There was a curious moment this week when Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed expressed shock that people were asking him about a “streamer in California” as he campaigns for the Senate in Michigan. That streamer is, of course, Hasan Piker. Despite El-Sayed’s disbelief, the questions stemmed from the fact that he brought Piker from California to campaign with him in Michigan and embraced him despite condemnations of Piker’s virulent antisemitism and violent rhetoric. However, the problem goes far deeper, as El-Sayed distances himself from views he has previously voiced.
It turns out that there are consequences to campaigning with a man who mocked the murder of a past critic and said that the United States deserved 9/11 (including responding to criticism of Piker in the primary by embracing him on election night at a rally). El-Sayed is not the only Democrat trying to get the media to stop asking him about his association.
Standing in front of a giant campaign billboard for El-Sayed, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D., Mich.) shot back at those asking about his association with a raving lunatic: “I am DONE. So don’t any reporter ask me again about Hasan Piker.” What is distressing is how many reporters will dutifully obey the command.
Dingell added, “They’re trying to divide us, and we’ve got to stop letting them try to divide us.” However, it is not divisive for your Senate candidate to campaign with a raging antisemite who says that the United States deserved 9-11 and that Jews are asking to be attacked.
The problem for Dingell and others is not so easily resolved by commanding a supportive media to not ask about Piker, who recently said on his podcast that Jews are asking to be attacked if they openly support Israel.
The problem is that El-Sayed has voiced equally disturbing and analogous views. El-Sayed was criticized for his response after a man attacked a Michigan synagogue in March. After condemning the attack, El-Sayed added that the Israeli military killed some of the attacker’s family in Lebanon, saying “hurt people hurt people.”
It sounds a bit like Jews are asking to be attacked.
El-Sayed has also drawn criticism for declining repeatedly to answer whether Israel has a right to exist during a CNN interview in June.
Much like Piker, El-Sayed has also engaged in violent rhetoric, promisung to “choke out” Republicans and referring to moderates like Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) as ogres to have their heads cut off and put on pikes.
Refusing to answer questions about the association with Piker does not answer El-Sayed’s own views that align him with Piker.
Ironically, all the attention to Piker has drawn attention away from El-Sayed’s own views.
El-Sayed has extreme views that go beyond his position toward Israel and include wealth taxes, reparations, and radical changes to our constitutional system.
I grew up in a liberal, politically active Democratic family in Chicago. I no longer recognize that party today, including its anti-free-speech elements. Saying that you are a “Big Tent party” does not answer the question of whether the party stands for anything other than regaining power. There has to be some defining element to a party beyond power. El-Sayed is that defining moment.
The reality is that articles like this only serve to distract the MAGA horde from Trump’s economy, the failing war with Iran, and the inevitable loss of congressional control.
Notice how there is hardly any talk about the Iran war on right-wing media. It is completely absent because the conflict is going terribly for Trump. Instead of the four-to-five-week victory he promised, we are now marking six painful months of an economic and military quagmire. The administration is facing a similar disaster on the trade front with the recent beef import fiasco. Trump’s plan to lower prices by flooding the market with low-grade beef trimmings has completely backfired, throwing American ranchers under the bus and sparking furious backlash from domestic cattle producers. To make matters worse, he is picking an unprovoked trade war with Canada—retaliating to broken talks by absurdly ordering Lake Ontario to be renamed “Lake America”—at the worst possible time for Republicans facing a brutal midterm election cycle.
By focusing on progressive figures like Abdul El-Sayed and Zohran Mamdani, conservative commentators try to brand them as “extremists”. In reality, these candidates are simply proposing sensible economic solutions that only look extreme when contrasted against the far-right fringes of today’s Republican Party.
Turley may yearn for a more recognizable Democratic Party, but he completely ignores the fact that Trump’s total takeover has stripped the GOP of any resemblance to the party of Ronald Reagan. The Democrats evolved precisely because the Republicans did. Expecting the modern left to act like the party of the Kennedy era is no longer a viable alternative when facing an overzealous, increasingly unhinged political opponent. New faces and bold values are making Democrats highly appealing in contrast to Trump’s erratic, expensive policies that are driving up the cost of living for everyone. Trump promised no new wars, lower grocery prices, better healthcare, and wealth for the working class. None of that has happened; conditions have only worsened, leaving Republicans with nothing to offer but tired excuses and attempts to blame the past administration.
This is exactly why leaders like El-Sayed and Mamdani are gaining rapid ground—because their platforms actually make sense within the mess of the Trump presidency.
It’s a shame there’s no moderator on the blog to clean and delete the ridiculous comments by trolls.
Yeah, Estovir’s puppets need to go. And we’ll be posting a list today.
Darren has been missing for a while. It seems he may no longer be “maintaining” the blog.
BREAKING:
Canadian PM Mark Carney officially renames the algae-ridden Reflecting Pool in DC as Lake Trump.
So funny I forgot to laugh.
Good one
Democrats need to wake up to the fact that many of the Muslims they’ve invited into their party embrace the philosophy of Nazism. I sure hope Americans do NOT want Hitler-lookalikes controlling our government at any level!!!
Suezappa is Estovir.
^ Anonymous is Estovir
Professor Turley is once again carrying water for a bad-faith smear campaign, relying on over-exaggerated claims entirely robbed of context.
The truth of the matter is that normal voters aren’t thinking about Hasan Piker. The right wing, however, is obsessed with him because they desperately need a proxy to hang around Abdul El-Sayed’s neck. The only reason El-Sayed is facing this sudden onslaught of scrutiny is because he is locked in a neck-and-neck, highly competitive Senate race, and Democrats have a habit of over-performing in these exact types of matchups.
What truly terrifies the right is that El-Sayed’s momentum follows the undeniable success and popularity of figures like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. We have watched Turley and conservative media repeatedly try to weaponize the DSA and “scary socialism” labels against these campaigns, only to be proven wrong when voters see their actual platforms. El-Sayed channels that exact same populist energy, proving that this style of governing is laser-focused on what working people care about most: affordability, healthcare, and economic relief. That is exactly where Republicans are failing, and it’s where Donald Trump’s policies threaten to make things worse.
Turley frames El-Sayed’s “hurt people hurt people” comment as a defense of antisemitic violence. In reality, El-Sayed explicitly and unequivocally condemned the attack first. Acknowledging the psychological cycle of trauma is a standard sociological observation, not a justification for a crime.
Turley takes standard, aggressive political metaphors like “choking out” the Republican platform and turns them into literal threats of violence. It is a laughably literal, bad-faith interpretation of routine campaign trail rhetoric.
Ultimately, Turley isn’t offering legal or political analysis here. He is simply contributing to a coordinated right-wing pile-on designed to manufacture outrage, exploit identity politics, and spook moderate voters who might otherwise be drawn to an economy focused on working-class families.
Regarding Jews…, how, exactly, does Abdulrahman Mohammad El-Sayed differ from, say, Goebbels, Himmler or even the guy with the goofy mustache? I’ll wait.
Goebbels, Hitler etc actually had an IQ? These punks were brought in here to beat up Americans. Either leave here or start beating the hell out of them. People just take the beatings. Muuuh free speech. Brain dead females in congress and courts like Collins and Murkowski and Barrett…
Everyone who comments here is Estovir, because the blog only allows Estovir to comment. I’m Estovir. I’m also the one that keeps pointing out everyone else is Estovir.
In light of the above, it should be obvious that Professor Turley is Estovir. Everyone who reads Professor Turley’s (Estovir’s) blog is Estovir.
Estovir, very few people are reading these comments because your cookie cutter posts are all the same (which looks peculiar to any random reader browsing for the first time).
^ This anonymous is also Estovir
Regarding Above:
That is Estovir, indeed. He has been a constant presence on this form for 7 years at this point; covering the blog 12 hours per day. Of course he’s being paid. The only question is, ‘Who’s paying Estovir?’
And it’s NOT Professor Turley!
^ This anonymous is also Estovir
This ordinary face that does not have a “tenured job”, peddles how great his blog is and is not vying for a possible Supreme Court Nomination wonders if you will ever have the backbone to write about Trump making billions while in Office and his kids making billions as Americans get poorer and poorer by the day and as America loses Friends right and left–but I guess that does not matter to you-right?
^ That was me, Estovir. I’m also Trump. Trump is Estovir. There is only one person alive today, and his (my) name is Estovir.
Puppet Parade Ahead!!
Just below one sees a series of Estovir’s puppets forming a bogus discussion to conclude that Democrats are crazy and evil. The puppets appear in this order:
Jaffo
JJC
Anonymous
Anonymous
Gdonaldallen
W.M.
Anonymous
ClaytonGoldstein
Hullbobby
Anonymous
DrZee
This puppet parade illustrates the extent of manipulation that Estovir engages in every day on these threads.
^ Anonymous is Estovir
Whew! And we all thought that hullbobby was nuts.
Hullbobby is YOU, Estovir!!
We’ll be posting a guide to your puppets so that the few scarce readers here are clear as to what’s happening.
Now that’s what I call a crazy F.
^ This anonymous is also Estovir
“I grew up in a liberal, politically active Democratic family in Chicago. I no longer recognize that party today, including its anti-free-speech elements.” Then why stay in that Party when it no longer represents your values, Professor?
The ascendancy of DSA candidates like Abdul El-Sayed is temporary. Every other summer, unusual candidates emerge from the ground like cicadas and make a lot of noise before the electorate decides whom to vote for. The latter process typically begins after Labor Day and intensifies until Election Day. Like cicadas facing the oncoming frost of November, most of the weirdoes like El-Sayed will have ended their season and returned underground, while the legitimate candidates prevail.
As good Republicans and Conservatives, I believe we have a moral responsibility to help preserve the Democrat Party in this hour of need. Most of us, well, at least many of us, grew up when politics was like a tennis match with Republicans on one side of the court and Democrats on the other. We both played the same game, followed the same rules, and cheered for our side. If we lost, we shook hands with each other and wished for better the next time.
It’s exciting to think that Republicans likely will dominate the next several election cycles as the Democrats implode. But that could be dangerous because our system is based on the theory that the party that’s out keeps a close eye on the party that’s in. If there’s only one party, it could spell trouble. This year’s election could mark the rebirth of a robust and patriotic Democrat party. Or it could be the end of the Democrat Party and the beginning of a long period of chaos by those obsessed with destroying the nation to reshape it in their evil images.
As we get closer to Election Day, the lines between normal Democrats and crazy Democrats (i.e., DSA types) will become sharper. Those Democrats like Schumer and Jeffries who have sold their souls to remain in power will surely fall, but when they do, it will not open the way for the DSA folks; instead, it will be an opportunity, perhaps the last one, for patriotic Democrats to reclaim the best in that party. Let’s hope.
“Patriotic Democrat” is something of an oxymoron. Ever since TDS morphed into ADS-America Derangement Syndrome.
The Affluent White Female Liberal, consumed with a blinding hatred of anything Trump combined with their absolute stupidity, will trade their incredible freedoms for genuine oppression and male patriarchy electing Muhammad El-Sayed Obama as US Senator.
Sharia law forbids abortion, requires women’s subjugation to every man, orders young girls to be forceably removed of their genitalia and girls as young as 9 years old to be non-consentually married to men well in their old age.
Be careful for what you wish, ladies.
The adage… women and children need a strong hand.
BTW, they’re not “ladies”.
“That’s no lady…that’s my chattel! I will trade her for two chickens and a goat!”
Done!
The Girl Scouof America now wants girls to succumb to the warm smothering embrace of Muslim collectivism.
As the meme goes, chickens are now working at KFC.
The Affluent White Female Liberal . . . will trade their incredible freedoms for genuine oppression and male patriarchy.
Apparently this happened in England recently, where they’re supporting and cheering Jack the Ripper due to their inherent empathy.
Liberal White Women Stand Weeping Outside Court Trying Jack The Ripper
https://babylonbee.com/news/liberal-white-women-stand-weeping-outside-court-trying-jack-the-ripper
AWFULs get awfuller by the day, cheering for a woman who strangles her three children to death while sending her husband out on an errand. And they show a strangling with their hands symbol in support.
A curious aspect of your article today is that hardy more than a generation ago, it wouldn’t have been written. People would have automatically rejected his duplicitous rhetoric. He would have been toast. But today, with lies reversed and slightly sanitized, he remains a viable contender. Those in the “Big Tent Party” (a new name?) automatically change their views on the fly. This is toast with a load of jelly piled on.
What’s that old expression? “Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies.”
You can put lipstick on a pig, but it still isn’t kosher.
Regarding Frof. Turley’s image of the Democrat Party: it seems that he was born too late to recall the southern Democrat segregationist block of Representatives and Senators and their “solid South”. I remember them and their “solid South” quite well. I also remember my father describing how in the early years of the 20th Century and into the mid-1920’s and beyond that same party embraced the KKK and U.S. Senators like “Cotton” Ed Smith and Governors like “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman.
There are those who think and believe God gave Israel to the Jewish people long ago. It’s been taken by this group or that. Nothing actually changes the fact God gave Israel to the Jewish people.
It’s a race to the bottom as professor Turley has pointed out. Most of politics is nonsense and the remainder is common crime of thievery and murder.
Fatigue
I’m not sure what your introductory comment has to do with anything written here…What has the Republican nominee said or done that matches the depths of the Democrat’s nominee?
I am hoping, hoping, hoping that Professor Turley’s last paragraph indicates he is finally deciding to abandon the Democrat party that abandoned him.
It shouldn’t be possible for the man who wrote the great book Rage and the Republic to be a member of the rage party.
Rage party? You mean this blog on which you spew hate and rage at Democrats, DSA, liberals and communists?
Abandon? Why should he? And what would it prove? Don’t bother answering, anything you write is ….
Anonymous, the term “let him speak” comes to mind when we see your constant juvenile rants, your attempts to sabotage this site and your proof that our education system is a disaster.
Hey Anonymous, serious question, how old are you? I will happily admit to being a senior citizen but I would love to know what age someone with your propensity for nastiness, your constant commenting with the most inane replies really is. I am guessing that you are an underemployed, 20-30 year old with a huge student loan outstanding, no house, no apartment, no girl friend, no car and not even a license.
Your comemnt perfectly describes you.
Rants, sabotage, proof, nastiness, constant commenting (is that a new kind crime eh?) inane … whew… then the ad hominid twist. Typical for troglodyte.
Living rent free ….
@Anonymous–
Err… I think that you meant ad hominem. Typical stupid mistake by a stupid troll.
Typical comment from a stupid troll. You can think?
And which anon are you today?
BRAVO! hullbobby
Hey hullbobby here’s your peanut gallery.
Thanks DrZee, it is just that I am so tired of seeing this juvenile try to sabotage this site through a comments section’s version of a Heckler’s Veto. It’s just a shame. But it is indicative of today’s youth, today’s education system and today’s lack of decorum.
I recently watched a debate at Oxford from about a year ago and the president of the Oxford Union was debating the great Douglas Murray with the “president” wearing beat up clothes, dreadlocks and a total lack of decorum while Murray was wearing a suit, was neatly coifed and was using “the King’s English” while crushing the “president”. All I could think about was imagine prior Oxford Union Presidents watching this microcosm of the fall of Britain and how sad it is.
We have gone from Churchill and William F. Buckley levels of discourse to unlearned spoiled brats like Anonymous.
Sabotage? What exactly is being sabotaged? The hate and sickness you spew here. And you claim decorum here? You a sick twisted mind.
Let’s see if I get this right, you’re claiming to be the standard for anyone who wants to comment here?
Not your favorite anon. But how many times are you going to spew your garbage; seen that comemnt every-time you show up here and attack an anonymous. Ever dawn on you that you’re anonymous too and as anon wrote, your rage comemnt describes you perfectly.
Let’s see if I get this right, you’re claiming to be the standard for anyone who wants to comment here?
And yet you return for the daily hatefest……
And here you are too.
You mean this blog on which you protest that he protests too much. Do you have affection for the white whale that this ‘Ahab’ sits astride and stabs ‘from hell’s heart!” If so, for hate’s sake I spit at thee and that damned whale!!
Lay off the gender changing drugs anon, it’ll drive you crazy.
Disagreement, pointing out the rage of others, is not more rage – unless it is – and Turley is not just raging. He has examples, historical references, evidence in their own words.
Membership in a political party is a relic of the 20th century. They are obsolete, used for ideological expediency and fundraising. Thinking people switch parties like changing socks.
“There has to be some defining element to a party…”, how about ‘power to the people’?
Anonymous,
“Power to the people”? Yes. And please remember this. We the People elected President Donald J. Trump twice … the second time with a majority of the Popular Vote and the Electoral Vote. So you have the President who you want.
We the people? The 70 million would voted for him, and what about the other 70 million who did not, they are “we the people” too?
So its about power, forcing others to your will?
My conclusion, you’re no different than the liberals in your quest for power and control.
Did we vote for him or against Harris? Sadly the leaders of both party’s believe nothing other than “I believe I should be elected”. It will be interesting to see whose heads end up on a pike. Watch the movie “Mars Attacks” to see the solution to our politician problem.
The most important fact is being overlooked. Influential voices in America’s largest political party have succeeded in changing America. America used to be a nation where bias-based-on-skin-color and Jew-hatred were not debatable … they were odious. Now America is a nation where they are debatable. May God bless America.
Your God has abandoned America.
And the godless have taken over.
Not quite taken over, just racing to do so. If there are (and I have my doubts) enough educated, non-indoctrinated, sane people to push back against us I see us heading to what Ireland is experiencing now. Americans who have known true liberty are not the same as the previous Russian serf, the cowered Chinese peasant or the ignorant of such small nations a N Korea, Venezuela, Cuba etc. who only saw the latest communist push as just a question of “what could be worse than what I have now”. It will not be a matter of just convincing the proletariat that things will be better. Rational and literate Americans who remember the good past and can see where communism leads will not swallow the spew of the likes of mamdani. Our largest threat comes for indoctrinated college students, elitist whites suffering suicidal empathy, and the demographic shift of unfettered illegals and islamists.
Educating, as in college degrees, people is not key to taking back you country.
Teaching children is, I think is what you mean. Start there, work on them for 18 years and you get a good citizen?
Sadly, the education industry has a monopoly on kids brains.
You republicans need a strategy. And I haven’t seen one … yet?
It’s the opposite. America abandoned its God & now it’s paying the price!
Stephen: Excellent point. I, too, find myself wondering when did it become okay to be an open bigot. Putting aside the fanatical craziness of El-Sayad and Piker, even a “regular” college student at Cornell thinks that it is perfectly normal to announce to the world that he doesn’t want to work for a Jew.