THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).
- HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a Michigan campaign crowd that the Muslim Brotherhood had destroyed centuries of scientific and cultural achievement in Muslim societies.
- Kennedy claimed that roughly 500 million Arabs produce no science, literature or major international prize winners, and blamed the Brotherhood for societies characterized by hatred, war and victimization.
- The remarks sparked criticism because several claims are demonstrably inaccurate, including his assertion about Nobel winners, and intensified the controversy surrounding Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went to Michigan to help elect a Republican senator.
By the time he finished discussing the Muslim Brotherhood, the secretary of Health and Human Services had delivered a sweeping assessment of nearly 500 million Arabs, the history of Islamic civilization and the world’s major scientific prizes.
That is quite a lot of territory to cover at a Senate campaign rally.
Kennedy appeared Monday in Grand Rapids to support Republican Mike Rogers, who is running against Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
The race has already featured heated accusations concerning El-Sayed’s family background and alleged connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Kennedy told the crowd he was pleased to arrive while Rogers was discussing the organization.
He rejected the idea that criticizing the Muslim Brotherhood was inherently Islamophobic, arguing that the movement represented a departure from the historic intellectual achievements of Muslim civilization.
That argument could have led to a substantial discussion about political Islam, religious extremism and the differences among Muslim-majority societies.
Instead, Kennedy broadened the target considerably.
He began by praising what he described as Islam’s nearly thousand-year golden age, when Muslim societies made enormous contributions to medicine, mathematics, engineering, literature and scientific discovery.
Then came the claim that attracted immediate attention.
Speaking about the estimated Arab population worldwide, Kennedy asserted that modern Arabs produce no significant science, major academic prize winners or literature.
He blamed that alleged cultural collapse on the Muslim Brotherhood.
Kennedy argued that the organization had destroyed a great intellectual tradition, leaving societies consumed by conflict, resentment and victimization.
Now, criticizing the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology is a legitimate political argument. The organization has a complicated history, and governments across the Middle East have taken sharply different positions toward it.
Not all Arabs are Muslim, most Muslims are not Arab, and the Muslim Brotherhood does not govern or represent every Arab society.
Kennedy’s remarks come as Republicans intensify their attacks on El-Sayed, who could become the nation’s first Muslim U.S. senator.
Rogers and other Republican figures have questioned El-Sayed about his family’s alleged historical ties to the Brotherhood.
The controversy involves a 2012 social media statement by El-Sayed’s half-sister concerning their mother’s activities decades earlier.
El-Sayed has denied involvement with the organization and rejected attempts to hold him responsible for activities attributed to relatives.
President Trump also drew criticism during a Michigan rally over the weekend after referring to El-Sayed as a jihadist and questioning his loyalty to the country.
That rhetoric prompted objections from some Arab-American Republicans, including figures who had supported Trump.
Kennedy’s latest speech adds another dimension to the dispute.
DBS WIRE SOURCES (I’ve got all day).
- Mediaite — Kennedy’s October 26 Michigan rally remarks and reaction
- Nobel Prize — Official announcement naming Omar M. Yaghi a 2025 Chemistry laureate
- National Book Foundation — Official 2025 fiction and nonfiction winners
- Associated Press — Michigan Senate campaign and criticism of attacks on El-Sayed
- RealClearPolitics — Kennedy’s earlier comments questioning El-Sayed about the Muslim Brotherhood
