Abdul El-Sayed embraces Trump claim he represents ‘very different’ America

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan, embraced Donald Trump’s suggestion that the two represent “VERY DIFFERENT” versions of the US, pledging to fight inequality while the president is “making billions of dollars off of you”.

In a Saturday night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared an image of himself and the first lady, Melania Trump, beside a photo of El-Sayed, who is Muslim, and his wife, Sarah Jukaku, wearing a hijab. “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s [sic],” read the caption.

“Yeah, he’s right,” El-Sayed told CNN, when asked about the post on Sunday.

“One in which your overlords are two people who don’t like each other, but join in the interest of making billions of dollars off of you – or two people who genuinely love each other, enjoyed some pancakes together, want to come together to build the kind of America where they can raise a family and know that that family is going to have the good things.”

“Yes, you’ve got two different visions of America,” said El-Sayed. “Donald Trump’s vision is the one you’re living in right now. Can you afford your gas? Can you afford your groceries?”

El-Sayed, an epidemiologist, won the Democratic primary for US Senate in Michigan this week, setting up a bruising general election campaign against former US representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in the swing state.

His victory is widely seen as crucial to the Democrats’ hopes of retaking control of the Senate from Republicans.

During a speech on Thursday, Trump called El-Sayed a communist and said he was “full of shit”, which was met with loud cheers. Asked about the president’s expletive remark, El-Sayed told Sky News: “At least I don’t let mine go in the middle of the Oval Office.”

Unlike some other new Democratic candidates, El-Sayed, who ran to the left of his primary opponent, is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and has said he is a capitalist who wants capitalism to work better.

Former US president Barack Obama spoke with El-Sayed after his primary win, in what is deemed an early sign of support for his campaign.

“It was a really good conversation about what we need to do to be able to win, and obviously this is somebody who knows a lot about winning Michigan,” El-Sayed told NBC News.

Michigan backed both of Obama’s runs for the presidency, in 2008 and 2012, before voting for Trump in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020, and turning back to Trump in 2024.

Obama also called Haley Stevens, the moderate Democrat whom El-Sayed defeated in the primary, Politico reported. Stevens urged the former president to “come to Michigan and campaign for the Democrats”, she told the outlet.

Should he beat Rogers in November’s general election in Michigan, El-Sayed could become the first Muslim US senator.

Republicans have described him as “the most radical Senate candidate in America”, and Trump has repeatedly used his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.

El-Sayed noted the party – and Trump – did the same to Obama, regularly including his middle name “Hussein” when referencing the former president.

“At the end of the day it’s not radical to believe that people should be able to afford their groceries,” he told NBC’s Meet The Press. “It’s not radical to believe that you should have healthcare in this country.

“It’s not radical … that you don’t think the president should be able to deny elections, or make $2.2bn out of his role in office. It’s not radical to believe all of us should be able to breathe clean air and drink clean water. Those are the things that I’ve been fighting for.”

El-Sayed said: “They are going to try to paint me as a certain thing, given my name, but I also think it’s important to recognize that America has a long history of embracing, “America is a lot bigger than very small people like Donald Trump or [Vice President] JD Vance or Mike Rogers want to make it out to be. And so I’m grateful for all that America has given me.”