When the moderator of a Senate debate has to beg the candidates to let him participate — "I'd like to be a part of the debate, too" — you know somebody's getting worked over. In Grand Rapids on Thursday night, that somebody was Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for Michigan's open Senate seat, who spent an hour getting dismantled by Republican Mike Rogers on everything from healthcare to Iran to whether El-Sayed can even practice medicine.
President Trump's review landed on Truth Social before the studio lights cooled down.
"Mike Rogers, the great American Patriot and Republican Candidate for the U.S. Senate from Michigan, completely obliterated Mohammed El-Sayed in the big debate tonight," Trump wrote. "If this was a fight they would have stopped it."
The debate was the first of two scheduled matchups for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters. It was supposed to cover the economy, healthcare, immigration, and the war in Iran. It covered all of those. It also covered El-Sayed's property in the United Arab Emirates, his inability to treat patients despite calling himself a doctor, and his refusal to say whether Iran or Israel poses a greater threat to the United States.
That last moment deserves its own paragraph. Asked point-blank whether he views Israel or Iran as the bigger threat, El-Sayed called the question a "ridiculous hypothetical." Then he answered it anyway — just not the way he intended. "Our ostensible ally in Israel has lobbied us to go to war with Iran," El-Sayed said. "I don't want to be pushed into war by Israel. I want our money spent here to buy schools and healthcare and childcare."
So the country that launched the October 7th massacre — killing over 1,000 people, including 49 Americans — is a hypothetical threat. But Israel, our actual ally, is the one doing the pushing. Rogers, a former congressman with FBI experience, didn't let that slide. He hammered El-Sayed for failing to even mention the anniversary of the Hamas attack during the debate.
On healthcare, Rogers went after El-Sayed's support for Medicare for All, calling it "a disaster" and warning it would mean "an estimated $20,000 for every Michigan family" in tax increases while eliminating private insurance options. "We cannot afford Abdul," Rogers said.
El-Sayed tried to pivot to offense on tariffs, citing a study showing tariffs cost Michigan households $5,600 annually and calling Rogers "weak, cowardly, won't stand up until his poll numbers drop." Rogers had recently released an ad calling for an end to the trade war after previously supporting Trump's tariff push — a shift El-Sayed labeled a flip-flop.
Then came the real estate exchange. El-Sayed attacked Rogers for owning a home in Florida. Rogers' response was five words: "At least Florida is in the United States." El-Sayed's wife owns property in the UAE. The audience didn't need a moderator to explain who won that round.
Rogers also went after El-Sayed's credentials directly: "He's not really a doctor. If somebody came into his office and he tried to treat them, he'd go to jail." El-Sayed, a former Wayne County public health official, holds a doctorate but doesn't practice clinical medicine. Rogers called him "the best con I think I've ever seen."
El-Sayed is backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He's called for abolishing ICE. A candidate who won't call Iran a threat, wants to eliminate the agency that enforces immigration law, and supports a healthcare plan that would cost Michigan families $20,000 a year.
Rogers and El-Sayed meet again on October 21 in Detroit for round two.
Trump added one more line about El-Sayed on Truth Social: "Mohammed is a Jihadist lunatic who hates our Country, the Black People of Detroit, and wants to see the U.S. fail." The former president has never been accused of burying the lead.