Abdul El-Sayed’s Old Terrorism Comments Are Disturbing — Look For Yourself

Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan. A year-old clip of him talking about terrorism is circulating again, and it is not a throwaway line.

Speaking to supporters in July 2025, El-Sayed said the United States should ask why terrorism happens, not only how to crush it. He described the “rules-based international order,” then said America breaks those rules. “That creates a situation where there are a lot of people who look at us and say that’s hypocritical and that’s wrong,” he said. “And I think the best thing we can do is be honest about that.”

He went further. Terrorism, he said, comes from “a level of pain and frustration and a level of lack of agency.” He asked “how is it that we’re behaving that may get somebody to think that we don’t see them, and that’s creating pain?”

He called terrorist acts “heinous.” He also put American conduct at the center of the motive.

That framing is now a campaign problem. El-Sayed is not a back-bench activist. He is the party’s Senate nominee in a swing state. The clip first drew attention from the Washington Free Beacon. After the primary, it came back.

Critics argue the comments excuse political murder by treating it as a response to U.S. policy. Supporters will say he was talking about root causes. The words are on tape either way.

El-Sayed’s associations make the tape harder to dismiss. He has been tied in coverage to left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who has said America “deserved” 9/11. Guilt by association is not proof. In a Senate race, it is a liability.

Michigan is looking at a close race. These remarks are now part of the file.