US President Donald Trump referred to Democratic candidates as 'jihadists' during remarks to reporters in the Oval Office, comments that came after Abdul El-Sayed, a son of Egyptian immigrants, secured the Democratic nomination in Michigan's Senate primary the previous week.
Trump Uses 'Jihadist' Label for Democratic Candidates in Oval Office Remarks
US President Donald Trump referred to Democratic candidates as 'jihadists' during remarks to reporters in the Oval Office, comments that came after Abdul El-Sayed, a son of Egyptian immigrants, secured the Democratic nomination in Michigan's Senate primary the previous week.
Trump told reporters: 'We have jihadists being elected all over the place, whether it's communism [or] jihadism. A friend of mine called up, he said, 'You know [...] you should use the word jihadist', that's what's happening. If you take a look at what's happening in other countries, I'm not really sure that's the way we want to live.' He did not explicitly name any individual candidate in those remarks.
Hours after the Oval Office remarks, Trump posted on Truth Social a photo showing El-Sayed in front of a crowd that included two women in headscarves, accompanied by the caption: 'They are coming for your home and your belongings.'
Trump had also targeted El-Sayed the previous week, describing him as a 'hater of Jews' and 'hater of Israel' who would bring 'filth, crime, death, destruction, embarrassment,' following El-Sayed's primary victory.
Trump additionally made remarks about people of Somali descent, of whom there are reportedly more than 260,000 across the United States. He described them as 'not smart,' saying they have 'no aptitude' and 'nothing going' for them to 'tell us how to run our country.'
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said Trump's remarks are 'putting a target on the back of Muslim elected officials across our nation' and that the rhetoric is 'fueling the surge in complaints of anti-Muslim bigotry' that the organization has documented over the past three years.
Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina claimed on social media that 'every single Muslim holding public office in America is a Trojan horse, and a threat to both national security and our republic.' Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville labeled El-Sayed a 'TERRORIST' and wrote that he is a 'RADICAL ISLAMIST' on social media.
Two days before the Oval Office remarks, Trump had shared a social media post comparing a photo of himself and Melania Trump with one of El-Sayed and his wife, Dr. Sarah Jukaku, a psychiatrist, captioned: 'Two VERY DIFFERENT America's.'
El-Sayed appeared on CNN's State of the Union with host Jake Tapper on Sunday, responding to the post by saying 'Sarah and I actually like each other' and adding a remark about the president and first lady's relationship.
With fewer than 90 days until the midterm elections, all 435 House seats and 34 Senate seats are at stake. Democrats are described as facing divisions between moderate leaders and progressive candidates, some of whom have been characterized by critics as a threat to national security.
- Whether Trump's 'jihadist' remarks were directed specifically at El-Sayed or other named candidates
- Any official response from El-Sayed or his campaign to the Oval Office remarks specifically
- Independent verification of the CAIR statistics on the reported surge in anti-Muslim bigotry complaints
- The source or identity of the 'friend' Trump cited as suggesting the word 'jihadist'
- Whether any Republican Party leadership has endorsed or distanced itself from the remarks by Mace, Tuberville, or Trump
- El-Sayed's polling position or electoral prospects ahead of the general election
- The basis for the figure of 260,000 people of Somali descent in the United States
Read the original at Al Jazeera English