Abdul El-Sayed Teaches Mike Rogers How To Say His F*ckin' Name
Making fun of Muslim-sounding names? That attack always works.
When we published our initial post this morning, only NBC News and Decision Desk had called it. Now everybody has. Abdul El-Sayed is the winner of the Michigan Democratic Senate primary.
First of all, credit where credit is due, as soon as all the biggies called the race — AP, New York Times, TMZ, whatever — Haley Stevens immediately delivered just about as perfect of a concession statement and endorsement as one could ask for on the day after a hard-fought primary loss, similar to what Jasmine Crockett offered to James Talarico the day after their fight ended in Texas.
Going to excerpt a lot of it right here, minus the thank yous:
“I want to congratulate Abdul El-Sayed on winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. He is a doctor, a community health official, a Rhodes Scholar, and a dedicated Michigander. I am proud to offer my support as he takes on Mike Rogers in the general election.
“This was a thorough and rigorous campaign that brought out the full span of views within the Democratic Party — and that is why we have primaries. I am proud to have put up my hand to serve, and prouder to continue to work together to make sure this Senate seat remains blue, that we flip the United States Senate and continue the work for Michigan.
“Donald Trump and Mike Rogers want us to come out of this primary tired and divided, so their billionaire backers can come in and let multimillionaire Mike Rogers walk away with this Senate seat. They want to keep the Senate red, so Mike Rogers can keep rubber-stamping Donald Trump’s harmful agenda of higher prices, manufacturing jobs lost nationwide, corruption and abuses of power, and so he can ban abortion, gut health care, and roll back workers’ rights and voting rights.
“I’m not going to let that happen.
“We must elect Democrats up and down the ballot. We need to flip some important House seats. We need to re-elect my friends Hillary Scholten and Kristen McDonald Rivet. We need to win this Senate seat, because Elissa Slotkin deserves a partner like Abdul in the U.S. Senate.
“I am proud of the coalition our campaign put together: Black Michiganders, working class Michiganders, union members, farmers, hard-working families. The Michiganders who backed this campaign truly represent the grit, diversity, and spirit of our state, and I am honored to have earned each of their votes.”
As we said, gracious, pitch-perfect. Click over for the full thing.
The nominee, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, also has now had the opportunity to give a real victory speech, and it was dang good.
El-Sayed talked about how his family came to the United States “from a place where there is not democracy,” and about how we often take that for granted. He spoke graciously about Haley Stevens, saying they had spoken this morning, and that “She is one of the most committed public servants that you’ll ever meet. She loves democracy like I love democracy. And whatever differences that we might have had in the primary, they pale in comparison to what unifies us, a recognition that so long as we want to keep our democracy, that democracy better be working for people, and that all of us have to come together to make sure that we never let Mike Rogers see the inside of the US Senate.”
He thanked Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the race earlier this summer, and who was in attendance.
He thanked his also-doctor wife Sarah Jukaku, and said he owes her a 20th anniversary on their 21st, because they didn’t get one this year. He thanked his daughters, even though he knew they weren’t watching.
He talked about the outside money spent against him — $70 million — and about how they had shown that “the power of our many is greater than the power of their money.” He thanked all the organizers and unions and multitudes of people involved in making that thing happen.
He was magnanimous in welcoming everyone into his movement:
“[I]f you supported me or you did not support me, if you voted for Vice President Harris in 2024 or you voted for Donald Trump, if you believe like me that you ought to be able to afford your groceries; if you believe like me that you ought to be able to afford your home; if you believe like me that your tax dollars ought to be invested in you rather than sent somewhere else; if you believe like me that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people is our birthright in this country; if you believe like me that we have a responsibility to stand up and walk with our unions so that everybody has collective bargaining rights in this country; if you believe like me that you ought to have the guarantee of good healthcare in this country without some corporation trying to tell you what you cannot have and should not fight for, I hope that you’ll join this movement now.”
And then, directly addressing Jewish voters, he delivered some of the most powerful lines of the speech:
“To my Jewish American sisters and brothers, one of the most indelible memories of this campaign will have been the opportunity to break bread with you at Seder, to worship with you at shul, to embrace, to be embraced by you, and listening to sisters and brothers who said, you know, I want to join this movement, because AIPAC doesn’t speak for me, because I understand that self-determination for one people does not require the quenching of self-determination for another people. That unless all of us are free, none of us are free. I want to tell you the great gift that you’ve given me. And to all of my sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith or any faith at all or no faith at all, I want you to know that my commitment to your safety, my commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.”
Ask Max Miller or Mike Johnson or Donald Trump or Todd Blanche to say that three times fast, about literally anyone’s daughters, or their own daughters, or the daughters in the Epstein Files, or …
“Because if there is one question of a political philosophy that ought to animate us all is what would we build? What would we do if we treated all of our kids like they were all of our kids?”
Like we said, it was powerful. Take it or leave it, but it’s a compelling argument.
Referring to Republican attacks that have already started, pathetic attacks, where they have tweeted out El-Sayed’s full name, as if seeing it all typed out makes it OOH SCARY MUSLIM-ER — it’s Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, or in Arabic script it would be عبد الرحمن محمد السيد — the good doctor had this to say:
“They wanna use my whole name against me. Mike, listen man, if you can’t say the name — it’s Abdulrahman — keep the name out your damn mouth.”
Hmmmmm, making fun of a Muslim-sounding name. Familiar. Too bad that one guy from the Midwest was never heard from again after 2008.
Anyway, السيد kindly said “I’ll be happy to give you lessons” if Rogers is unable to say it.
(Because we are extremely cultured, we can tell you that the first letter of his name is not a vowel “A” sound in Arabic, but the letter “Ayn,” a consonant that starts in the back of your throat. Lots of YouTube videos on how to pronounce it. Moreover, the “H” sound is actually the letter “ḥāʾ,” which is a more forceful “H” that also comes from the back of the throat, with breath, kind of like the “J” sound in Spanish. The “H” sound in “Mohamed” is the same forceful, breathy “H.” Listen to him say his name and then try it in front of the mirror!)
Later, answering reporters’ questions, he returned to the subject of his name and the attacks on it:
“That’s the best you got? You can’t actually talk about what you want to do? My name is not raising your gas prices. My name is not taking us to war. My name is not the reason you can’t afford your groceries. You know what is? Their BS policies. So he can point to my name all he wants, but I’ll also tell you this. I’ve been an ‘Abdul’ in Michigan my whole life. This is like the best place in the world to be ‘Abdul.’ You know why? Because Michiganders, they’re big-hearted, they’re open-minded, they’re earnest, and they’re great. And Michiganders are sick and tired of BS politics coming in to divide us …”
And then:
“So if all Mike Rogers got is that ‘his name is Abdul,’ you’re gonna be surprised how many people are gonna be like yeah, but that’s the Abdul who wants to bring down the price of my groceries and gas and stop us sending money abroad and make sure that I got healthcare, so yeah I like that ‘Abdul’ over your ‘Mike’ from Florida.”
Oh yeah, he spent a lot of time talking about how the second Mike Rogers was able to cash out from his run in Congress, he ran away to Florida, noting that Michigan winters were apparently too much for poor, thin-skinned Mike.
“Mike, if you want to be a Florida man, go be a Florida man. If you want to go golf in Florida, go golf in Florida. But I promise you in November, we are going to send you back to Florida.”
Also: “Mike Rogers is a guy who wants to put a data center in your backyard so he can make himself feel a little bit more manly by making an AI video.”
And: “Mike Rogers is a guy who has never shied away from a DTE check so he could turn his face in the direction of Florida.” (That’s DTE Energy, it’s a Michigan thing.)
And: “Mike Rogers is a guy who, believe it or not, went back to Florida so he could lick every single boot Donald Trump owns to beg for his endorsement.”
“I’m so sorry, if you want a senator who’s going to lick some boots, fine. Go vote for Mike Rogers. But if you want a senator who’s going to stand up to Donald Trump, then you’ve got your option right here.”
Um, that’s just a few of his Mike Rogers lines. There were more. Also he challenged him to five debates, but said he knows Rogers will say no, “‘cause you’re a coward.”
Yeah, we think this guy is ready.
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