Nothing says commitment to reform like heads on pikes. Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has attracted national attention with his violent rhetoric about “choking out” opponents and his campaigning with virulent anti-Semites like Hasan Piker. However, his comment about hoisting opponents’ heads like an “ogre on a pike” was raised during last night’s debate with Rep. Haley Stevens (D., MI.). He assured voters that he was really referring to the head of Sen. John Fetterman (D., PA.) in defending his remark. Somehow, alluding to the beheading of a staunch defender of Israel was presented as far more reasonable than mass beheadings. That is what passes for a moderate in this age of rage.
Previously, El-Sayed declared, “Ideally, you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message.” That comment was widely interpreted as referring to Stevens, and he was pushed to reaffirm it with Stevens standing right next to him on the stage. That was not a good look, and El-Sayed offered his pike pivot.
He insisted, “I was referring to a guy named John Fetterman,” who El-Sayed suggested was elected as a liberal candidate before “completely throwing those values in the mud.”
So it will be Fetterman’s head, and everyone can calm down.
There is, of course, violent rhetoric on both sides of the aisle. When Steven Bannon spoke of putting the heads of Dr. Anthony Fauci and then FBI Director Christopher Wray, he was suspended on X.
However, there is an increasing level of violent rhetoric coming from the left and an increasing level of political violence.
It was a scene that has recurred throughout history, as establishment leaders are overtaken by the very mobs they sought to use for their own purposes. Of course, the pike was the enduring symbol of the Jacobins during “the Terror” of the French Revolution. It is now an image being picked up, with the guillotine, by the New Jacobins.
In my book Rage and the Republic, I discuss how these Democratic leaders are following the same self-destructive pattern of prior establishment figures in history who thought that they could use mobs against their opponents while hoping that they would be overlooked.
For years, Jeffries has joined other Democrats in fueling the rage on the left in the hopes of becoming the next House Speaker. Whether calling for supporters to “fight in the streets,” denouncing the Supreme Court as “illegitimate” or posting an image of himself brandishing a baseball bat, Jeffries sought to portray himself as a class warrior worthy of the mob’s support.
Other Democratic leaders followed suit — especially Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. It was Schumer who yelled threats at conservative Supreme Court justices in front of the court. A deranged man triggered by such rhetoric in the media later attempted to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Schumer and others portrayed their opponents as Nazis who threaten the very existence of democracy, and they stoked class conflict to inspire resentment for the wealthy.
Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison — now Minnesota’s attorney general — celebrated that Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump and his supporters.
Pandering to the mob will not help. These establishment figures, including Hakeem Jeffries, are already being targeted by the rising DSA movement. Likewise, Buttigieg, Khanna, and others hope that they can offer up the Supreme Court to the radicals to prove their bona fides. It will not work. The posturing as class warriors will not satisfy these extremists for long, as many clamor for radical changes, including trashing the Constitution and our core institutions.
The Michigan primary is an example of how the mob gravitates to the most extreme figures in a race to the bottom. El-Sayed is the rock bottom of rage.
N.B.: The initial draft of blog referenced Fetterman as Jewish, which was corrected shortly after the posting. He has never listed a religious preference. I apologize for the error.
John Fetterman is 6’9″ tall and 20 years older. The β male criticizing him is 5’9″, 20 years younger, has pubic hair for an incomplete “beard” (what man does that?), and his “earnings” come from his wife’s psychiatry practice. His 2025 tax return was only partially released, failing to show his source of income, a whopping $690K
As it is, the soy boy has low poll numbers where the Republican nominee, Mike Rogers, is outperforming him by double digits. Rogers is in a tie with Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) who is also vying for the Senate seat.
He can hurl insults like the rest of the Democrats, but overall Americans aren’t buying their castastrophizing anymore. One could say that Americans don’t have 2 f**** to give anymore about Democrats.
The Dems really are trying to destroy the judiciary. They know it’s an obstacle to their authoritarian aspirations.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2026/07/sheldon-whitehouses-court-packing-plan-is-unconstitutional/
The National Review is MAGA. The Constitution doesn’t set out any specific numbers of Justices for the Supreme Court and there have been various numbers over the years. There is absolutely no reason why more justices couldn’t be added. The radically conservative SCOTUS chosen in part by the radical right wing Federalist Society, does not represent the views and values of most Americans and is an obstacle to all of our Constitutional rights. Most Americans want a more balanced judiciary.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly “exploded with rage” on Tuesday after a blood test he had required for all service members over 30 showed that he had “extremely high” levels of estrogen.
According to those familiar with the test results, Hegseth’s estrogen count would place him in the 99th percentile of all women.
Mascara streaking down his cheeks, Hegseth howled in protest, claiming that the blood test “reeked of DEI.”
“I wasn’t surprised by his reaction,” said the doctor who administered the test. “It’s that time of the month.”
Only a coward posts anonymously.
You can tell whether masculinity is toxic or healthy based on how the man treats his family, in two main ways:
Does he protect his family from outside danger?
Is he brutish when dealing directly with his family members?
The Dems, who practically invented the term toxic masculinity, are displaying it in spades. In terms of government policies to harm or protect the citizens: defund the police, open the border to criminals, and put men into girls’ competitive sports, locker rooms, and showers.
In terms of direct treatment of the American people: instigating violence toward political opponents while referring to Republican voters as semi-fascist, ultra-MAGA, garbage, basket of deplorables, and bitter clingers. Assassination chic culture in which CEOs get shot to death in the back, the candidate from the opposing party has three assassination attempts, a political commentator gets assassinated, all the while they cheer and celebrate in joy at this violence.
The usual retort is that Trump uses insults in his speech. Insults, yes, but they are not clothed in violence and not directed at Democrat *voters*.
OldManFromKS,
Well, the Democrats do not like a man to be, well, a proper man. Someone who is strong both physically and mentally. Someone who is reasonably self-resilient and self-sustainable. Someone who is responsible, honorable, respectable and tolerant to a degree. Someone who treats women, children, senior citizens and animals properly.
The Democrats seem to celebrate effeminate men like that Dylin Mulvenany person. Meanwhile condoning all others as toxic. Are there examples of real toxic masculinity? Of course. The former Maine Democrat candidate for senate comes to mind.
Trump uses insults in his speeches. Imagine that. How many times has Trump and all his supporters been called Nazis? Now we have El-Sayed calling Fetterman a ogre and for his head on a pike. Just another day that ends in y.