Trump attacks El-Sayed as a 'jihadist' at Iowa rally and praises Stevens for backing Rogers
President Donald Trump launched a fierce attack on Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a campaign event in Iowa on Sunday, repeatedly referring to the Michigan progressive as a 'jihadist'.
Trump said that if El-Sayed were elected, Congress would have to 'get a special metal detector for Abdul'. Of the practising Muslim candidate he added: 'If you vote for this jihadist lunatic that wants to destroy you, you're crazy.'
Trump's comments were aimed at influencing a neck-and-neck race that will play an outsized role in determining which party controls the Senate after Tuesday's midterm elections.
The Michigan race has drawn national attention in recent days. Haley Stevens, who lost to El-Sayed in the August primary election, declined to campaign with him, while demanding that he publicly disavow an outside group's political ad that posited a link between rising prices and US military support for Israel's war on Gaza.
El-Sayed responded by telling Stevens to stay away from a campaign event at which they were supposed to appear together on Sunday. Stevens then turned around and endorsed Mike Rogers, El-Sayed's Republican opponent.
Stevens's high-profile defection in the waning hours of the tight race drew the condemnation of Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, who is Jewish.
Trump, on the other hand, heaped praise on Stevens for turning against El-Sayed, urging her to join the GOP. 'It was an incredible thing,' Trump said. 'I'd love her to join the Republican party. I think that could happen.'
He then lauded Rogers in metaphorical terms. 'Mike Rogers is apple pie,' Trump said. 'And you know what this country needs? A little apple pie. We don't need the communists or jihadists, the Muslim Brotherhood. We need apple pie. He's apple pie. He'll be good.'
Trump noted he had little time to watch football this weekend because he had been 'going to these damn rallies all over the place'. 'Pretend I'm on the ballot,' he told voters. 'Essentially, I am on the ballot.'
