‘dangerous’ speechThe Boston Globe1w+Abdul El-Sayed's victory met with wave of IslamophobiaCommon Dreams1w+Two Different America's (Sic)MSNBC1w+Abdul El-Sayed’s turn towards Michigan’s general electionPolitical Wire1w+With El-Sayed’s Victory Comes a Wave of IslamophobiaRaw Story1w+Questions swirl after candidate scrubs over 100 controversial YouTube videosSalon1w+Mike Rogers is the real radical in the Michigan Senate raceThe New York Times1w+Abdul El-Sayed Deleted Old Posts and Videos Defending ‘Defund’ and Floating an End to Fireworks
Right coverage, 29 sources: The right frames El-Sayed as a genuinely radical candidate whose associations with CAIR donors, refusal to disavow Piker, and past statements reveal views outside the American mainstream that voters deserve to scrutinize.
RedState1w+Uh-Oh: Abdul El-Sayed's Alarming 'Until I Die' Sharia Law Comment Comes Back to Haunt HimHot Air1w+El-Sayed: Let Me Tell You Why July 4 Fireworks 'S**k'Breitbart News1w+Report: El-Sayed Attacked July 4 Fireworks, 2nd Amendment in Deleted ClipsThe Daily Wire1w+Abdul El-Sayed Scrubs Video Revealing Second Amendment PlansTownhall1w+Abdul El-Sayed Said He's Obligated to Follow This Until the Day He DiesNew York Post1w+Michael Goodwin: NY Times’ hypocritical Islamophobia take glides over violent antisemitism embraced by DemsNewsBusters1w+CNN's Pamela Brown Not Happy as Marc Short Calls El-Sayed Anti-SemiticThe Gateway Pundit1w+Former Jill Biden Press Secretary Michael LaRosa GOES BALLISTIC on Radical Abdul El-Sayed — Endorses Republican Mike Rogers: “El-Sayed Should Fly to NYC and Look EVERY Family Member of Someone Who Jumped Out of a Window in the Eye!” * The Gateway Pundit * by Jim HᴏftTwitchy1w+Abdul El-Sayed Says He Gets ‘Older Sister Energy’ From Rashida TlaibWashington Examiner1w+Israel didn’t cost Harris the presidency. That’s Democratic revisionismWashington Free Beacon1w+Photos Show Grinning Abdul El-Sayed Buddying Up With Nation of Islam Ministers Who Railed Against 'the Jews,' Defended FarrakhanFox News1w+Michigan Democrat Haley Stevens backs El-Sayed after narrow primary defeat, calls socialism ‘dangerous’FrontPage Magazine1w+Abdul El-Sayed Hates 4th of July Fireworks and Football, Loves Sharia LawThe American Spectator1w+Abdul El-Sayed Rewrites the Meaning of ‘Democrat’ in MichiganThe Daily Caller1w+Democratic US Senate Nominee Claims ‘Toxic Masculinity’ At Heart Of FootballThe Daily Signal1w+El-Sayed, the DSA, and the American EconomyThe National Pulse1w+Dem Candidate El-Sayed Blamed Transgender’s Mass Shooting at Christian School on Anti-Trans Legislation.The Post Millennial1w+Abdul El-Sayed scrubs podcast where he called to scrap Independence Day fireworks, 2nd AmendmentThe Western Journal1w+Sharia Senator: In 2009, Abdul El-Sayed Declared He Will Follow Sharia in 'Everything' He Does Until the Day He DiesBearing Arms1w+The Second Amendment Stance El-Sayed Doesn't Want Voters to HearCitizen Free Press1w+CNN meltdown over republicans using El Sayed’s full name.Conservative Treehouse1w+Susan Kokinda Reviews Abdul El-Sayed From Michigan - The Last RefugeHuman Events1w+POSOBIEC: Michigan’s Dem candidate for Senate Abdul El-Sayed clearly hates Christians and covers up for trans violenceOne America News1w+El-Sayed pushes back on criticism over campaign rallies with controversial far-left influencer Hasan PikerPJ Media1w+Off Target: El-Sayed Condemned July 4 Fireworks and the Second AmendmentThe Blaze1w+Abdul El-Sayed PURGED more than 100 YouTube videos expressing FRINGE beliefs — and they have resurfacedThe College Fix1w+As undergrad, Abdul El-Sayed protested conservative students’ event condemning radical Islamic terrorism | The College FixThe Washington Times1w+El-Sayed has history of criticizing fireworks, football, right to bear armsZeroHedge1w+CNN Panel Melts Down As Democrats Blast GOP Over El-Sayed Ad For Using His Full Name
What’s next: El-Sayed declined on NBC's Meet the Press to disavow Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who once said 'America deserved 9/11.'
- Republicans say Piker's continued role as a surrogate will nationalize the Michigan race.
- Senators Sanders and Warren and DNC Chair Ken Martin backed El-Sayed and redirected to economic policy.
- Will El-Sayed formally distance himself from Piker before the general election, and would that affect his coalition?
- How much of the coordinated social media push was organic versus deliberately organized, and by whom?
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