Progressive Senate candidate rips Trump’s war with Iran: “How the hell did we get here?”

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Apr 19, 2026 #Trump #Iran #Politics

Michigan is shaping up to be one of the most closely watched Senate races of the midterm cycle, and one progressive candidate is pulling in major national endorsements. Abdul El-Sayed, (D) Michigan, joins The Weekend: Primetime to discuss his high-stakes race, controversial leaked comments, and campaigning with progressive streamer Hasan Piker. MS NOW: My Source for News, Opinion, and the World. » Subscribe to MS NOW:

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Transcript

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in Detroit today,

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speaking at the Democratic Women's Caucus luncheon. And she did not hold back.

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We are dealing with the most corrupt callous and incompetent presidential administration

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in the history of the United States period

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period Michigan is shaping up to be one of the most closely watched Senate races

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of this entire cycle and one progressive candidate is already pulling in major national endorsements Abdul El-Sayed

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a physician a former Detroit health director and a 2018 candidate for governor has now earned the backing of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

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A new Emerson College poll shows a neck and neck race between El-Sayed and Mallory McMorrow at 24 % each, but a

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large percentage of likely primary voters remains undecided. And Abdul El-Sayed joins us now.

1 minute, 5 seconds

Thank you for being with us, sir. It is good to talk to you. I want to get into right off the top, the Iranian war.

1 minute, 13 seconds

It is really something that is on the minds of a number of Americans in Dearborn,

1 minute, 19 seconds

Michigan is home to the largest concentration of Lebanese Americans in the U .S.

1 minute, 24 seconds

So what are you hearing about this ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon from some of the people in Dearborn and throughout Michigan?

1 minute, 34 seconds

Obviously, we always pray for peace,

1 minute, 36 seconds

but we've got to ask ourselves what we actually got out of this in the first place. Why did we even fight this war?

1 minute, 41 seconds

It's hard to make any sense out of any American lack of war aims because it changed every day. But you have to remember who did have war aims.

1 minute, 50 seconds

Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to get this war fought for the past 40 years.

1 minute, 54 seconds

He finally found a president dumb enough to do it. And you look at where we are now,

1 minute, 58 seconds

Israel has used this opportunity to try and in effect annex southern Lebanon. And that's exactly what they've done. So people are afraid and they're sad, they're hoping and praying for peace.

2 minutes, 7 seconds

But then for everybody, you think about the spike in your gas prices and the fact that your own tax dollars are what was used to spike those gas prices,

2 minutes, 15 seconds

I think all ALL OF US HAVE TO LOOK BACK AND ASK, HOW THE HELL DID WE GET HERE?

2 minutes, 18 seconds

I WANT YOU TO HEAR WHAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SAYING ABOUT THIS CEASE-FIRE DEAL.

2 minutes, 24 seconds

I THINK SOME PEOPLE ARE QUESTIONING WHETHER THERE TRULY IS A CEASE-FIRE RIGHT now, but between Israel and Lebanon.

2 minutes, 30 seconds

Take a listen to this, then I'll have a question for you on the other side. I'm not I'm not entirely confident.

2 minutes, 38 seconds

No, unfortunately, I wish I could be because I am so scared and worried about all of my relatives that are there right now.

2 minutes, 46 seconds

And it's absolutely heart-wrenching to see the news. My elementary school, my childhood home,

2 minutes, 51 seconds

a lot of memories have been wiped IT'S GOING TO BE VERY, VERY HARD FOR THE PEOPLE TO REBUILD.

2 minutes, 58 seconds

AND QUITE HONESTLY, I'M NOT OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THIS CEASE-FIRE BECAUSE WE HAD A CEASE-FIRE IN NOVEMBER OF 24 AND ISRAEL DID NOT comply.

3 minutes, 9 seconds

Can I ask you how you think not just this current moment of war but the last several years of war have changed Americans, of all backgrounds,

3 minutes, 18 seconds

of all life experiences, how it has changed their understanding,

3 minutes, 24 seconds

not just of the world, but also of the way that our tax dollars have been used and how you see that impacting this campaign.

3 minutes, 30 seconds

Because you see it so much, not just from Lebanese Americans in Michigan,

3 minutes, 35 seconds

but so many Americans who seem to actually understand our current domestic conditions differently because of what they've seen unfold on the international stage.

3 minutes, 43 seconds

You know, I think you're exactly right. I was the health director for Wayne County.

3 minutes, 48 seconds

I served the community from which both of those two individuals who I know personally come from and every time you come up with a plan to do something like put glasses

3 minutes, 57 seconds

on kids faces or eliminate medical debt or provide new small businesses, health insurance.

4 minutes, 2 seconds

Everybody says, doctor, how are you going to pay for that?

4 minutes, 5 seconds

But then we've got a general who wants to draw up war plans to bomb Iran.

4 minutes, 9 seconds

Nobody asks general, how are you going to pay for that?

4 minutes, 12 seconds

And I think that's exactly what's wrong with our politics.

4 minutes, 15 seconds

I think for many Americans, they're opening their eyes to the fact that for most of my life, if you're under 40,

4 minutes, 21 seconds

you've watched our country go to wars and you ask to what end? You see service members broken over it.

4 minutes, 26 seconds

You see tax dollars spent on it and you see all of the things that your government should be doing for you not getting done.

4 minutes, 32 seconds

And so I think a lot of people are finally opening their eyes and asking, I don't pay my taxes so that another country gets a bomb or a tank. I don't pay my taxes to kill other people's kids.

4 minutes, 41 seconds

I pay my taxes so that our kids get good schools and can walk sidewalks that are actually functional, can drive clean roads, can get health care.

4 minutes, 48 seconds

And so I think for a lot of people, they're opening their eyes,

4 minutes, 50 seconds

whether they're Lebanese in a community like Dearborn, or they're anywhere in the rest of the state. And I gotta tell you, I've been to 90 cities.

4 minutes, 56 seconds

People ask the same sets of questions about why are we doing that instead of taking care of my kid or rebuilding my kids' schools?

5 minutes, 3 seconds

Doctor, you have traveled and canvassed so much of the state.

5 minutes, 7 seconds

So I want to ask you to comment on some leaked audio that the free beacon obtained, and we're going to play the audio,

5 minutes, 14 seconds

and then I'll come to you at the end of it.

5 minutes, 19 seconds

I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today.

5 minutes, 23 seconds

So like, I just don't want to comment on Himani at all.

5 minutes, 29 seconds

Like, I don't think it's worth even touching that.

5 minutes, 35 seconds

So, doctor, this was a day after the strike that killed the Supreme Leader.

5 minutes, 39 seconds

And I just want to ask about your political calculation here.

5 minutes, 43 seconds

What's the constituency in Dearborn that was mourning this assassination?

5 minutes, 50 seconds

I think anybody in Dearborn or the rest of the state who believes that there's a rule of law was morning an illegal unjustifiable war.

5 minutes, 58 seconds

There are terrible leaders all over the world.

6 minutes, 1 second

The reason why we go after somebody in Venezuela or we go after somebody in Iran,

6 minutes, 7 seconds

those are open questions when you see the president cavorting with leaders in places like Qatar or places like the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

6 minutes, 15 seconds

And so I think there are people who are frustrated by the fact that there was no justification for this war.

6 minutes, 21 seconds

It was entirely I THINK EVERYBODY IS FRUSTRATED ABOUT THE FACT THAT WHEN YOU GO AND FILL UP YOUR GAS TANK, YOU'RE PAYING $20 MORE.

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I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT FOR POLICYMAKERS TO STEP BACK AND ASK,

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DO WE JUST JUMP IN whenever a president tells us that they're making war in our interest? Or do we actually step back and ask, whose interest is this really?

6 minutes, 41 seconds

Who really benefits from this war?

6 minutes, 43 seconds

And I think I wanted to make sure that our campaign was not jumping right in like, unfortunately, too many Democrats have to do this incoherent thing where we're saying,

6 minutes, 52 seconds

well, if the president's taking us to war, then we have to stand right there with him.

6 minutes, 56 seconds

But at the same time, it was illegal because you didn't follow the procedure rules. No, it was illegal. It was IT WAS UNJUSTIFIABLE, UNETHICAL, IT'S IMMORAL. IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN WAGED.

7 minutes, 4 seconds

SO I THINK MORE LEADERS SHOULD ACTUALLY BE THINKING ABOUT HOW WE STEP IN WITH OUR MORALS RATHER THAN JUST TO BE DICTATED BY WHICHEVER WAY THE POLITICAL WINDS ARE FLOWING.

7 minutes, 12 seconds

BUT I'M NOT ASKING ABOUT THE POLICY,

7 minutes, 14 seconds

WHICH CERTAINLY YOU'RE VERY ELOQUENT ABOUT AND WHY YOU'RE DISAGREEING.

7 minutes, 18 seconds

I'M ASKING ABOUT THE POLITICAL CALCULATION AND THE CHOICE THAT YOU MADE AS A CAMPAIGN TO NOT WEIGH IN,

7 minutes, 24 seconds

WHICH EARLIER IN THE YEAR A FEW days after Charlie Kirk was died,

7 minutes, 28 seconds

you condemned his speech as xenophobic and hateful and did not hesitate. So what is with it?

7 minutes, 35 seconds

Is there, is it about what side of the aisle a person is on and and who you're willing to risk offending when it comes to how you met out cancel culture.

7 minutes, 44 seconds

Well, I don't meet out cancel culture rather well known. I go everywhere. I talk to everyone.

7 minutes, 51 seconds

I condemn what Charlie Kirk said because I thought it was racist and xenophobic.

7 minutes, 55 seconds

I'll also condemn what the Ayatollah said because he was a dictator on his own people.

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But the question is about whether or not our government had the right and the justification to assassinate a foreign leader.

8 minutes, 7 seconds

I think under Trump, we probably all agree that this administration has taken certain proclivities with the rule

8 minutes, 14 seconds

of law and that has led to actions in places like Venezuela and Iran that are unjustifiable and unethical.

8 minutes, 21 seconds

Just because you disagree with somebody doesn't mean that you can assassinate them.

8 minutes, 25 seconds

That's what international law is supposed to protect from, and that's what I was talking about. So yeah, I disagree with the Ayatollah. I disagree with Charlie Kirk. I'll openly say that in every circumstance,

8 minutes, 33 seconds

but the question is whether or not that justifies assassination.

8 minutes, 36 seconds

I don't justify the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

8 minutes, 39 seconds

What happened to him was wrong and I don't justify the assassination of a foreign leader without actually

8 minutes, 57 seconds

I want to ask you about the heat you've taken with respect to the leftist podcaster Hassan

9 minutes, 4 seconds

Piker and folks in the Democratic Party and elsewhere saying that he's made anti He's made anti-Semitic remarks. He's made racist remarks.

9 minutes, 13 seconds

This is not someone who you should be associating with.

9 minutes, 15 seconds

How do you justify or reconcile those types of conversations or those types of connections

9 minutes, 23 seconds

with your campaign and your candidacy with the need for Democrats to be able to reach audiences and voters that perhaps in 2024,

9 minutes, 32 seconds

they could not motivate to the I'M JUST TAKING THE LESSON FROM 2024. THERE ARE TWO LESSONS THERE.

9 minutes, 41 seconds

THE FIRST ONE WAS VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS INVITED HASAN PIKER TO STREAM FROM THE DNC.

9 minutes, 46 seconds

HE WENT AT THE INVITATION of the vice president running for president at the time, I basically did the same thing.

9 minutes, 52 seconds

But the second lesson I took is that maybe we were not aggressive enough at making sure that we were reaching out to voters we could engage with.

9 minutes, 59 seconds

I understand that folks are frustrated about things that Hassan Piker has said. I don't agree with everything he said. I don't agree with everything you've said. I don't agree with everything anyone has said.

10 minutes, 8 seconds

That's just the nature of human interactions. But he has a very large platform.

10 minutes, 12 seconds

He talks to a lot of folks who feel locked out of our political system. And I think if we want to win elections,

10 minutes, 17 seconds

we have to figure out how to provide them an on-ramp back into our politics.

10 minutes, 21 seconds

So it's important for me to make sure that we're not locking out a whole segment of people who get their news from somebody like Hassan.

10 minutes, 27 seconds

and making sure that we're engaging with that platform. So I go everywhere and talk to everybody.

10 minutes, 32 seconds

In fact, the day that we had Hassan Piker in Michigan, I started my day on Fox & Friends. Now, those folks don't agree with me. I don't agree with them.

10 minutes, 39 seconds

But I want to be able to talk to the sliver OF PEOPLE WHO MIGHT BE LISTENING WHO ARE OPEN-MINDED WHO SAY YOU KNOW WHAT I REALLY DO WANT TO GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS.

10 minutes, 46 seconds

I REALLY DO WANT TO PUT MONEY BACK IN MY POCKET AND I WANT TO PASS MEDICARE FOR ALL.

10 minutes, 48 seconds

SO I THINK WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE STEP BACK OUT OF THIS CANCEL CULTURE SITUATION WHERE WE'RE SAYING OH,

10 minutes, 53 seconds

WE CAN'T TALK TO CERTAIN people because they said certain things and make sure that we're creating a pathway back into politics for everyone.

10 minutes, 59 seconds

And that means having the courage to go and have a conversation in all different kinds of spaces,

11 minutes, 3 seconds

because you just might talk to somebody who agrees with you.

11 minutes, 7 seconds

I want to go back to policy for a moment with the bit of time that we have left with you. As we mentioned before, you're a physician, public health expert,

11 minutes, 14 seconds

and you've been running on a platform that includes Medicare for All.

11 minutes, 17 seconds

I think a moment ago, I saw a Medicare for All book somewhere in the background of your shot, actually.

11 minutes, 22 seconds

And so I want to get your take on how that message, that movement is going over in Michigan, a state that many people view as,

11 minutes, 31 seconds

you know, it's a very competitive, often kind of purpley state. You would think that there are, in some parts of your state,

11 minutes, 38 seconds

voters who ━ that's a message they might not feel as comfortable with.

11 minutes, 42 seconds

And so when you look at the makeup of communities in Michigan,

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when you also just think about the current CONDITIONS IN CONGRESS RIGHT NOW. DO YOU TRULY BELIEVE MEDICARE FOR ALL IS VIABLE? YES, ABSOLUTELY.

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I'M PROUD ACTUALLY TO HAVE CO-WRITTEN THAT BOOK.

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AND THE REASON I KNOW IT'S VIABLE IS BECAUSE I'VE taken this campaign all over the state.

12 minutes, 1 second

I was in Houghton, which is in the Upper Peninsula's Upper Peninsula. And we had 100 people in a room,

12 minutes, 6 seconds

many of whom voted for Donald Trump who were there to have a conversation about what it means to guarantee health care.

12 minutes, 10 seconds

I think we do a disservice to our politics when we analyze it in this left-right frame and then try to fit people in the middle. That's not how the world works.

12 minutes, 18 seconds

People have all kinds of different opinions. I had a guy come up to me, he said, you know what? I don't like you very much. I said, I'm sorry, I like you. He's like, I know.

12 minutes, 24 seconds

And it seems like you really want me to have health care. I said, I do. He's like, that's why I'm going to vote for you.

12 minutes, 28 seconds

So at the end of the day, I think it's important for us to make sure that we're having conversations about what the world could look like.

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We need a galvanizing ideal that THAT BRINGS PEOPLE TO THE TABLE ABOUT WHAT THEY WANT.

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AND RIGHT NOW, PEOPLE ARE BEING DESTROYED BY OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.

12 minutes, 42 seconds

YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT DEDUCTIBLES THAT ARE $6 ,000, AND THAT'S PUTTING PEOPLE INTO MEDICAL DEBT TO THE TUNE OF HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE, $225 $25 billion of medical debt in this country,

12 minutes, 51 seconds

in the richest, most powerful country in the world as they burn a billion dollars a day on war that we don't need to be fighting.

12 minutes, 56 seconds

So when you sit down and have a conversation and say, hey, listen, I'm a doctor. I literally trained in this system.

13 minutes, 1 second

I I promise you we could do this right if we were willing to forgo the corporations that tell us what we cannot have and the politicians who tell us what we should not fight for.

13 minutes, 10 seconds

So, yeah, I want to fight a fight so everybody can have health care.

13 minutes, 13 seconds

If I accomplish nothing less in my my career in politics,

13 minutes, 16 seconds

I want everybody in this country to have health care. Imagine what that would feel like for people. Dr. Abdul Al-Sayed, thank you for being with us. Thank you so much for having me.

13 minutes, 25 seconds

It was a lovely conversation.

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