President Donald Trump leaves after speaking at a campaign rally at the McMorran Place Sports and Entertainment Center, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Port Huron, Michigan.
Julia Démarée Nikhinson/AP
hide caption
Julia Démarée Nikhinson/AP
PORT HURON, Mich. — President Donald Trump ramped up his anti-Muslim rhetoric against Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday, describing him as a threat to national security and questioning his loyalty to the United States in comments that drew sharp rebukes from a former top Arab American ally.
Trump called El-Sayed, a former Detroit health official, a “jihadist” who was “on the side of the terrorists” and who “should go through a metal detector before being allowed into the Senate.” He also repeatedly brought up the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, drawing a comparison between preventing El-Sayed from entering the Senate chamber and the passengers who fought back against the hijackers aboard United Flight 93.
El-Sayed, who will become the country’s first Muslim senator if elected, has called attacks on his loyalty to the country “shameful” and has repeatedly denied any links to extremist groups. The Republican president’s comments were condemned by Bishara Bahbah, founder of Arab Americans for Trump, the group that helped lead the president’s outreach efforts to Arab American voters in 2024.
“The president’s statements are irrelevant,” he said in a telephone interview. “They are crossing a red line. They are racist.”
With Republicans on the defensive over inflation, soaring fuel prices and the war in Iran, the president is trying to drum up turnout by asserting that El-Sayed and other Democrats are existential threats to America, rather than electoral rivals. The Michigan Senate race between El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers is among a handful of contests that could determine control of the chamber.
Trump made his remarks in Port Huron, a Canadian border town about an hour north of Detroit and near communities where he has made significant gains among Arab American voters in 2024. He became the first Republican presidential candidate since 2000 to win in Dearborn, a city with one of the largest concentrations of Arab Americans in the country.
Trump, who imposed a travel ban on several majority-Muslim countries during his first term, has increasingly relied on anti-Muslim rhetoric as Election Day approaches. He also attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota at Sunday’s rally, where he said he came to Michigan “to stop a jihadist member of the Muslim Brotherhood from becoming a United States senator.”
In response to Trump, who also regularly mocks his name, El-Sayed told supporters at a rally in Grand Rapids later Sunday that he didn’t care how Trump pronounced it or misrepresented it.
“I don’t care if he remembers my full name, because he can go ahead and call me ‘senator’ after November,” El-Sayed said, drawing cheers. “I will be Senator Muhammad for you, brother.”
El-Sayed’s faith, associations and past statements become campaign hotspots
Central to the Republicans’ strategy against El-Sayed in the final weeks of the campaign was the attempt to link him to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic movement whose branches are designated by the U.S. government as terrorist organizations.
There is no evidence that El-Sayed has any affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. His half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, wrote on social media in 2012 that “my family has been MB for a long time” and described a conversation with her mother about her involvement in the Muslim Brotherhood in the early 1970s.
El-Sayed was born in the United States to Egyptian immigrant parents who divorced when he was young. He was raised by his father and not his biological mother.
On Sunday, Trump also targeted El-Sayed’s ties to popular streamer Hasan Piker, who appeared alongside the Democrat several times during the primary campaign, including at his election night party.
Piker has said in the past that “Hamas is a thousand times better” than Israel, calling some Orthodox Jews “inbred” and that “America deserved the 9/11 attacks.”
El-Sayed has been criticized for his own rhetoric. He repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether Iran or Israel posed a greater threat to the country. Earlier this year, he said “hurt people, hurt people” after an attack on a synagogue in the Detroit area. The attacker had lost four relatives in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon the previous week. El-Sayed later apologized, saying he was not trying to justify what happened.
“To anyone who thinks my comments may have been hurtful, I am truly sorry,” he said. “That was not my intention.”
Arab Americans for Trump founder calls president ‘racist’
Bahbah, whose organization has since changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace, said Trump’s remarks were unacceptable to Arab and Muslim communities, including Christian Arabs.
“These remarks are inappropriate and crazy. I mean, no sane person would say these things,” Bahbah said.
Dearborn helped Trump win Michigan in 2024 after many voters in the city were outraged by the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza war.
“The president of the United States saying that about a person because of their religion, it’s just not acceptable,” Bahbah said. “And people will remember it on November 3.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking at the Grand Rapids rally, said Trump and his allies were using Islamophobia because they had “no say” on the issues most important to working people, like health care, housing and income inequality.
“All they can do is foment hatred and division,” Sanders said.
The campaign was one of the most controversial this year
Rogers and El-Sayed are engaged in a heated race to fill the seat of incumbent Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.
During their second and final general election campaign debate, Rogers questioned El-Sayed’s loyalty to the United States.
“Are you for America or for these terrorist groups overseas?” » asked Rogers.
El-Sayed said the interrogation was “shameful.”
“I am proud of our Constitution which guarantees each of us the right to pray as we choose to pray,” he said.
Speaking before Trump’s appearance on Sunday, Rogers reiterated his allegations linking El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Muslim Brotherhood celebrated exactly one victory in the United States in the primaries this year,” Rogers said on stage. “Those of Abdul El-Sayed.”
President Donald Trump listens as Nicki Minaj speaks during a campaign rally at McMorran Place Sports and Entertainment Center, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Port Huron, Michigan.
Julia Démarée Nikhinson/AP
hide caption
Julia Démarée Nikhinson/AP
Rally brings no new economic aid, but gets a boost from Minaj
Trump has regularly announced new investments in factories during his campaign rallies, but he did not do so as part of his speech in Michigan, a state defined by the auto industry.
The president instead reiterated the investments already made by domestic automakers. These automakers could see their finances collapse if the president expands his trade war with Canada, which is a key partner of the U.S. auto sector.
Although it lacked new promise for Michigan’s economy, Trump’s rally nonetheless brought some star power.
Rapper Nicki Minaj appeared on stage and urged people to get out and vote for the state’s Republican ticket. His appearance followed an awkward moment from Trump, who has become increasingly obsessed with comments about other people’s body parts.
After praising the body of Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican in a close election, Trump turned his gaze to Minaj and commented on her posterior.
The president then motioned for Minaj to stand for the crowd, which she did, after which Trump said, “I hope Nicki wasn’t insulted, but we love Nicki. She’s been with us for a long time.”
Gn headline
