Bernie Sanders criticises GOP rhetoric on Abdul El-Sayed as racist and appalling

Washington — Sen. Bernie Sanders decried some of the rhetoric from Republicans in the Michigan Senate race, as the GOP has leaned in heavily on attacks on Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s ethnicity and religion. 

“That level of racism, overt absolute racism, is frankly disgusting and should appall every decent American,” Sanders said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

Sanders, who’s supported El-Sayed’s campaign, specifically referred to comments made by Republican surrogates, including President Trump and GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. Republicans have called El-Sayed a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, and implied that electing him could even be deadly to Americans. El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim senator, has denied any connection to the Muslim Brotherhood and condemned the comments. The Trump administration earlier this year designated certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist groups.

Sanders said, “What Cruz and Trump and Vance and others are saying is disgusting.”

“The fact of the matter is that Abdul is running an extraordinary campaign, and I think what you’re going to see is a good victory in Michigan for him,” Sanders said. “People will rebel against that type of ugliness.”

The Vermont independent also condemned advertisements in the Michigan Senate race, saying, “I have never in my life seen such disgusting, racist, fearmongering ads as those that are taking place in Michigan right now.”

“They are calling Abdul El Sayed — who’s a medical doctor — they’re calling him a terrorist, a jihadist, really disgusting things,” Sanders said. “And the fact that any Republican would stand behind those horrible ads is a disgrace.”

Sanders also weighed in on the rift between El-Sayed and his former primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, who called on El-Sayed last week to condemn an outside group’s ad linking U.S. military aid to Israel to rising grocery prices, which she characterized as antisemitic. El-Sayed accused her of “relitigating a primary that ended three months ago.” And on Saturday, he reiterated that the ad “was not made by me,” adding that he disagrees with its contents. 

Sanders said, “Haley Stevens lost a very, very close primary. I can understand being upset about that.” But he stressed that during a midterm cycle of paramount importance, Michiganders will see the bigger picture.

“So the people in Michigan understand, ‘Sure, we have disagreements with Abdul on this and that issue,'” he said. “But from what I can see, all over the state, people are standing up. They’re going to stand with Abdul, take on somebody who will be nothing more than a rubber stamp for the Trump administration. That’s Mike Rogers.”

Shortly after Sanders’ appearance, Stevens publicly endorsed Rogers, saying “I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign,” adding that she sees what is on the ballot is “who we are as Michiganders is not hate and is not what we are getting out from our Democratic nominee right now.” 

El-Sayed on Sunday did not reference Stevens by name but instead said “this is a state of 10 million people who deserve a lot better from their government. I’m a lot more focused on the 9,999,998 that are not the ones who are talking about.” 

On “Face the Nation,” Sanders referenced his own family’s history to illustrate his view on how some Jewish Michiganders feel about El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel. 

“I am Jewish. My father’s family was wiped out by Hitler. Anti-Semitism is an extraordinarily disgusting and dangerous ideology that has killed millions and millions of lives in the last century. We cannot tolerate anti-Semitism, period,” Sanders said. 

But Sanders argued that, “To be critical of a racist, extremist government in Israel, and to say that American taxpayers should not spend a nickel supporting that government is not anti-Semitism.”

“It is attacking a right-wing government, and I would say the same about any other government on earth,” Sanders said. “Does not reflect the nature of the religion of the people who are in that country. So I reject that.”