US President Donald Trump has expressed Islamophobic sentiments at an election rally to undermine Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim candidate in the upcoming Senate race.
Speaking on Sunday at a campaign rally in Michigan ahead of the midterm vote scheduled for November 3, Trump targeted Democratic candidate El-Sayed using anti-Muslim rhetoric, going as far as suggesting that Christmas would be cancelled if a Muslim physician won a Senate seat.
Trump labelled El-Sayed “a jihadist”, saying if he were elected he would be the only senator required by the president to be screened every day through a metal detector system. Trump stressed, “I want him to have a metal detector.”
Trump, whose popularity has declined due to the unwarranted US-Israeli war on Iran resulting in higher fuel prices in the US, said, “I’m here to keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator.”
El-Sayed is a US-born citizen and former public health official who has pledged to uphold the US Constitution.
He has previously largely dismissed the anti-Muslim rhetoric against him as an attempt to create “distractions”, saying he is focused more on domestic issues, including lowering the cost of living and expanding access to healthcare.
He faces Republican candidate Mike Rogers, a Trump loyalist.
Republicans consider winning the Senate race crucial to retaining majority control of the Chamber.
Currently, Republicans have a 53-seat majority in the Senate. Only 35 Senate positions are up for election in 2026.
Since Trump first ran for president during the 2016 election cycle, he has weaponised anti-Muslim bigotry for political gain.
In 2015, for instance – near the beginning of his first successful campaign – Trump said he would support “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”.
Less than two years later, Trump used the presidency to sign a short-lived executive order barring travel from multiple Muslim-majority countries.
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