This page requires JavaScript to display.

El-Sayed's apology fallout

News · Heat 5.4 / 10 · 8 shows · 1h 51m airtime

Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, apologized on August 29, 2026, at a meeting with the state's Jewish Democratic Caucus in Lansing for his response to the March 12 attack in which an armed attacker drove into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township. The discussion has moved from the apology to whether the attacks on him work: Trump endorsed Mike Rogers and called El-Sayed a jihadist and a terrorist sympathizer, a super PAC ad alleges extremist funding, and Rogers endorsed a post calling him a terrorist. Rabbi Aaron Starr says the apology addressed timing more than content, and his half-sister says the FBI raided their mother's home. Obama campaigned with him in Detroit on October 24 and said the birther…

How 8 podcasts covered it

  1. The Megyn Kelly Show, 2026-08-31 (2:30 to 5:25)
    Reports El-Sayed's Saturday apology in Lansing
    Reports El-Sayed's Saturday apology to the Jewish Democratic Caucus for his March remarks after the Temple Israel attack, and his pushback on questions about Hasan Piker.
    New angle: El-Sayed apologized on Saturday at a meeting with the Jewish Democratic Caucus in Lansing.
  2. Pod Save America, 2026-09-01 (51:26 to 59:25)
    Adds the March video's hurt-people context
    Adds the substance of the March video - El-Sayed condemned the attack but offered 'hurt people hurt people' as context - plus the attacker's Lebanese background and family lost to Israeli airstrikes, and names two Michigan Democrats still withholding support.
  3. Pod Save America, 2026-09-01 (59:25 to 1:02:14)
    Replays the apology tape and the March video
    Plays the apology tape and re-litigates the March 13 video - the Lebanon-born attacker, the 'hurt people hurt people' line, the four-and-a-half-minute statement. Vance's RJC attack and El-Sayed's counter are noted, but the segment stays inside the apology story already on the record.
    New angle: J.D. Vance attacked El-Sayed over the synagogue comments at a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Michigan.
  4. Pod Save America, 2026-09-13 (26:15 to 28:52)
    Debates the Piker guilt-by-association fight
    Turns to the Piker guilt-by-association fight: El-Sayed disagrees with some of Piker's past comments but won't cut ties with a friend, and Piker campaigned with him about twice. Favreau says he called former Rep. Andy Levin about Jewish community concerns.
  5. Pod Save America, 2026-09-13 (30:24 to 31:31)
    Calls Levin on the Piker controversy
    Calls former congressman Andy Levin, who calls the Piker controversy a tempest in a teapot and argues the 400 Jewish Democrats backing Rogers are largely Republicans or 2012 Romney voters.
  6. Pod Save America, 2026-09-13 (34:28 to 36:28)
    Breaks down the DSCC's hang-back playbook
    Campaign-strategy talk on the Michigan Senate race: the DSCC's hang-back playbook, El-Sayed's four-to-one spending deficit in some markets, and the campaign's worry about a $100 million Musk check.
  7. Pod Save America, 2026-09-13 (47:39 to 50:19)
    Reports from a Detroit town hall
    Campaign-trail check-in from Detroit: the town hall drew questions on listeria, DOGE, AI and Wayne County's jail, not the Fox News streamer fight. Tommy says the campaign doesn't know its schedule and needs money from both wings; Jon urges watching a full event.
  8. Pod Save America, 2026-09-13 (53:20 to 56:40)
    Contrasts local questions with national coverage
    El-Sayed, in the interview, says Michigan voters ask about affordability, data centers, AI and health care while national media ask about a Twitch streamer in California - the Piker thread already on the record. He then reacts to the Dallas audience's shoot-him shout and to post-9/11 politics.
  9. Pod Save America, 2026-10-06 (33:40 to 37:30)
    Adds Obama's Michigan trip and new poll numbers
    El-Sayed's own announcement that Obama will campaign with him and Benson in Michigan, plus a Fox News hit and Times poll numbers with black voters - new names and numbers for a race the file has tracked mostly through money and apology fallout.
    New angle: Obama will travel to Michigan to campaign with El-Sayed and Jocelyn Benson; Times poll has El-Sayed at 76-13 with black voters.
  10. The Megyn Kelly Show, 2026-10-08 (7:14 to 11:43)
    Airs CNN's reporting on El-Sayed outreach
    Airs CNN's reporting on El-Sayed's outreach problems: a Detroit leader says a promised roundtable never happened, and Lansing Mayor Andy Schor says he won't back El-Sayed until they talk about Israel. Adds the date of Obama's Detroit stop.
    New angle: Obama campaigns with El-Sayed in Detroit on October 24, the first day of early in-person voting.
  11. Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, 2026-10-08 (0:00 to 4:37)
    Plays the RJC ad against El-Sayed
    Plays a new Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund ad in which Jewish Democrats say they cannot vote for El-Sayed over his Israel stance, then argues most Jewish voters still back Democrats and that El-Sayed is drawing Trump voters instead.
    New angle: The Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund released an ad featuring Jewish Democrats opposing El-Sayed.
  12. Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, 2026-10-08 (4:37 to 10:53)
    Adds the Trump voter focus group and Piker call
    Adds an MSNBC focus group of Trump voters who say they will back El-Sayed or stay home, and a report that El-Sayed called Hasan Piker to ask him to stop costing him votes. Also weighs why Michigan stays tight while red states swing.
    New angle: An MSNBC focus group of Trump voters in Michigan says they will vote for El-Sayed or not at all.
  13. Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, 2026-10-08 (15:03 to 19:19)
    Plays the focus group on black voter outreach
    Recaps Obama's planned Michigan stop for El-Sayed and the primary weakness with black voters, playing an MSNBC focus group of black voters who felt taken for granted. Stays inside the apology-fallout thread without adding a new development.
  14. Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, 2026-10-08 (19:19 to 24:51)
    Reads Trump's post and Rogers' tariff break
    Reads Trump's Truth Social post calling El-Sayed a radical extremist terrorist sympathizer and endorsing Mike Rogers, then turns to Rogers breaking with Trump on the tariff war in a new ad.
    New angle: Trump endorsed Mike Rogers and called El-Sayed a radical extremist terrorist sympathizer.
  15. The Bulwark Daily, 2026-10-08 (40:34 to 44:26)
    Reads Trump's post as anti-Muslim bigotry
    Picks up Trump's post calling El-Sayed a radical extremist terrorist sympathizer who goes back to the days of jihad, and reads it as straight anti-Muslim bigotry, set against Obama, Whitmer and Slotkin campaigning for El-Sayed.
    New angle: Trump's post says El-Sayed goes back to the days of jihad.
  16. The Dan Bongino Show, 2026-10-09 (23:56 to 33:19)
    Argues Obama's El-Sayed stump is a security race
    Rails against Obama for stumping with El-Sayed, calling the race a national security election and playing clips of El-Sayed criticizing Obama. The Obama rally itself is already on the record; this is argument and retelling, plus a recap of the Rogers debate.
  17. Pod Save America, 2026-10-13 (17:31 to 23:44)
    Picks up the rally attack and super PAC ad
    Picks up the Trump attack line at a Tennessee rally, where he calls El-Sayed a jihadist, and adds a super PAC ad accusing El-Sayed of being funded by Islamic extremist groups. Reads the Islamophobic strategy as the closing argument in Michigan.
    New angle: Trump called El-Sayed a jihadist at a Tennessee rally, and a super PAC ad accused him of being funded by Islamic extremist groups.
  18. Global News Podcast, 2026-10-25 (24:53 to 28:00)
    Interviews a rabbi who will not vote for him
    Brings on Rabbi Aaron Starr, president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, who says El-Sayed apologized for the timing of his 'hurt people hurt people' remarks but less so for their content, and that he will not vote for El-Sayed. Also notes a Jewish leaders' letter with two non-negotiables that does not name him.
    New angle: Rabbi Aaron Starr says El-Sayed apologized for the timing of his remarks, less so for the content, and will not vote for him.
  19. Morning Wire, 2026-10-26 (3:58 to 8:42)
    Adds the FBI raid on El-Sayed's mother's home
    Covers the final week's dueling rallies: Obama's standard stump for El-Sayed on Saturday and Trump's Sunday pitch for Rogers. The new material is the FBI raid on El-Sayed's mother's home, disclosed by his half-sister, and the story's move into the Times, NPR and the Post.
    New angle: The FBI raided El-Sayed's mother's home over ties to suspected terrorist front groups, his half-sister says.
  20. The Megyn Kelly Show, 2026-10-26 (4:48 to 8:46)
    Adds the Morsi letter and fresh polling
    Covers the final-week Michigan swing: Trump calling El-Sayed a jihadist on the tarmac and at a Rogers rally with Nicki Minaj, Obama's Detroit defense, and Rogers telling NBC he has never called El-Sayed a terrorist. Adds the Washington Post's Morsi letter detail and fresh polling.
    New angle: The Washington Post confirmed El-Sayed was a signatory on a 2012 letter supporting Mohamed Morsi.
  21. Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, 2026-10-26 (2:47 to 8:32)
    Argues Obama adopted El-Sayed's framing
    Plays clips from Obama's Michigan rally for El-Sayed and Slotkin and reads his Medicare for all language as an embrace of El-Sayed's framing of the ACA as a starter home, a shift from Obama's past role of blocking the left.
    New angle: Obama embraced Medicare for all as a continuation of the Affordable Care Act, adopting El-Sayed's starter-home framing.
  22. Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, 2026-10-26 (9:54 to 12:55)
    Reads Trump's post attacking El-Sayed
    Reads Trump's Truth Social post in full: it calls El-Sayed a Muslim Brotherhood jihadist, a fake doctor running the worst clinic in America, and tells Michigan to vote for Mike Rogers. Notes Rogers refused to call himself a MAGA Republican, then plays a rally clip of Trump on Somali immigrants.
    New angle: Trump's Truth Social post calls El-Sayed a fake doctor who runs the worst clinic in America.
  23. The Rest Is Politics: US, 2026-10-26 (21:34 to 29:31)
    Debates Obama's Detroit turnout pull
    Recaps Obama's Detroit rally for El-Sayed and contrasts it with Trump's jihadist attacks, then debates whether Obama can turn out Black voters in Detroit. Stays inside the rally and the polling question, adding no new development.
  24. Pod Save America, 2026-10-27 (23:26 to 28:15)
    Catches Rogers denying his own quote-tweet
    Covers Trump's anti-Muslim escalation at his Michigan rally for Rogers - the 9/11 father on stage, the metal detector line - and catches Rogers denying on Meet the Press that he ever called El-Sayed a terrorist, against his own quote-tweet of Portnoy.
    New angle: Rogers quote-tweeted Dave Portnoy calling El-Sayed a terrorist and said Portnoy was exactly right.
  25. Pod Save America, 2026-10-27 (36:36 to 40:08)
    Plays Obama defending El-Sayed at the rally
    Plays Obama's Michigan rally clip defending El-Sayed against the anti-Muslim attacks, then debates whether the campaign should answer them directly in the closing week. The clip itself is the new material; the rest is strategy talk.
    New angle: At the Detroit rally Obama said the birther attacks did not work on him and will not work on El-Sayed.
Unpacking...