President Donald Trump aimed the closing argument of his midterm campaign directly at three Muslim Democratic politicians on Monday night, using Sen. Roger Marshall's rally in Park City, Kansas, to attack Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — and to tell the crowd exactly what he says is at stake on November 3.
“Americans are going to stand up and declare that we will defend our culture, we will protect our civilization, we will preserve our religion, our values and our heritage.”
The Guardian's live coverage of the rally at the Heartland Credit Union Arena reported that the president lobbed his attacks on El-Sayed, Omar and Tlaib as the centerpiece of his closing midterm message. When Tlaib's name was mentioned, members of the crowd yelled: “Deport her!” Trump pointed to the violent unrest in France as the warning behind the message, saying France had been “conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists,” and adding: “When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France, just remember that is what the radical Dumocrats want to do to America.”
El-Sayed drew the sharpest attack of the night. Trump called the Michigan Democrat “an arrogant guy” and “a fake doctor,” pointing to the fact that El-Sayed does not hold a medical license and has never practiced as a licensed physician, and said El-Sayed has family members who identify with the Muslim Brotherhood. Then came the warning about what an El-Sayed victory would mean in the Senate: “How would you like to have him on the intelligence committee, leaking, leaking, leaking, leaking?” Trump asked.
Trump put the same message in writing the same evening. “The Dumocrats are the Party of Abdul Mohammed al-Sayed, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, A.O.C., James TalaFREAKO, Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren, Maxine Waters, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi,” he posted. “In 15 days, we are going to re-elect Roger Marshall, and DEFEAT the Communists, Jihadists, and corrupt anti-American Lunatics once and for all!”
Critics answered in familiar terms. Civil rights groups say rhetoric of this kind normalizes discriminatory attitudes toward the communities it targets, and rights advocates have repeatedly criticized the president for targeting and mocking immigrants and ethnic minority groups. El-Sayed, answering similar attacks on his name and faith at an event in Grand Rapids last week, told supporters: “They point to my name and they point to my faith, trying to distract us from the challenges that we have. My name did not raise your gas prices. My faith is not the reason you can't afford your groceries.” Omar, responding to Trump's attacks earlier this month, wrote: “For 10 years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”
The speech ran more than 90 minutes and opened a seven-state closing sprint, with the president urging the crowd to “pretend I'm on the ballot” to drive turnout in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 94 years and that Trump won by 16 points in 2024. With 15 days to the midterms, his closing message is set — culture, borders and turnout. “We're not going to let that happen to this country,” he said. “We will never let our nation be conquered or destroyed by people who hate us.”