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With the midterms taking place next week, the Trump administration and Republicans are continuing to launch attacks on the Democrats’ candidate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, with Texas senator Ted Cruz being the latest US politician to come under fire for comments made about the doctor.
Speaking in the state on Wednesday in support of the Republican candidate Mike Rogers, Cruz said: “If, God forbid, this guy [El-Sayed] gets elected to the Senate, when you get elected to the Senate, there is no security clearance process. None.
“You are granted the highest level security clearance, simply by virtue of being elected to the constitutional office of being a senator.
“If Abdul El-Sayed becomes the senator for Michigan, there is absolutely nothing to stop Chuck Schumer from placing Abdul El-Sayed on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“The Senate Intelligence Committee has access to our most closely guarded secrets. And if I am correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result.”
Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy slammed Cruz’s comments as “straight up incitement”:
One account asked: “How can you feel comfortable being this evil?”:
Another tweeted: “I don’t think cspan should be promoting this dangerous and inciting language against a political candidate”:
“It is shocking how mainstream American discourse ignores how unsafe this racist garbage makes it for Muslim Americans,” wrote podcaster Ben Rhodes:
And journalist Kylie Cheung said: “these people are such racist pieces of s*** and when democrats don't full-throatedly fight islamophobia, this is what they're reinforcing”:
El-Sayed disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood during a town hall exchange earlier this month, when he told an attendee: “You assume … that because I am Muslim, that somehow, I would have some allegiance to something that is not our constitution.
“I am not running to be a Muslim senator; I am running for US Senate, and happen to be Muslim.
“For me, that constitution is the guiding light.”
The Democratic candidate also reportedly told MSNOW that “to insinuate that somehow, because of my Muslim faith, as somebody who might be the first senator who has that faith, that I would have anything but allegiance to the Constitution, that should be called into question”.
Cruz isn’t the only Republican to attack El-Sayed, as several comments have been made about the candidate by US president Donald Trump – including claiming his rival is “full of s***”, attacking him and his wife, referring to him by the wrong name “Mohammed” and arguing El-Sayed would be “unable to get a seat on an airplane”.
El-Sayed’s campaign has been approached by indy100 for comment.
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