President Donald Trump went after Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee late Wednesday, calling Abdul El-Sayed a "Terrorist Sympathizer" in a Truth Social post that got his first name wrong.
"Mohammed El-Sayed is a terrible Candidate for the Dumocrats," Trump posted at 11:13 p.m. EST. "While his opponent, Mike Rogers, is an extremely good one, Mohammed goes back to the days of the Jihad. He is a RADICAL Extremist, Terrorist Sympathizer, and no different from his best friend, America Hating Hasan Piker."
The president smeared El-Sayed as "WRONG for Michigan, and WRONG for America," and repeated his endorsement of Rogers, a former Republican congressman. He also asked "How's France doing?" – in a reference to widespread demonstrations by students and sympathetic labor unions protesting overcrowded and dilapidated schools.
It isn't the first time Republicans have mixed up El-Sayed with someone else – whether intentionally or not – in this race. Rogers responded to El-Sayed's primary win in August by blaming him for comments made by Piker, a a progressive streamer who campaigned with him, saying he never expected to run "against someone who believes America deserved 9/11." That line came from a 2019 livestream by Piker, who later called the remarks "inappropriate."
Critics jumped on the mistake at the time. "That was Hasan Piker. A different person," Democratic strategist Leslie Marshall wrote. "But I guess to Mike Rogers all those Brown people look alike."
Rogers has also faced mockery for skipping a September debate on Fox2 Detroit, where El-Sayed stood next to an empty podium. "It tells you who he is," El-Sayed said of Rogers. He also hit back at Rogers' attacks over 9/11 by pointing to Rogers' repeated House votes against health care for 9/11 first responders.
Republicans are spending heavily to keep the seat competitive. The Senate Leadership Fund, the main GOP Senate super PAC, recently added $2 million in support of Rogers, which brings its total in the race to $53 million.
