{"id":825712,"date":"2026-08-25T21:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/825712\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T21:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:02:22","slug":"abdul-el-sayed-pushes-back-in-fox-news-interview-not-here-to-fight-a-culture-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/825712\/","title":{"rendered":"Abdul El-Sayed pushes back in Fox News interview: \u2018Not here to fight a culture war\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee<\/a> for Senate in Michigan, tangled with Fox News host Jesse Watters in an interview Monday, repeatedly pivoting from \u201cculture war\u201d questions to refocus on affordability in his state. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to bring up all this culture war,\u201d El-Sayed told Watters during the 25-minute interview<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m not here to fight a culture war. I\u2019m here to fight the affordability crisis that people are facing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watters pressed the nominee on several hot-button topics in the combative but largely jovial interview, including whether he supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Shariah, gender reassignment surgery, and whether \u201cmen should play women\u2019s sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the ICE question, El-Sayed painted the agency as brutal and ineffective. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou and I both know that we\u2019ve, long before we ever had ICE, we had INS,\u201d he said, referring to the agency that predated ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. \u201cWe were able to enforce our immigration policies without shooting people in the face and the back of the head. The INS worked a lot better.\u201d <\/p>\n

El-Sayed added that immigration isn\u2019t at the top of Michiganders\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I travel the state, and I have traveled my state, more people are asking me about how they\u2019re going to afford their gas and groceries. They\u2019re not asking me about immigration,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Asked about electric cars, the candidate said the \u201cbigger question\u201d is \u201cwhy the president just started a trade war or escalated a trade war<\/a> with Canada. It\u2019s about to make all of our cars, especially the internal combustion engine cars, so much more expensive.\u201d <\/p>\n

El-Sayed used that same question to advocate for hiking taxes on people making over $100 million. \u201cDo you want to drive on good roads, or would you rather have a billionaire make a second billion? That\u2019s what Mike Rogers<\/a> wants,\u201d he said, referring to his Republican opponent. \u201cThat\u2019s what Donald Trump wants. Apparently, that\u2019s what you want. I think the people in Michigan want something different. They want good roads and good schools.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI just think I have the right to the fruits of my own labor,\u201d Watters responded. <\/p>\n

El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim senator if elected in November, took a more libertarian tack when pushed on religious laws for Muslims and transgender issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, canon law is the name for Christian law,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t begrudge you your right to practice your faith as you choose. I don\u2019t know why the idea that I could practice my faith as I choose is a problem. Nobody is trying to push Shariah law on anyone else. Just like I hope nobody is trying to push canon law on anybody else, because we live in an America where you should have the freedom of your religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue that people are worried about is not that somehow somebody\u2019s going to come and push Shariah law on them,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe issue in Michigan is people are worried about how they\u2019re going to afford their gas. The issue in Michigan is \u2018How am I going to see a doctor when I get sick?\u2019 \u2018How am I going to keep my job?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After a brief exchange on whether El-Sayed thinks the NFL is racist, prompting him to simply complain about high ticket prices, Watters then asked, \u201cSex changes for minors, do you support that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think the government shouldn\u2019t tell you what kind of healthcare you should have,\u201d El-Sayed answered.<\/p>\n

When the news anchor asked if the candidate thinks \u201cit\u2019s OK for a parent to slash his kid\u2019s ding-a-ling off,\u201d he responded, \u201cDo you really want to have this conversation? Are you circumcised?\u201d<\/p>\n

Watters answered in the affirmative and called it a \u201cpersonal question.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a problem that you think that you get to decide what happens between a parent, a doctor and a patient,\u201d El-Sayed said. \u201cI\u2019m just saying that yes, circumcision is surgery on a kid\u2019s ding-a-ling. So if you really want to bring that up, you can. I just think you guys are really selective about these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watters called the response \u201cwacky\u201d and \u201csick stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n

On whether men should \u201cplay women\u2019s sports,\u201d El-Sayed said he thinks that also is not an issue for the government. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, the decision of who gets to play what sports ought to be decided by the people who govern sports,\u201d he responded. \u201cI\u2019m running for U.S. Senate, Jesse. It\u2019s insane. I\u2019m out here trying to take on, like, the healthcare crisis and Big Pharma, and you\u2019re asking me about who gets to play what sports.\u201d <\/p>\n

Watters wrapped up the interview by thanking El-Sayed for coming on and saying he\u2019d be invited back.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou seem a little naive, Abdul. I give you credit for facing the music, but some of the stuff\u2019s just straight-up wacky,\u201d Watters said. \u201cYou know, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s going to fly in Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, tangled with Fox News host Jesse Watters in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-825712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}