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# Trump attacked El-Sayed's faith at a Michigan rally. Even a Trump ally called it racist.
- URL: https://www.workersrights.news/trump-calls-el-sayed-jihadist-port-huron-rally-no-evidence/
- Published: 2026-10-26T14:41:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-26T14:41:28.000Z
- Description: Bishara Bahbah, founder of Arab Americans for Trump, said the attacks cross "a red line" and voters will remember on Nov. 3.
- Author: WorkersRights.News Team
- Tags: Politics

President Donald Trump used a Sunday rally in Port Huron, Michigan, to attack Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed over his Muslim faith, telling the crowd at McMorran Place on Oct. 25 that he had come [to keep a "jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator."](https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/president-trump-port-huron-rally-republicans/?ref=workersrights.news)

No evidence backs that up. The Associated Press [reported there is no evidence El-Sayed has any affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood](https://www.ktbs.com/news/national/trump-escalates-anti-muslim-attacks-against-el-sayed-in-michigan-drawing-arab-american-rebuke/article%5F59b87761-7baa-5734-a219-29605f65fec7.html?ref=workersrights.news), and a Bridge Michigan fact check [found no evidence he has ties to the group or pledged support to it](https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/fact-check-no-evidence-abdul-el-sayed-pledged-support-to-muslim-brotherhood/?ref=workersrights.news). Trump offered none from the stage. The line works by attacking El-Sayed's religion and family instead of anything he has proposed or done in office.

El-Sayed faces Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers on Nov. 3 for the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. If he wins, he would be [the nation's first Muslim senator](https://www.ktbs.com/news/national/trump-escalates-anti-muslim-attacks-against-el-sayed-in-michigan-drawing-arab-american-rebuke/article%5F59b87761-7baa-5734-a219-29605f65fec7.html?ref=workersrights.news).

## What Trump said

According to the [AP's account of the rally](https://www.ktbs.com/news/national/trump-escalates-anti-muslim-attacks-against-el-sayed-in-michigan-drawing-arab-american-rebuke/article%5F59b87761-7baa-5734-a219-29605f65fec7.html?ref=workersrights.news), Trump also called El-Sayed "on the side of the terrorists," said he would "have to go through a metal detector before he's allowed to go into the Senate," and invoked the Sept. 11 attacks by comparing a vote against El-Sayed to the passengers who fought the hijackers on United Flight 93\. The [Michigan Advance reported](https://michiganadvance.com/2026/10/25/trump-invokes-anti-muslim-rhetoric-to-attack-el-sayed-at-michigan-rally-supporting-rogers-james/?ref=workersrights.news) Trump warned a Democratic win would "invite hoards of jihadists to our shores" and said "any Jewish person that supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves."

Trump also went after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose home [federal agents searched in a citizenship probe](https://www.workersrights.news/federal-agents-search-ilhan-omar-home-citizenship-probe/) that [former President Barack Obama has criticized](https://www.workersrights.news/obama-defends-ilhan-omar-citizenship-probe/).

Rogers took the stage too. He said the Muslim Brotherhood "celebrated exactly one victory in the United States in the primary this year," [naming El-Sayed](https://www.ktbs.com/news/national/trump-escalates-anti-muslim-attacks-against-el-sayed-in-michigan-drawing-arab-american-rebuke/article%5F59b87761-7baa-5734-a219-29605f65fec7.html?ref=workersrights.news). In their final debate, Rogers asked El-Sayed, "Are you for America, or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?"

## What the record shows

Rogers has built much of his campaign on this claim, and fact-checkers keep coming up empty.

- **The disavowal.** At a town hall in Caro earlier this month, a man asked El-Sayed whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. He answered "absolutely," [CBS News Detroit reported](https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/president-trump-port-huron-rally-republicans/?ref=workersrights.news). When Rogers then told CNN that El-Sayed "didn't disavow" the group, [PolitiFact rated that False](https://politifact.com/factchecks/2026/oct/19/mike-rogers/el-sayed-muslim-brotherhood-michigan-senate/?ref=workersrights.news).
- **The writings.** Critics point to a 2011 HuffPost column backing Egyptian protesters and a 2012 letter supporting Egypt's elected president, Mohamed Morsi. Bridge Michigan [found neither was a pledge of support](https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/fact-check-no-evidence-abdul-el-sayed-pledged-support-to-muslim-brotherhood/?ref=workersrights.news) for the Brotherhood, and the U.S. did not designate the group's Egyptian branch a terrorist organization until January 2026.
- **The family.** The AP noted 2012 social media posts by El-Sayed's half-sister saying her family had "long been MB." El-Sayed was raised by his father, not her mother, and has [called the posts "hearsay evidence from a tweet."](https://politifact.com/factchecks/2026/oct/19/mike-rogers/el-sayed-muslim-brotherhood-michigan-senate/?ref=workersrights.news)

Holding a man responsible for a relative's tweets is guilt by association, not proof.

## Arab American leaders push back

The sharpest rebuke came from a Trump ally. Bishara Bahbah, founder of Arab Americans for Trump (now Arab Americans for Peace), told the AP: "They are crossing a red line. They are racist." He said "people are going to remember that on Nov. 3." Dearborn, home to [one of the nation's largest Arab American communities](https://www.ktbs.com/news/national/trump-escalates-anti-muslim-attacks-against-el-sayed-in-michigan-drawing-arab-american-rebuke/article%5F59b87761-7baa-5734-a219-29605f65fec7.html?ref=workersrights.news), helped Trump carry Michigan in 2024.

El-Sayed has called attacks on his loyalty "shameful." At a Grand Rapids rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who said Trump's allies stoke Islamophobia because they have "nothing to say" on health care and housing, El-Sayed brushed off Trump's habit of mangling his name: "I will be Senator Muhammad to you, bro," [the AP reported](https://www.ktbs.com/news/national/trump-escalates-anti-muslim-attacks-against-el-sayed-in-michigan-drawing-arab-american-rebuke/article%5F59b87761-7baa-5734-a219-29605f65fec7.html?ref=workersrights.news).

## Why it matters to workers

El-Sayed is a [physician and epidemiologist](https://www.wlns.com/your-local-election-hq/meet-the-candidates/meet-the-candidates-abdul-el-sayed/amp?ref=workersrights.news) who rebuilt Detroit's health department after the city's bankruptcy and later ran Wayne County's health and human services agency, according to [WLNS](https://www.wlns.com/your-local-election-hq/meet-the-candidates/meet-the-candidates-abdul-el-sayed/amp?ref=workersrights.news) and the [AP](https://www.13abc.com/2025/04/17/former-michigan-health-officer-abdul-el-sayed-enters-democratic-us-senate-race/?ref=workersrights.news). He backs Medicare for All and medical debt relief, and WLNS reports the United Auto Workers endorsed him.

Those are the issues working Michiganders will feel: what health care costs, who pays the medical bills, and who gets a vote in a narrowly divided Senate. A campaign that answers them with a religious smear tells Muslim and Arab American workers in Michigan that their faith is a disqualification for office. We condemn the President's use of a candidate's religion as a stand-in for evidence.

Election Day is Nov. 3\. [Check your voter registration now](https://www.workersrights.news/check-voter-registration-before-nov-3/).

### Sources

- [Trump escalates anti-Muslim attacks against El-Sayed in Michigan, drawing Arab American rebuke](https://www.ktbs.com/news/national/trump-escalates-anti-muslim-attacks-against-el-sayed-in-michigan-drawing-arab-american-rebuke/article%5F59b87761-7baa-5734-a219-29605f65fec7.html?ref=workersrights.news) (Associated Press, via KTBS)
- [President Trump rallies Republicans in Port Huron](https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/president-trump-port-huron-rally-republicans/?ref=workersrights.news) (CBS News Detroit)
- [Trump invokes anti-Muslim rhetoric to attack El-Sayed at Michigan rally supporting Rogers, James](https://michiganadvance.com/2026/10/25/trump-invokes-anti-muslim-rhetoric-to-attack-el-sayed-at-michigan-rally-supporting-rogers-james/?ref=workersrights.news) (Michigan Advance)
- [Mike Rogers says El-Sayed didn't disavow the Muslim Brotherhood](https://politifact.com/factchecks/2026/oct/19/mike-rogers/el-sayed-muslim-brotherhood-michigan-senate/?ref=workersrights.news) (PolitiFact)
- [Fact check: No evidence Abdul El-Sayed pledged support to Muslim Brotherhood](https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/fact-check-no-evidence-abdul-el-sayed-pledged-support-to-muslim-brotherhood/?ref=workersrights.news) (Bridge Michigan)
- [Meet the candidates: Abdul El-Sayed](https://www.wlns.com/your-local-election-hq/meet-the-candidates/meet-the-candidates-abdul-el-sayed/amp?ref=workersrights.news) (WLNS)
- [Former Michigan health officer Abdul El-Sayed enters Democratic US Senate race](https://www.13abc.com/2025/04/17/former-michigan-health-officer-abdul-el-sayed-enters-democratic-us-senate-race/?ref=workersrights.news) (Associated Press, via 13abc)