President Donald Trump tore into Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed during a fiery speech, bluntly declaring that the progressive candidate was “full of s—.” Trump expanded his attack into a warning about socialism, communism, and what he described as the Democratic Party’s hard leftward turn. He also hammered congressional Democrats over taxes, border security, and election laws. The president finished by urging Senate Republicans to recognize what they’re facing in November and act tougher.
Trump delivered the remarks on Wednesday, August 5th, at the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas. His speech came hours after El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary by less than one percentage point. El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers in November for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters. The closely watched race could help determine which party controls the Senate next year.
Trump began the portion of his speech by zeroing in on El-Sayed personally. “When I watch Abdul, he’s full of s—,” the president said, drawing a loud response from the crowd. Trump recalled the remarks he made during a previous State of the Union address that the United States would never become a socialist country. He argued that the current Democratic Party had since moved even further to the left.
“What I didn’t say is what they’re trying to do. They want to skip socialism. They want to go right down to the bottom of the barrel. That’s communism,” Trump said in the video. “They want it to be a communist country. We’re not letting them have it as a communist country. Not even for a minute. Not even for a minute.”
Trump vowed that his administration and its supporters would confront what he characterized as the country’s far-left political movement head-on. “Together, we will defeat communism, socialism, and Marxism in America once and for all,” he told the audience. Trump argued that communism inevitably collapses but often takes many people with it before doing so. “It’s defeated. It’s going to go down. It always goes down, but sometimes it takes a lot of people with it. It takes too long. You got to nip it in the bud,” he said.
The president shifted from El-Sayed to Democrats serving in Congress, accusing them of claiming to represent workers while opposing his agenda. “The Dumocrat communists in Congress claim to stand for working people, but every single one voted against our tax cuts,” Trump said. He added that Democrats voted against securing the border and wanted open borders. Trump also warned that the party wants to raise taxes to levels Americans have never previously faced.
Watch Trump unload on El-Sayed and congressional Democrats here:
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Trump contrasted the Democrats’ current tax message with the promises he had heard from politicians throughout his life. He recalled that candidates from both parties traditionally campaigned by promising tax cuts, even when he believed they had no intention of delivering them. “These guys say, ‘We will raise your taxes.’ They’d say, ‘We’re going to raise your taxes,’” Trump said. “I never heard of anything, and then they actually get votes. The whole thing is crazy.”
Trump pointed to several tax provisions promoted by his administration under the labels “no tax on tips,” “no tax on overtime,” and “no tax on Social Security.” He emphasized that congressional Democrats remained completely unified against those measures, telling the crowd, “But when I say voted against, 100 percent.” Trump also accused Democratic politicians of opposing voter identification and proof-of-citizenship requirements because he said those requirements would cost them support.
“I’m trying to explain that to Republicans, but some of them don’t quite understand it,” he said. “They don’t know how crooked these people are. I’ve dealt with a lot of crooked people in my life. They don’t know how bad these people are. We got to get the Republicans to be tougher, especially in the Senate.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.