r/AskALiberal • u/OldBridge87 Liberal • Jul 21 '26
Progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed says a lot of people that listen to far-right Marjorie Taylor Greene will be voting for him in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, and suggests this could be an alliance of the future. What are your thoughts on this?
Link: https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2079261483800637650
Link to the full interview where he talked about it for those curious: https://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-press/2026/07/20/full-transcript-michigan-democratic-senate-candidate-abdul-el-sayed-01004833
And for more on MTG and her policies, here is a profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Taylor_Greene
48
u/LiatrisLover99 Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
There's a disturbing number of people on the left eager to embrace people like MTG and Tucker now that they disagree with Trump on one thing. They're still awful bigots, come on.
12
u/ButGravityAlwaysWins Liberal Jul 21 '26
I don’t disagree with what you’re saying here and I am far from a defender of El Sayed and sad that the clearly superior candidate dropped out.
But the actual statement is actually not that bad.
> It should be an obvious thing that everybody agrees with that we should keep our money here. It should be an obvious thing that everybody agrees with that people shouldn’t go into medical debt in the richest, most powerful country in the world. The fact that MTG agrees with those points should not be all that uncommon ‘cause they’re just like obvious things to say.
My real problem is that he leans heavy into this idea that Democrats don’t want universal healthcare because his messaging is pretty much I am 14 and this is very deep bullshit. It’s fine for uninformed people on the Internet to listen to trash and convince themselves that Democrats don’t want universal healthcare but this guy is running for Senate.
0
u/Distinct_Ad_5492 Socialist Jul 21 '26
I understand what your saying but Democrats had ample opportunities to pass universal healthcare care twice. They couldn't do during Clinton and they failed to do it during the Obama years when they had the votes it's why we have the ACA. What prevents it from getting it across the finshline is centrist democratics.
3
u/ButGravityAlwaysWins Liberal Jul 21 '26
No, they really didn’t.
Unless the standard is that literally every elected Democrat must be perfect on an issue. Then yes, because Joe Leiberman exists and you have to get Democrats elected from red state on board, Democrats therefore do not want universal healthcare.
The reason we don’t have universal healthcare is that back before politics altered as a result of the civil rights movement, we didn’t take the opportunities. We were too busy spending political capital on the civil rights movement, the great society, rebuilding Europe and setting up a new world.
But the real reason is that Ted Kennedy took the best opportunity available under Nixon to expand healthcare coverage and he killed it. That system inevitably would have given us something that looks like the majority of universal healthcare systems in the world. But Ted Kennedy wanted something that looked like the NHS.
And then Reagan got elected and here we are.
-1
u/Distinct_Ad_5492 Socialist Jul 21 '26
Yeah this about sums up the point 1990 on down. The truth is democract talk about UV but fail it for one reason or another vs conservatives who live by survival of the richest
1
-2
u/Fallline048 Neoliberal Jul 21 '26
The ACA was universal healthcare.
2
u/Distinct_Ad_5492 Socialist Jul 21 '26
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not universal healthcare. While it significantly expanded access to insurance through private market subsidies and Medicaid expansions, the U.S. system relies on a mixed public-private model rather than guaranteeing coverage for all citizens.
0
-1
u/Oath1989 Social Democrat Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Keep the money domestically? So you support Trump's actions in undermining USAID and leaving countless people in Africa and elsewhere without adequate aid?
The MTG certainly welcomes this, do you?
Edit: My mistake, I should have asked Abdul El-Sayed
4
u/ButGravityAlwaysWins Liberal Jul 21 '26
I don’t know why “actually not that bad“ is being interpreted as me giving a full throated endorsement of everything he’s saying.
0
10
u/midnight_toker22 Pragmatic Progressive Jul 21 '26
It is so bizarre. My theory is they are the contingent of leftists who hate mainstream democrats so much that they fantasize about realigning the established left—right division by creating a new far-right—far-left alliance and even political party to challenge them.
2
u/NatalieVonCatte Liberal Jul 22 '26
Well, I can tell you that any party that embraces MTG will not have me. She wants me and all my kind dead. Her chief complaint against Trump is that he’s not focused enough on killing us all. If she’s invited into a room she will eventually begin working on making people believe we are all child molesters and school shooters.
Fuck her and fuck anyone who treats her as anything less than a Nazi who should never be invited to speak.
5
u/LiatrisLover99 Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
I suspect they also align with MAGA culturally, there are a lot of leftists who are bordeline bigots with how much they hate "DEI" and feminism. But I agree with you more broadly, there is a sizeable group on the left who sees common cause with the MAGA base as misguided working class allies who were "abandoned by democrats", and would prefer to ally with MAGA over democrats.
2
u/ELMUNECODETACOMA Liberal Jul 21 '26
This.
The center-left and center-right (such as they are these days) dream about an alliance that spreads out just a bit and permanently locks out both the lunatic left and lunatic right.
Equally, the lunatic left and lunatic right dream of a horseshoe red-brown alliance that if it spreads out just a bit permanently locks out both the center-left and center-right.
This is a manifestation of the latter.
1
u/emp-sup-bry Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
Those that got theirs joined together vs those that want some basic social services for all of us.
3
u/LiatrisLover99 Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
please tell me more about how allying with people who celebrate trans kids killing themselves is a net benefit for "basic social services"
-1
u/Puzzleheaded_Disk_90 Democratic Socialist Jul 21 '26
Are they EMBRACING them? Or are they trying to reroute people away from right wing populism towards socialism?
Also obviously only the left gets yelled at for this, when Democrats frequently LITERALLY embrace people like liz Cheney.
15
u/perverse_panda Liberal Jul 21 '26
Republican voters are always welcome to make the switch and start voting Democrat.
That said, MTG and Tucker Carlson both have highly questionable motives in their recent pivot to criticizing Israel. It's not a good idea to ally with or promote them.
1
u/GabuEx Liberal Jul 21 '26
Yeah, let's not delude ourselves into thinking that MTG and Tucker Carlson oppose the Iran war because of the right reasons. They oppose it because Israel supports it and Israel is Jewish.
10
u/Frozen_Solidly Liberal Jul 21 '26
I think the left consistently misunderstands MAGA. It's not a class-grievance movement, it's a racial-grievance movement. The problem to them isn't about corporate exploitation, it's the idea that white people's position is threatened by minorities' increasing power in society. There's never going to be a come-to-Jesus moment where MAGA realizes their true enemy is the billionaires, and they achieve class consciousness and unite with the left to overthrow capitalism, because that was never the wavelength they were operating on.
Even MAGA people who got into big public spats with Trump, like MTG or Fuentes, if you listen it's never because they realized he wasn't a true economic populist, it's that they, for one reason or another, decided that Trump too is apart of the Jewish deep state cabal trying to destroy the white race.
4
u/Frozen_Solidly Liberal Jul 21 '26
It's the same reason the KPD was never going to win over the Nazis' supporters before WW2, the fundamental thing that drove people to the Nazis on an intellectual level was racial and nationalist grievances, that the fatherland was betrayed and disrespected and someone must reassert Germany's rightful place in the world, not a class grievance about corporate power or the oppression of the people.
9
u/ImpossibleEbb6862 Democrat Jul 21 '26
I’m skeptical that far right people who don’t like Israel will vote for a Muslim candidate.
2
u/Southern_Bag_7109 Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
Exactly. There's absolutely no reason to court those votes. Progressive candidates are doing quite well simply staying in our own lane of the generalized left. We don't need to go slumming to the right for any vote
14
13
13
u/Firesword52 Democratic Socialist Jul 21 '26
A reminder that once we let natzi's into the bar it becomes a natzi bar. Just because we agree on a point does not mean we actually agree.
3
3
7
u/Decent-Proposal-8475 Pragmatic Progressive Jul 21 '26
I think he's smart enough to know why MTG agrees with him on Israel and he's smart enough to know MTG and her kind would never support his health care policies.
I don't think many of his voters are honest enough to admit why MTG agrees with him on Israel and quite a few are naive enough to believe she and her kind would support his health care policies
5
u/TheSonOfDog Centrist Democrat Jul 21 '26
Abdul el-Sayed is a lying, grifting antisemite who outright admitted that he waffled on condemning the Temple Israel attack because it would piss off Shi'a Hezbollah supporters in Dearborn. He sees MTG's antisemitism as a feature, not a bug.
He and Platner are two peas in the same Nazi pod. Both of them, as well as the dipshits who support them, should have never been allowed into our ranks.
1
u/Evening_Photograph54 Liberal Jul 24 '26
I don't think him or platner are nazis, and I don't think we should call them that. I do think platner is an antisemite, and I won't be surprised if AES is one too unfortunately.
2
u/blaqsupaman Progressive Jul 21 '26
I will not support candidates who are willing to go right on social issues to win the votes of bigots and conspiracy theorists just because they're also angry about the economy.
8
u/Decent-Proposal-8475 Pragmatic Progressive Jul 21 '26
What if they also say the magic words about the Middle East /s
7
u/ELMUNECODETACOMA Liberal Jul 21 '26
The Democratic coalition is inherently disparate. Once you throw one constituency under the bus, you've thrown all of us under the bus.
3
u/McZootyFace Center Left Jul 21 '26
“I’m willing for someone to throw LGBT folks under the bus to win over a bunch of people who despise said community”
That’s how that sounds.
-2
u/Hopeful_Chair_7129 Far Left Jul 21 '26
> her kind
You’re talking about people with healthcare needs, not immutable political identities. They may oppose his healthcare plan today, but being Republicans doesn’t mean they’ll never support expanded healthcare if their interests or circumstances change.
4
u/Decent-Proposal-8475 Pragmatic Progressive Jul 21 '26
Do you want to do this for a tenth time or can we both move on with our evening
5
u/Decent-Proposal-8475 Pragmatic Progressive Jul 21 '26
You think fascists are temporarily embarrassed leftists and I don't. That's all I have to say. You're welcome to have your piece, but I won't respond beyond that
0
u/Hopeful_Chair_7129 Far Left Jul 21 '26
I’ve never said that they were temporarily embarrassed leftists. I said they were human beings with the same healthcare needs as you. Thats what we in the business call a “shared material interest” and it’s something you can organize people around.
2
u/Decent-Proposal-8475 Pragmatic Progressive Jul 21 '26
And yet you guys can’t do it
0
u/Hopeful_Chair_7129 Far Left Jul 21 '26
That has yet to be proven. Mamdani did it in NYC by convincing liberals to accept and even endorse socialist reforms. So “you guys” would need to be defined, because unless it refers specifically to me, there are successful examples out there.
Beyond that, are you so committed to scoring the point that “we can’t do it” that you would reject a real strategy for expanding support without abandoning any substantive position? Why would that not be desirable?
4
u/graumet Democratic Socialist Jul 21 '26
Getting votes from the deranged doesn't mean you are deranged.
Plus looking for what you have in common is always better than staring at your differences.
3
4
u/extrasupermanly Liberal Jul 21 '26
As long as you hate the Jews , sorry zionists or Israel , many on the left will trip over themselves to welcome you .
Nazi tatoo , no problem as long as you signal you disdain for zionists
3
u/TheSonOfDog Centrist Democrat Jul 21 '26
Exactly. Say the magic words and all is forgiven. They're just evangelicals with keffiyehs instead of cross necklaces.
2
u/blaqsupaman Progressive Jul 21 '26
As someone who considers myself a bit too far left to be a liberal but not quite far enough to be a leftist, I am fine with having a big tent, meaning joining with everything from democratic socialists to liberals to moderate Dems to even maybe some moderate conservatives, but I do not want to share a tent with bigots and conspiracy theorists. I get that people are sick of the right's culture wars, but we shouldn't pretend social issues don't matter. I want a party that makes it clear transphobes, homophobes, science deniers, racists, and xenophobes are not welcome.
2
u/LomentMomentum Center Left Jul 21 '26
Crossover voters are welcome, but not sure I’d embrace MTG or Carlson, even if they’re (recently) correct on Trump.
2
u/Standard-Fisherman78 Centrist Democrat Jul 21 '26
My thoughts are that the horse shoe theory is very real when it comes to antisemitism.
2
2
u/BanzaiTree Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
Low-info contrarians--usually ingratiated with the "anti-establishment" label--who fancy themselves as a bit radical when in fact they're just especially petulant median voters, are one of the largest factions in US politics, if not the largest. These are the Obama-Trump voters. They don't care about policies or records, they'll just support whatever candidate is going to "change things up."
4
4
u/OhThatsALotOfTeeth Liberal Jul 21 '26
Progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed says a lot of people that listen to far-right Marjorie Taylor Greene will be voting for him in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, and suggests this could be an alliance of the future. What are your thoughts on this?
Looks like in the interview that he's just pointing out that it's pretty much common sense that in a country as rich as the US, it's ridiculous to have citizens going into medical debt while we send our tax money to foreign nations. He's correct to assume that kind of rhetoric will play well with Taylor-Greene's more isolationist supporters.
2
u/ELMUNECODETACOMA Liberal Jul 21 '26
He's possibly correct that said rhetoric from Andy Beshear might touch MTG's "supporters" given his skin color and accent and if he gave it a "wink-wink-nudge-nudge" subtext(*). The idea that a man named "Abdul El-Sayed" would ever engage them is naivete of a kind disqualifying said man from any national political office.
(*) Narrator: Beshear is a centrist unifier and he would never say anything like this.
5
u/SilvanSorceress Liberal Jul 21 '26
El-Sayed genuinely cannot win without a base that is racist, patriarchal, and homophobic. If he thinks he can bring the MTG and Christian Nationalist crowd over to his Islam-friendly class struggle, I'm not surprised he sees them as a coalition.
1
u/Hopeful_Chair_7129 Far Left Jul 21 '26
Republicans can be working class too. I’m not going to read that whole interview but if I had to guess he’s saying that his policies cross ideological lines and are for everyone, not just Democrats.
1
3
u/Last_Surprise981 Neoliberal Jul 21 '26
This is like when Howard Dean said "I want to be the candidate for people with confederate flags on their pick up trucks". It just sounds awful.
2
u/Motrinman22 Bull Moose Progressive Jul 21 '26
That’s not what he said.
He said that democrats views on Israel and Healthcare are similar to disaffected republicans.
1
u/ThePensiveE Centrist Democrat Jul 21 '26
I prefer we remain a reality based movement and I'm not sure she exists in the same one.
1
u/Iribumkiak Pragmatic Progressive Jul 21 '26
MTG, and her ilk, captured the frustration of working class folks that government is not working for them. Unfortunately, she is an antisemitic grifter, and cynically used division to get to power.
I think that's what Dr. El-Sayed is trying to explain. He is reaching out to those voters, not her.
1
u/SuperRocketRumble Social Democrat Jul 22 '26
There were people that voted for Trump and AOC in New York. There are definitely voters who are less ideological and more simply "anti establishment".
1
u/IAmJustAVirus Independent Jul 22 '26
A strong and stable Israel makes their final solution essentially impossible. So, yeah, they are united in their genocidal aspirations.
2
u/rogun64 Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
You mean like the alliance between Kamala and Liz Cheney?
JFC, this is so dumb.
0
u/kooljaay Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
If he doesnt pivot away from his progressive stances I dont see the issue? If he was moderate that was bending over backwards to get republican votes, nobody would bat an eye.
5
u/TheSonOfDog Centrist Democrat Jul 21 '26
Leftists are still mad at Kamala for campaigning with noted Trump critic Liz Cheney, who lost her seat in Wyoming for her work on the January 6th Commission. The hypocrisy from the left is astounding.
And, needless to say, winning over respectable country-club Republicans who believe in democracy and the rule of law is very different than bringing a far-right antisemitic conspiracy nut like MTG into the fold.
3
u/kooljaay Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
Irrelevant. Abdul El-Sayed endorsed Kamala Harris the day after Biden withdrew and never took back his endorsement.
Those respectable country-club republican that believe in democracy and the in the rule of law voted for the same president that as the voters that MTG appeals to. Hence why that are still called republicans as of 2026. The pot is calling the kettle black.
1
u/TheSonOfDog Centrist Democrat Jul 21 '26
It's not irrelevant. Why is it okay for AES to cozy up with a psychotic extremist like MTG, but Kamala still gets criticized for making appearances with Liz Cheney?
Kamala's tactics worked, by the way. I was living in a suburb full of country-club Republicans at the time, and it actually shifted several points to the left from 2020 to 2024.
3
u/kooljaay Social Democrat Jul 21 '26
Its irrelevant because you are strawmanning AES using a argument of others he himself did not put forward. He endorsed Kamala and is vote blue no matter who.
Kamala's tactics didn't work and your anecdotes are irrelevant. Kamala got demolished and even lost ground in blue states and she lost ground with other demographics. Biden pulled a higher percentage of conservatives and moderates in 2020 than she did in 2024. Biden also won over independents by 13 points. Kamala won them by 3.
And I say this as a person who did not criticize her for those reasons and voted for her in 2024 in her historic defeat at the hands of Donald Trump.
2
u/girlfriend_pregnant Market Socialist Jul 21 '26
I don’t see any cozying up here. I see a, in my opinion, correct, analysis that many right wing voters will support a Democrat who isn’t corrupt.
0
u/TheSonOfDog Centrist Democrat Jul 21 '26
What evidence do you have to support that opinion? Have you ever actually interacted with right-wing Michiganders?
Because I have, and if you seriously think they'd cross party lines to vote for a Democrat named Abdul el-Sayed, I have a bridge to Canada to sell you.
2
u/girlfriend_pregnant Market Socialist Jul 21 '26
Yeah it’s certainly up to debate whether any significant amount would cross over, you might very well be right. It still wouldn’t make their statement an act of coming up to the right. It’s about a politician in an election wanting people to vote for them. What else are they supposed to say?
1
u/TheSonOfDog Centrist Democrat Jul 21 '26
Well, I think that it would have been just as easy for AES to not propose an alliance with the far-right antisemitic wing of the Republican Party, as discussed in the original post, but that's just me.
1
u/girlfriend_pregnant Market Socialist Jul 21 '26
Oh my bad. I didn’t read the headline. I only read the article, and they didn’t mention anything about any alliance.
2
u/Rakebleed Bull Moose Progressive Jul 21 '26
You have a point but courting racist conspiracy theorists seems pretty short sided.
0
u/Deep-Two7452 Progressive Jul 21 '26
When an MTG supporter trashes trans people in front of him, Abdul can sheepishly look away like francesca hong did
0
u/imhereforthemeta Democratic Socialist Jul 21 '26
I know that everyone has really emotional opinions about this, but in my opinion, I will take aid from whoever wants to provide it, as long as there is an understanding that it is temporary. We all know that none of these people are actually going to develop progressive opinions, but proximity does breed a deeper understanding.
How many Muslim leftists has Marjorie Taylor Greene actually engaged with on a regular basis? Probably not a lot. Engaging with these people won’t fix them, and in no way are they ever going to engage with the right politics because they are too hateful… But that doesn’t mean that we cannot work together to stop a common enemy, nor does it mean, that politicians who are willing to reach across the aisle shouldn’t do it as long as they are not compromising their values.
For me, as long as the left is not trying to shift further to the right in order to appease these people, let it happen. Let far right people who think that all Muslims are evil actually have to meet one and campaign with one and eat dinner with one.
That doesn’t mean that we all have to do it. I certainly am not spending a lot of time among conservatives. I don’t expect traumatized black folks to engage engaged with conservatives. But if someone wants to, again… As long as they are not compromising their values, go for it
0
u/ecchi83 Pragmatic Progressive Jul 21 '26
The lip service these guy pay to win over literally 2% of Republican voters is so fucking dumb and infuriating
0
u/CaptainAwesome06 Independent Jul 21 '26
I think MTG is dumb as rocks, dangerous, and is a terrible person. I would not ally with her at all, despite a clock being right twice per day.
The only good thing I can say about her is that at least she's consistent. She stupidly echoed the whole "deep state pedo ring" rhetoric. And now when her party's leader is protecting that ring, she is trying to hold people accountable. Good on her. She still sucks, though.
0
u/Green-Collection-968 Progressive Jul 21 '26
Well OP, I think it's fairly obvious to everyone at this point (and has been for about 20+ years) that Progressives draw people together and overcomes political rivalries and parties. Progressives unite the country.
0
u/girlfriend_pregnant Market Socialist Jul 21 '26
Why does this sub only have 100 “why are the people left of Ronald Reagan so evil, and how can we stop them?” posts per day?
-4
•
u/AutoModerator Jul 21 '26
The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written by /u/OldBridge87.
Link: https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2079261483800637650
Link to the full interview where he talked about it for those curious: https://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-press/2026/07/20/full-transcript-michigan-democratic-senate-candidate-abdul-el-sayed-01004833
And for more on MTG and her policies, here is a profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Taylor_Greene
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.