Abdul El-Sayed told me he welcomes online hate
“My job is not to say what’s popular. My job is to make popular what’s right.”
What felt like the literal longest primary in human history is finally over.
Thank god. That shit was getting dark. I wonder if politicians have actually gotten more vicious in public or if it just feels that way because we’re seeing more of their viciousness on social media. It defined this Michigan Senate primary — to the benefit of one candidate and detriment of the other.
Haley Stevens became defined by the weirdness she projected online. She was basically “quirk” incarnate, to a point that it almost looped back around to likability. Almost. Her concession contained an endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed some didn’t think would come.
He’ll need all the unity a fractured party can muster to counter the Islamophobia that was already hovering by the exit at his election night party. If you’re wondering how much there possibly is to say about the name Abdul …. a lot. Like a lot, a lot. But he’s clearly ready to meet that head on:
“They’re gonna point at me, they’re gonna point at my name, like, ‘Wow, he’s different.’ That’s the best you got? You can’t actually talk about what you want to do? My name is not raising your gas prices. My name is not taking us to war. My name is not the reason you can'’ afford your groceries. You know what is? Their BS policies.”
His victory press conference reaffirmed a commitment he made clear to me when we chatted in April: He will find a way to rotate any line of attack back to the issues he is prioritizing. We’re revisiting my sitdown with El-Sayed from April — for free, below! But first, I haaaad to comb through the celebrations and crashouts.
The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
GW: So, there’s something that a lot of politicians are doing now, picking three things and hammering them in. How long did it take for you to pick your three things and how front of mind was digital and social media when you made that decision?
AES: You have to campaign in the language that people are talking. Digital is part of that language. And so you have to be able to give folks, sort of, architecture to hang what it is that you’re trying to do on. I’m somebody who spent a lot of my career writing policy, and so I like to think in comprehensive, you know, full-bow tied around policy. It’s just not how people are really engaging with their work.
And if you can know nothing else about me, I want you to know those three things: I want to get money out of politics, put money in our pocket, pass Medicare for All. My goal is, you want to pay attention to me because I want you to have health care. That’s it. Like if you know nothing else about me, I really want you to have health care.
The idea that in this country, you can’t go see a doctor and not have to worry about medical debt, should be insane to everyone. It’s truly insane to me. And I find it a slap in the face, as someone who gave a large part of my life to being able to heal people. To know that it was because of dollars and cents in the richest, most powerful country in the world that is now dropping bombs on other people’s children with the money that we should be spending on health care.
Update: The drink menu at his victory party featured drinks named after — you guessed it — his three things.
Has there ever been a piece of content of yours that somebody’s come up to you and said, “I watched this video that you made, and it changed my mind?”
Burger video.
Really?
Yeah. And I tried to eat the whole burger, and I couldn’t, of course. But, like, also … no billionaire’s gonna spend all their money. That’s the whole point. So, like, if you tax a billionaire at 10%, 8%, whatever it is, they’re still going to have a whole lot of burger, and they still won’t be able to eat it.
And like, it’s wild to me that you got a lot of folks who can’t even afford their life. They’re like, “yeah, but like, you know, billionaires got to eat, though.” I’m like, billionaires gonna eat. Billionaires’ kids, kids, kids, kids, kids are gonna eat. Question is, are you gonna eat? And so I’m just trying to get people to see that question.
So among all of this, you’ve had in the past couple weeks — not just from your own party — from the Republican side, just zeroing in on one single thing that you’re doing, which is walking around and advocating for what you believe in with Hasan Piker.
Apparently got framemogged by Hasan Piker too.
According to the Free Beacon.
I’m a healthy 5’9. You know what I mean?
Right, and you’re proud to say that.
I’m proud to say that. But, you know, I like to think that my personality’s a good 6’7.
Why not? It’s the size of the fight in the dog.
Sometimes it’s also the size of the dog.
That’s fair. But that’s what Hasan’s there for. … The NRSC has tweeted about you 11 times since March 30th. [RNC Research] has posted about you 16 times.
I welcome their hatred.
You do?
I don’t fucking back down. So part of me says, you know — you talk about the size of the fight in the dog — I was like bring it. I love that attention.
Even if they’re pairing you with what people would describe as Hasan’s maybe more inflammatory beliefs? [Like] “oh, he was for 9/11.” “He’s an antisemite.” Even if you’re always going to be framed alongside those messages, it’s still worth it?
Here’s the thing about it. In our lives, everybody knows people with whom they agree on some things and disagree on others. It’s a crazy thing that, in our politics, we don’t do the normal human thing, which is to be like, “Hey, love some of the things you say, and don’t agree with others.”
It’s like, imagine you got a sibling. All of us have siblings, and if you have siblings, your siblings say some crazy shit sometimes. Doesn’t mean you’re like, “I’m so sorry. I can’t be seen with you at Thanksgiving.” You’re like, “That’s wild, let’s talk about that. Here’s where I agree, here’s where I don’t.” That’s normal human behavior.
Frankly, I don’t blame Republicans for doing this. Their whole job is to try and beat me in an election. What’s wild to me is that Democrats should know better. Because, did we not all live through the “Should Have Gone on Rogan” discourse? And also, do you know who was streaming live from the DNC? At the invite of Vice President Harris? Hasan Piker.
I was there. I saw him.
Now, there wasn’t a whole discourse about “how could you?”
So, I’m just not going to be held accountable for the craziest thing that somebody else said.
I love it when Ted Cruz shares my video, and people see in the background, like, “money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for All.” I’m like, “Yo, Ted Cruz did his own version of illegal immigration when he left you all in the cold during an ice storm to go and campaign in Cancun.” And then you got, like, the other Florida man, Rick Scott, right? Whose company was convicted of, like, the worst Medicare fraud ever. I’m like, you can have Medicare for fraud, or you can have Medicare for all. Like, which one would you like?
They’re setting it up for you.
Like, y’all just keep throwing me the ball. I keep alleyooping, right? Like, great! I’ll dunk again if you want me to. As long as you’re playing the game.
I just don’t take seriously the bad faith smears. I don’t take seriously the idea that we should be policing platforms. I don’t take seriously the idea that we’re gonna cancel people in the Year of our Lord 2026, because we should have learned more. It’s not difficult to call somebody who looks like me, who has a name like mine, who prays like I do, certain kinds of names.
And, you know, it was coming for me anyway. And at the end of the day, I’m not here to defend myself. My job is to defend folks who’ve gotten a bum deal from the system that is telling them that, somehow, conversations that I’m having are verboten, because they’re afraid that I’m coming for their house. You know what I mean? At the end of the day, I want people to have houses. And if that means coming for, like, the house of corporatism, so be it.
In a video the other day, you said if Joe Rogan invited me on, I would go. Bill Maher invited me on, I would go. Hasan, etc. Do you change your approach to your central messaging depending on the audience? Or you believe that it can go wherever you need to go?
I’m okay with the fact that not everyone is going to agree with you. But I’m not okay with the fact that in our politics, too often politicians don’t care that people know what they believe. So I want you to know what I think and make a decision on it. So if you’re like, “I don’t actually want money out of politics, I don’t actually want money in my pocket. I don’t want Medicare for All.” I’ll be like, [I’m] not your guy. Go vote for someone else.” Which I’m totally fine with.
My job is not to... just do enough to get elected, and then fail you for six years in the Senate. My job is to tell you exactly what I’m gonna do, and then after six years of service in the Senate for you to be like, Damn, that guy did exactly what he said he was gonna do, right?
I’m perfectly happy to be like, I deeply disagree with you, and you deeply disagree with me, but there is gonna be somebody in that audience who’s listening to what I’m saying, like, “Damn, that guy actually persuaded me. He made some points.” So, this is the thing, I think Democrats sometimes have given up on persuasion. As if, like, you can’t actually change somebody’s mind. And I actually think you can, right?
In fact, I had a guy come up to me. [Conversation reformatted for readability]:
He said, “You know what? I don’t like you.”
“Okay, well, I like you.”
“But I’m gonna vote for you.”
“This is odd, explain.”
“I think you really want me to have health care.”
“I really want you to have health care.”
“And I want health care. So, I’m gonna vote for you. I don’t agree with you on a lot of other things, but I think you’re gonna fight like hell for my health care.”
“Because I am.”
“Got it.”
Turns out you can change minds, huh?
Yeah, it’s not that hard.
Who knew?
LOOSE ENDS
📰 Something you should read today: A surfaced chapter from Charlotte Alter’s book.
🥹 Something to make you smile today: Here’s a video of Trixie Mattel asking about Mitch McConnell during a DJ gig. Allegedly he was just released from the hospital to recover at home. @TMZ ….. summer’s over. Get back to work.
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Go Abdul!!!🎊