It’s one of those questions where a simple “yes” or “no” should suffice: Is there a place for a “Jewish Zionist” in the Democratic Party of 2026? Especially if you’re running to be in the U.S. Senate.
But, alas, this is a difficult question for the Dems this year, especially for Abdul El-Sayed.
The guy is trying to launder his look, to be fair, with an intensity to the washing process that might actually impress Lady Macbeth. Maybe he could get it right.
Unfortunately, even all that laundering hasn’t enabled him to give a simple yes-or-no answer to the question in a sit-down with one of the more El-Sayed-agnostic Michigan Democrats, state Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Nessel made headlines by staying away from the state party convention last month out of concern for her safety — she is, indeed, the “Jewish Zionist” in question — and only confirmed that she was going to vote for the embattled Democratic nominee during a local podcast published Tuesday.
“Yes, I’ll be voting for Abdul,” Nessel said during a recording of “For the Sake of the Argument with Lori Goldman.”
“We have one candidate that I know is going to fight against the Trump administration; who is going to fight to protect both our physical security, our safety, our health, and our futures.”
That’s the one takeaway the media has from the sit-down. Of more interest on this side was a conversation about 44 minutes into the pow-wow, when she asked about the fact that El-Sayed has more than rattled sabers on behalf of anti-Israel, pro-Islamist causes.
“This is the conversation that I need to have with you right now, in that a lot of Jewish Democrats are in this position: Is there space for a Jewish Zionist like myself — is there space for us in the big tent of the Democratic Party?” she asked. “Do we still belong in the Democratic Party? We need to know that.”
El-Sayed’s answer began with one of those “So, look…” qualifiers that indicated that a no-answer filibuster was about to happen. The man didn’t disappoint.
“I believe in a big tent, and I believe that there are Democrats who are going to believe different things about different issues, Israel being one of them,” he began.
“And I am committed to having a tent where we march in lockstep on the 95 percent of things we agree on, and where we continue to have the conversation in that tent about the spaces where we disagree,” he said. “So, yes. And I will also say that it is critical for people to have the belief that, in our democracy; they have the right to advocate for what they believe in peaceably, and without risk of violence, regardless of what it is.
“And we can disagree, but we have that debate in public,” he continued. “But it’s important for us to be able to sustain and realize that when you’re electing a public official, they’re never going to agree with you on everything, and on the things that you agree, if those things are the biggest things, then I hope, right, I hope I can earn your support on those.
“And I know for some people they say, ‘Listen, this is my number one priority. You disagree with me, and I cannot vote for you.’ I respect that, and I understand that’s how democracy works.”
There is a “yes” in there, albeit a heavily qualified yes, with a lot of speechifying around it: Sure, you can be a Jewish Zionist in the Democratic Party, but also, he has the right to disagree with this, and if it’s his number one priority, maybe there isn’t space for you in his coalition, and maybe we go our separate ways. So yes, asterisk. Yes, kinda. Does that answer your question?
Yes, it does: The answer is “no”, dressed up in a “yes.”
Consider that Abdul El-Sayed has made it perfectly clear what his number one priority in this race is, and it’s not tax policy or inflation. Here’s a guy who received, and embraced, former-conservative-turned-whatever-the-heck-he-is Tucker Carlson’s tacit endorsement, and with more zeal than he received and embraced Nessel’s.
If you need to ask what the one issue that El-Sayed and Carlson have in common is, you haven’t been paying attention to either man of late. Here’s a hint: Tucker and Abdul both seem to carry around a not-so-secret obsession with the state of Israel and the subset of people, shall we say, that might live in the parts of Israel not controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
When El-Sayed’s been palling around with Hasan “America Deserved 9/11” Piker on the campaign trail, and the one issue they both seem to have significant overlap on involves the perfidy of Israel, we can also espy that certain causes are nearer and dearer to his heart than others.
The one thing we do know is that El-Sayed thought that winning the primary would be the hard part in a year where the winds are favorable for the Democratic Party. He thought he could fly the Islamist/far-left flag until Election Day. However, Michigan happens to be the one seat currently held by a Democrat that’s in real danger of slipping into Republican hands, in part due to El-Sayed’s radical beliefs and thin governmental resumé.
Ergo, he’s willing to say and do whatever it takes to make him look like a moderate. And even then, he can’t bring himself to give anything but a lengthy “so look…” answer to whether Jewish Zionists belong in the Democratic Party these days. Yeah, we see you, Abdul.
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