BS BULLETIN:
- Bernie Sanders says anti-Muslim attacks against Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed echo religious attacks once aimed at John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama.
- Sanders argues Republicans are trying to convince voters that El-Sayed’s Muslim faith makes him dangerous.
- El-Sayed has become a major Republican target since winning Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.
Bernie Sanders thinks he’s seen this movie before.
The Vermont senator says attacks targeting Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s Muslim faith follow an old American political script — one previously used against John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama.
Sanders made the comparison while defending El-Sayed against increasingly personal attacks centered on his religion.
“There was a time when John Kennedy ran for president and people said, ‘Oh my God, he’s a Catholic,’” Sanders said.
His point: Kennedy’s opponents suggested his Catholic faith meant his loyalties couldn’t be trusted.
Sanders then invoked Obama, who repeatedly faced false claims that he was secretly Muslim. Now, Sanders argues, it’s El-Sayed’s turn. The Michigan Democrat would become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate. And his faith has increasingly become part of the political fight surrounding his candidacy.
El-Sayed was repeatedly singled out at last week’s Republican National Convention, where President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson and others attacked him.
Some criticism has focused squarely on El-Sayed’s political record and positions.
He supports Medicare for All and abolishing ICE, opposes U.S. military aid to Israel and has faced criticism over his association with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker.
But other attacks have focused explicitly on El-Sayed being Muslim.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville has called him a “terrorist” and “radical Islamist,” while El-Sayed’s Republican opponent Mike Rogers has alleged that he is being funded by groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
Other claims circulating online alleged that El-Sayed wants Sharia law imposed in the United States.
Sanders says that’s where legitimate political criticism becomes something else.
The senator has previously accused Trump and Republicans of going after El-Sayed for “racist reasons,” arguing that the message amounts to: “He is a Muslim, and we’re all supposed to hate Muslims.”
El-Sayed himself has been making a similar argument.
Following the GOP convention, he said Republicans “want to point to me and my name and my faith” rather than discuss gas prices, housing or other economic issues.
But El-Sayed also has plenty of controversial positions for Republicans to attack without mentioning religion at all.
His progressive platform, fierce opposition to Israel policy and past appearances with Piker have generated criticism from Republicans and some Democrats alike. The Washington Post notes that El-Sayed has apologized for comments he made following an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue that some Jewish residents believed minimized the violence.
Sanders nevertheless sees something much older happening alongside those policy fights.
First it was: Can America trust a Catholic?
Then: Is Obama secretly a Muslim?
And now, Sanders argues, the question is simply being asked out loud: Can America trust an actual Muslim?
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Twitchy — Bernie Sanders says Abdul El-Sayed faces the same kind of bigotry that JFK and Obama did
- Associated Press — Republicans make Abdul El-Sayed a top midterm target
- CBS News — Bernie Sanders discusses attacks on Abdul El-Sayed
- PolitiFact — Claim that El-Sayed wants Sharia law in America distorts his remarks
- Washington Post — El-Sayed’s primary win triggered wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric
