Vance Predicts El-Sayed Will Lead Detroit Rioters

Vice President JD Vance claimed on Tuesday that Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed would lead rioters in burning down Detroit. Speaking to a crowd in Howell, Michigan, Vance drew a direct line between El-Sayed and the recent unrest in Paris.

Vance described the Paris protests as involving hordes of masked rioters from distant lands taking over historic city centers. He asked the audience to imagine that same scene of destruction happening in the United States. The vice president stated that if those rioters were burning down New York or Detroit, figures like Hasan Piker and El-Sayed would be right there leading them and cheering them on.

The campaign has intensified its focus on El-Sayed’s faith and political associations. President Donald Trump visited Michigan on Sunday and accused El-Sayed of being on the side of terrorists. Trump also repeatedly used El-Sayed’s middle name, Mohamed, while urging the state to stand up and fight against him.

El-Sayed has responded to the attacks by focusing on the cost of living. At a rally this weekend, he said the opposition points at his name and faith to ignore the fact that voters cannot afford gas or groceries and struggle to see a doctor. He noted that if he wins next week’s election, he would become the country’s first Muslim senator.

Researchers have identified this midterm campaign as featuring the most concentrated wave of Islamophobic rhetoric in US electoral politics since the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The protests in France began as student demonstrations against crumbling schools and the soaring cost of living, but Trump allies have recast them as evidence of immigration dangers.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut wrote on X on Tuesday morning that a coordinated campaign is working to delegitimize Muslim Americans as citizens and humans. Murphy criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suggested that 500 million Arabs in the world do not contribute to science or literature. Murphy called the recent attacks a prelude to Republicans bringing the country to a very dark place after the election.