Trump ally pressed on Obama and El-Sayed trend: ‘Trying to say, hint hint, he’s Muslim?’

Trump ally pressed on Obama and El-Sayed trend: ‘Trying to say, hint hint, he’s Muslim?’ South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott refers to El-Sayed’s association with Hasan Piker as he calls Michigan Democrat ‘dangerous’ but doesn’t defend GOP ads accused of Islamophobia - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments The head of the GOP’s Senate campaign arm was questioned in a new interview about why recent ads sponsored by Senate Republicans were highlighting Abdul El-Sayed’s full name — Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed — instead of the name he uses personally. Sen. Tim Scott appeared on a pre-taped interview with Manu Raju on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday to discuss the upcoming midterm cycle, where his party is defending twin congressional majorities against strong traditional headwinds facing the president’s party as well as the striking unpopularity of the current occupant of the White House. Scott was asked directly by Raju if the purpose of ads highlighting a name El-Sayed has never used in public was an intentional reference to his Arab-American heritage and Muslim faith. Scott denied this, but couldn’t explain why the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) was backing such ads, or offer any alternative purpose for using El-Sayed’s extended full name. Instead, Scott pivoted twice to claiming that the former Wayne County public health commissioner was “dangerous”. “Why not just use the name he goes by?” Raju asked Scott, who responded: “Listen, I go by Timothy Eugene. People call me that all the time.” “It’s about what he stands for,” insisted Scott. “We’re going to focus and bring attention to the fact that not only is he sympathetic to Hamas, not only does he run around with Hasan Piker, someone who said ‘America deserves 9/11’, he should be held to account for exactly where he stands, and what he’s for.” El-Sayed separately responded to the controversy on the same program during an interview with Jake Tapper as he was asked about Donald Trump’s social media post showing him in a diner booth with his wife, who wears a hijab, and contrasting the image to a picture of Trump and his wife Melania. Democrats, supporters of El-Sayed, and independent observers of the race have all argued that the combined Republican effort is aimed at highlighting El-Sayed’s Muslim faith and background with obviously bigoted undertones. Responding to Tapper, El-Sayed declined to get into a discussion about his faith or background and instead pivoted to a snarky comment about rumored marital troubles and personal animosity between Trump and his wife Melania, who is rarely spotted at the White House amid his second term. But on NBC’s Meet the Press, he was more explicit with his description of the Republican attack lines: "Notice how they chose to use my full name, in echoes to exactly what they did against President Obama.” El-Sayed told NBC and CNN that he’d spoken with former President Barack Obama since the primary and has invoked Obama’s middle name, Hussein, and Obama’s 2008 candidacy as spurring his own belief that someone with an Arabic name could succeed in American politics despite anti-Muslim bigotry. Obama’s 2008 campaign was subject to such bigotry openly, and Republicans for years described him, falsely and wholly without evidence, of secretly adhering to the Muslim faith. In one famous moment, his opponent John McCain admonished his own supporter onstage for echoing such attacks. Supporters of the progressive candidate, who narrowly won Michigan’s Senate primary last week, labeled the attacks he faced during the primary at the hands of AIPAC and other organizations associated with the pro-Israel lobby grossly Islamophobic and in many cases rooted in clear misinformation. AIPAC and its allies vowed in a statement after El-Sayed’s victory to continue attacking him ahead of the general election in November, when he will face the Trump-endorsed Mike Rogers. El-Sayed’s association with Piker, who attended his election night watch party and campaigned with him on several occasions, has also contributed to the controversies surrounding his campaign. His opponents, including Scott and Republicans, label Piker an anti-Semite and left-wing radical with a history of statements about America and foreign policy that are often highly critical of both U.S. interests and Israel. Piker’s supporters, however, view the criticism as part of a smear campaign. In his interview with NBC on Sunday, El-Sayed refused to disavow Piker and hit out at members of the media and his own party for engaging in “cancel culture.” “I want to be held accountable for what I say and do, rather than this idea that we’ve, we’re so stuck in cancel culture that we all agreed was a bad idea back in 2020 but we seem to want to bring back,” said El-Sayed. Piker himself noted on a stream Friday that he was “tired” of apologizing for the comment, something he said he’d done repeatedly to total disinterest from his critics. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments