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AMY GOODMAN: We are less than two weeks away from the November 3rd midterm elections that’ll determine control of Congress. To win the Senate, Democrats need to flip four Republican seats and hold three of their own, including Michigan, one of the most closely watched races. Democrat Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers are in a tight race for an open seat. El-Sayed is a former public health official who’s campaigning on a platform of Medicare for All, ending military aid to Israel, and getting corporate money out of politics. Rogers is a former Republican congressmember backed by President Trump.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has plans to quietly give up to $9 million to a super PAC supporting Mike Rogers. The money started being given after October 14th, which meant the money will not need to be disclosed until after the election.
On Wednesday, the Senate candidates in Michigan met in their final debate. Dr. El-Sayed criticized Rogers’ connection to AIPAC and his support for the war on Iran.
DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED: He’s still cheerleading the war that you are paying for, a war we never should have fought in the first place. You send this man to the U.S. Senate, do not be surprised when we fight more wars, we accrue more national debt, and he does not stand up for you for the price of your gas or the price of your groceries. Why? He’s bought off by the same weapons manufacturers. AIPAC, we just heard, is going to put, what, $9 million into his campaign in the next two weeks alone? Well, that’s what you get when you have an AIPAC-backed politician.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: The New York Times broke the news about AIPAC’s plans to spend $9 million to help Rogers on the same day that AIPAC announced that it will stop endorsing candidates or making direct contributions through its PAC, but it confirmed it will continue influencing elections through its super PAC, United Democracy Project, and other fundraising tools. During the Democratic primary, AIPAC’s super PAC spent more than $30 million in an unsuccessful effort to defeat El-Sayed. The New York Times reports AIPAC decided to spend heavily to help Mike Rogers, after he welcomed AIPAC’s support when asked this question by the moderator during their first debate.
RICK ALBIN: Congressman Rogers, Axios reported that your allies asked AIPAC not to advertise on your behalf, and Axios also reported that you talked with the chair of AIPAC, and the next day they discontinued an ad on your behalf. Do you welcome AIPAC’s public support, given that you do support many pro-Israeli positions? You have 60 seconds.
MIKE ROGERS: Anybody that wants to help my campaign stop a guy who can’t condemn terrorism in our own country because he’s so close to the people who are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood —
DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED: Again, I’ve condemned them.
MIKE ROGERS: — you bet, I’ll take all of that help.
AMY GOODMAN: During Wednesday’s debate in Michigan, Republican Mike Rogers again claimed, without evidence, that Abdul El-Sayed had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Dr. El-Sayed has repeatedly denied the claim and denounced the accusation as Islamophobic. If elected, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate. During last night’s debate, he responded to Rogers’ attack.
DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED: He keeps raising this question about this association with an organization I’ve never been a part of, because my mom, who’s a nurse in Missouri? It doesn’t make any sense, and it’s actually really quite beneath you, Mike. It’s really quite beneath you. … I am proud of America. I’m proud to be an American. I’m proud of our Constitution, that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined right now by Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo, also the executive producer of the new Zeteo documentary Night Flower: Inside AIPAC’s Fight for Influence.
We’ll talk more about the documentary in a minute, but, Mehdi, I want to begin in Michigan. You just heard the lede. We’re less than two weeks away from the midterm elections. AIPAC spent over $30 million in an attempt to defeat El-Sayed in the primary. They didn’t succeed. If you can talk about the latest news out of Michigan and the significance of this race for the country and the attacks on El-Sayed by his opponent?
MEHDI HASAN: Thank you, Amy.
A massively significant race, consequential for both sides. Both sides have a lot riding on this race, because if Abdul El-Sayed wins, it will be a reminder that the left can win in a swing state like Michigan, not just in a blue city like New York City or a blue district in Colorado or whatever it is. And it will be actually a moment to say, “You know what? Americans rejected Islamophobia,” brazen Islamophobia, from the president of the United States downwards, who refuses to call Abdul El-Sayed by his name, calls him a jihadist.
So, it’s a major moment, I think, if he wins, especially going up against AIPAC money. He’ll be going up against AIPAC money, the president of the United States, unconstrained Islamophobia and members of his own party. I mean, the former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party is not voting for him. So, there’s a real — there’s a real challenge here for the left, in particular, and for people of Muslim faith in this country, that this race means a lot. And, of course, for the Democratic Party, they really need Michigan, ideally, to take back the Senate.
And then, of course, for Republicans, it’s a major move, because, you know, Donald Trump is already dragging down all their candidates. Mike Rogers was pretending to be this moderate candidate in Michigan, and he can’t seem to seal the deal a second time round. He lost to Elissa Slotkin narrowly in 2024, and now he’s trying again. But his campaign is nothing but bigotry. So, it’s a really existential moment.
If Abdul El-Sayed loses, by the way, people in the Democratic Party — forget the Republicans — people in the Democratic Party will say, Amy, “Look, we tried the left’s way. We tried a candidate who supports Medicare for All. We tried a candidate who opposes arms to Israel. We tried a diverse Muslim candidate. Didn’t work. We’re not going to do that again.” So, there’s a lot riding on this race.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Mehdi, could you also explain this super PAC, United —
MEHDI HASAN: Yeah.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: — Democracy Project, and what role it’s been playing so far in these weeks leading up to the midterms?
MEHDI HASAN: So, the UDP, the United Democracy Project, is AIPAC’s super PAC. And just to be clear to people, historically, AIPAC didn’t have a super PAC. They only brought this up a few years ago to directly inject dark money into campaigns like Haley Stevens’s primary campaign against Abdul El-Sayed, where they spent around $30 million. Over the course of this cycle, I believe the UDP has spent anywhere between $80 million and $100 million, is my understanding. It’s one of the big spending super PACs by issue.
What’s interesting about the United Democracy Project is twofold. Number one, it’s funded by a lot of Republican billionaires. So, when it interferes in Democratic primaries, when it backs Democratic candidates, moderate types against leftists, that’s Republican money injected into a Democratic primary. It’s why Bernie Sanders, among others, has said the Democratic Party should ban AIPAC from taking — you know, ban candidates from taking money from AIPAC in Democratic primaries.
The other really interesting point about the United Democracy Project, and this is why we made the film about AIPAC, is AIPAC is super unpopular. It’s super toxic. Israel is super unpopular, super toxic in American political discourse for the first time. And so, when you watch United Democracy Project attack ads, Nermeen, they don’t mention Israel. They will attack a candidate like Abdul El-Sayed. They’ll say, “Oh, he’s not loyal to the Democratic Party,” or he’s this, or he’s that. They don’t actually mention Israel. What have you got to hide? Why wouldn’t you mention Israel? Because they don’t even run on their own issue. They keep that quiet, because they operate in the dark. They operate in the shadows, which is why we called our film Night Flower.
AMY GOODMAN: And we’re going to talk about that film in just a minute, Mehdi, but I want to ask about the Trump administration’s targeting of Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar.
MEHDI HASAN: Oh, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that Omar could go to jail. His comments come days after Homeland Security federal agents raided her home in D.C. as part of Trump’s efforts to strip Omar of U.S. citizenship and deport her. She came here as a child. The Trump administration has claimed, without evidence, she committed immigration fraud in her naturalization process.
MEHDI HASAN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: This is President Trump.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, she could be. She could also go to jail. She could also go to jail. You know, they keep talking about deportation. No, she could go to jail. This is just my opinion. I think she’s a sick and very dishonest person, but — who hates our country. And she comes from a country that is essentially not even a country, Somalia. It’s a real [bleep]house.
AMY GOODMAN: He originally said that he had nothing to do with the raid on her home.
MEHDI HASAN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: But if you can talk about the significance —
MEHDI HASAN: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: — of this moment?
MEHDI HASAN: So, before I get into the Ilhan Omar raid, notice what he said there at the end. He said it’s effectively not a country, Somalia. He’s been on racist diatribes against Somalia for many months now, calling Somalis “low-IQ,” calling Somalis “garbage” and “crooks,” just basically neo-Nazi rhetoric. And I would note that our media goes crazy if you question Israel’s right to exist, and yet the president of the United States says an entire African country doesn’t exist as a country. No outrage from our media. I just want to put that out there.
In terms of the Ilhan Omar raid and Donald Trump, Donald Trump has only two skills in life, Amy, only two things he does well. Number one, he’s an authoritarian. He knows how to be authoritarian. He’s a wannabe dictator. And therefore, when he goes after his enemies — he warned people. He said, “I will be vengeant. I will take retribution.” And he’s doing it. It’s one of the few campaign pledges he’s keeping to. He’s gone after many of his opponents. He arrested Don Lemon. He’s targeted people like Tish James. And now he’s raided the home, via his DHS, of Ilhan Omar, who he’s been obsessed with for many, many years — a clearly authoritarian move. Immigration fraud, what a load of nonsense. There’s reporting that the Trump administration, in term one, looked into Ilhan Omar’s naturalization as a teenager and couldn’t find any evidence against her. So this is purely a fishing expedition. This is purely what even the right-wing media is calling “dumpster diving,” looking for stuff they can try and pin on her. And, of course, it’s intimidation: “Watch out! This is what the federal government can do to a member of Congress.” That’s number one, authoritarianism.
And number two, what he’s great at is accusing everyone else of what he’s guilty of. Right? So, when he says, “Oh, she’s going to go to prison,” well, actually, the person who should have gone to prison is the man who was convicted of multiple felonies, Donald J. Trump, in New York City; the man who was indicted for multiple felonies in multiple states, which conveniently went away when he ran for president and was elected president; the man who was found liable for sexual abuse in a civil trial in New York. You know, this man is a criminal, and yet he’s accusing everyone else of being a criminal.
As for immigration fraud, Elon Musk’s brother — the top donor to the Republican Party in this cycle — is on record, on video, saying, “My brother and I came here as illegal immigrants.” Right? That’s what Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal has said on tape. Melania Trump, in 2016, was asked how she got her Einstein visa, and did she work on a visa she wasn’t supposed to work on before she got that Einstein visa. She said she would give us a press conference to clarify her immigration status in two weeks. Amy, it’s been 10 years. No sign of that press conference.
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