President Trump on Thursday attacked Black and Jewish supporters of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, calling them “crazy,” an apparent revival of a 2024 strategy of stoking ethnic tensions to undermine support for Democrats.
“If you’re Black or if you’re Jewish, and if you vote for Abdul, you’re crazy, OK,” President Trump said to applause from the audience at a rally in Rock Hill, S.C.
He added, “You’re crazy anyway. But if you’re Black or Jewish and you vote — the things that this guy has said is … ” The president did not finish his thought, as often happens during his campaign rallies, and instead pivoted to attack James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate in Texas.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump said of Dr. El-Sayed, a Muslim who was born in the United States: “Any Jewish person that supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves,” reviving a 2024 attack line against Jewish Democrats that sparked outrage from Jewish groups.
Mr. Trump’s additional attack against Black supporters of Dr. El-Sayed revived a past strategy of stoking racial and cultural grievances among nonwhite voters. In 2024, Mr. Trump made record gains among Latino and Black men, as well as the Arab communities in Michigan, even as he often pitted the different ethnic groups against one another.
Dr. El-Sayed, who would be the country’s first Muslim senator if elected, has faced increasingly intense Islamophobic attacks from Republicans, chief among them the president, during the Senate race. Polls show he is leading a tight race with former Representative Mike Rogers.
Mr. Trump did not specify on Thursday which remarks from Dr. El-Sayed would be offensive to Black and Jewish voters, but the president has repeatedly fixated on the candidate’s Arabic heritage, baselessly accusing him of being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a “vicious, violent jihadist.”
Yet even as the president wielded Islamophobic rhetoric in his attacks against Dr. El-Sayed, whose family immigrated from Egypt, Mr. Trump noted during Thursday’s rally that he “won the Arab vote” in Michigan.
Mr. Trump’s remarks appear aimed at driving a wedge between Dr. El-Sayed and large swaths of Michigan’s Democratic base. Dr. El-Sayed has been accused of stoking antisemitism with his criticism of Israel, and some Jewish Democrats have said they are considering voting for his Republican rival, Mike Rogers, or not at all. Michigan’s Black Democrats largely sided with Dr. El Sayed’s primary rival, Haley Stevens, and Dr. El Sayed has sought to consolidate their support ahead of the general election.
In 2024, Mr. Trump pitted Jewish Democrats and Arab Americans against each other on the issue of the war in Gaza and the plight of the Palestinian people. Mr. Trump also sought to exploit divisions among Black and Latino voters, accusing immigrants of poaching “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.” In another episode, Mr. Trump amplified outlandish false claims of Black Haitian immigrants abducting and eating their neighbors’ pets.
Mr. Trump had also repeatedly accused Jews who vote for Democrats of hating their religion and Israel, saying at times that they “should be ashamed of themselves.” He later said at an event centered on denouncing antisemitism that “if I don’t win this election,” then “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.” After winning re-election, Mr. Trump said that Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking elected Jewish official in the United States, was “not Jewish anymore” and “a Palestinian, as far as I’m concerned.”
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