Abdul El-Sayed: Mike Rogers Afraid Of ‘Pissing Off Daddy Trump’

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed hit his opponent, Mike Rogers, for dodging on whether he'll debate before whacking him for kissing Trump's backside on every issue that matters.
By Heather — August 21, 2026

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed hit his opponent Mike Rogers for dodging on whether he'll debate before whacking him for kissing Trump's backside on every issue that matters.

MS Now host Jen Psaki asked El-Sayed about an interview Rogers did earlier this month, where he made the ridiculous claim that he's not hearing any complaints about Trump's Iran war, and after Psaki pointed out that his statement was "hard to believe," El-Sayed let him have it for his fealty to Trump:

EL-SAYED: It’s funny. Mike Rogers is now trying to make a play, he says, for Democrats. I’ve been talking to Democrats for 15 months, and ever since February, when they kicked off this ridiculous war, it is one of the only things that I hear from Democrats: Why is it that a guy who said that he wanted no new wars, that he was gonna “America First” us, that he’s now, it seems, putting America last to the drapes he wants to put in the White House and a war that he seems not to know how to get himself out of?

So, you know, just a pro tip here, Mike, if you wanna win Democrat votes, you’re probably gonna have to start talking about the ridiculous war that we shouldn’t be fighting in Iran, but he doesn’t wanna talk about any of those things because he knows that he is stuck in a bind.

Every single time that he shows up to any conversation that’s at all objective, he’s gonna have to answer for Trump’s ridiculous policies, which he can’t answer to without pissing off Daddy Trump, so here he is in this absurd bind, and it’s better for him to just dodge. So, he’s continued to do that. Instead, he takes softball interviews from Fox News, or NewsNation, or Newsmax — whatever that is.

Al-Sayed continued: "And he's trying to avoid having to actually answer for the public policy of our country right now, which is raising our gas prices, which is spiking the prices of homes, which is spiking the cost of health care and is not addressing the challenges that we all face right now. It's interesting because he spent so many years in elected office answering exactly questions about a lot of these topics."

Psaki also asked Al-Sayed about the notion that there are Democrats supporting Rogers.

AL-SAYED: I mean, look, know, the congresswoman endorsed me the day after a hard-fought primary. I was so grateful for her endorsement. And I've been up and down my state since, and talking to voters, folks are clear-eyed about what they're facing. Because at the end of the day, it's not about Team Red or Team Blue. It's about, Team, can I afford my gas? Can I afford my groceries? Can I get health care? And no matter where you go, you talk to people who say, look, my life is less affordable than it was a year and a half ago.

And as much as Donald Trump wants to blame that on Joe Biden, it is quite clear that his war, his tariffs, and his frank failure to actually deal with economic realities has cost people in Michigan their livelihoods. And we've got an opportunity to address that.

I want to get money out of politics, put money in pockets, pass Medicare for all. And I want to have a conversation about how we actually do that so people can understand and contrast the differences. So, look, he's going to cosplay like he's talking to Democrats.

He had eight people, all of whom have previous ties to Republicans in somebody's front yard today. That might be all the Democrats who actually support him. And that's fine. But I go, when I go to up and down the state, there is not a place I stop where people don't tell me, look, I voted for Donald Trump three times and I'm voting for you. And that's because you really want to give me health care.

It's because you don't want to send my money abroad to do heinous things like make wars we shouldn't be fighting. You want to keep it here at home. And you seem to be honest about the fact that you believe that our politics should be of the people and by the people, instead of the corporations and by the corporations, because you've never taken a dime of corporate money.

So I'm happy to defend my record.

Polling is neck and neck right now.

Here's to hoping it continues to improve as more people get to hear this man speak and talk about the issues as he did here.

Don't be surprised if Rogers weasels out of debating.

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