Trump invokes anti-Muslim rhetoric to attack El-Sayed at Michigan rally supporting Rogers, James

PORT HURON — President Donald Trump on Sunday held a rally in Port Huron to energize Michigan Republicans, spending a considerable amount of time in his speech attacking Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, launching into anti-Muslim rhetoric against the candidate in a bid to convince his base to show up and defeat him.

“I’m here today to keep a jihadist … Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator,” Trump said at the top of his remarks.

The president’s visit also followed a Saturday rally featuring former President Barack Obama and the Democratic slate up for election in 2026, with a heavy emphasis on boosting the prospects of El-Sayed and gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state. El-Sayed has been working to shore up the Democratic coalition following struggles with Jewish and Black voters, and Obama’s visit aimed to bridge some of the lingering divisions within the party.

In response to those roadblocks, Republican nominee, former U.S. Rep. Rogers (R-White Lake), has been hammering El-Sayed with campaign stops in Detroit and other places where Democrats typically dominate at the ballot box.

While Port Huron is not in that category — it sits in a district considered to be the most Republican in the state by the Cook Partisan Voting Index and is represented by conservative stalwart U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Bruce Township) — the area showed visible support for Republicans, with Rogers yard signs lining neighborhoods surrounding its downtown area.

Still, Trump has been telling crowds of supporters at rallies across the nation that they should vote in November as if he is on the ballot — a theme he invoked again in Michigan this weekend.

Although Trump meandered through an address in which he spoke admiringly about Ohio U.S. Sen. Jon Husted’s physical appearances, complimenting the buttocks of rap artist Nicki Minaj — who was in the audience sitting next to Rogers and GOP gubernatorial nominee, U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township) — and about how manly he thought Rogers was, Trump’s main focus was El-Sayed.

“This great state was built by generations of American patriots who shed their blood, sweat, and tears, and even gave their lives to defend American freedom,” Trump said. “Abdul El-Sayed’s entire agenda is to burn that legacy down, and he wants to do that. He’s the face of the modern Democratic Party. If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will open the floodgates and invite hoards of jihadists to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence … We’re not going to let this guy become a senator of the United States.”

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Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both flown in to boost Rogers’ candidacy. At each of those rallies, Trump and Vance have attacked El-Sayed specifically by calling him a communist, an ungrateful “weasel” and unloading a barrage of Islamophobic scorn against the progressive U.S. Senate candidate.

Rogers has joined them in deploying anti-Muslim rhetoric against El-Sayed by emphasizing his full Arabic name, questioning his loyalty to the U.S. and the Constitution, and by claiming he has ties to terror groups — namely the Muslim Brotherhood. While there is no evidence that any of his immediate family were directly involved in the Muslim Brotherhood or international terror networks, Rogers continues to claim that El-Sayed has received donations from individuals connected to Islamic extremism.

Trump on Sunday continued those attacks, while some of his supporters yelled obscenities about El-Sayed, including calling him a “traitor.”

Trump also spoke directly to Jewish voters, as the state Democratic Party works to retain those voters, saying that “any Jewish person that supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves.”

“You know, I’m polling 99% in Israel, and I cannot understand how anybody who’s Jewish can even think about voting for this guy,” Trump said. “Anyone with that record of support for jihadists would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane. They certainly should not give him a seat in the United States Senate.”

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On Rogers, Trump said that the Republican was as American as “apple pie. He’s like perfect.”

“This guy, he’s like Central Casting. He’s what your state is all about. He really is. He’s a fantastic man. He’s going to be one of the great United States senators, Mike Rogers,” Trump said. 

Trump has also focused on Michigan’s handling of elections. His administration deployed federal monitors to Michigan during the August primary after state Republicans requested the U.S. Department Of Justice’s assistance in preventing alleged cheating in favor of Democrats — furthering his repeatedly debunked claims of mass election fraud following his loss in the 2020 election.

Benson was secretary of state for both the 2020 and 2024 elections, the latter of which she won handily in Michigan. Still, Trump’s ire for Benson and the state’s Democratic-led executive branch has made her race against James personal, especially considering that James was leaving Congress to run for governor, a decision that has left his 10th Congressional District seat vulnerable to being flipped by Democratic nominee Christina Hines.

On Benson, Trump said Republicans in the audience, including Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township), needed to keep an eye on her during the election, furthering the unfounded contention that Benson could influence the election because she’s on the ballot this year. 

There have been past examples of past Michigan secretaries of state running for higher office while they held the secretary’s position, namely Republican Ruth Johnson, who is now a current state senator. Additionally, Benson publicly announced firewalls had been created within the Michigan Department of State around the election and has recused herself from making any decisions impacting the gubernatorial contest.

“Will you please watch it, fellas? Especially with Benson, you got to watch it,” Trump said. “Bad things happen with the vote counter, so you have got to be careful. … Benson was a disaster. She cheated more, in my opinion, than anybody else, any other politician in the entire United States. You’ve got to watch all those Detroit votes.”

Trump also called Benson “a thief,” with the president again claiming that the 2020 election was somehow stolen, a lie he continues to tell despite being debunked by Democrats and Republicans alike.

Although the emphasis was on Rogers and El-Sayed, James did get one shoutout from Trump, the president urging his followers to support him if they haven’t already voted early or by absentee ballot.

“You’ve got a very good man, a man who I know so well, and he’s going to be really, I think, a fantastic governor,” Trump said of James.