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Abdul El-Sayed defends bullying rhetoric in Major Garrett interview

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Michigan Senate Democratic candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed doubled down on some of his controversial statements during Monday’s interview.

El-Sayed, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for a Michigan Senate seat in 2026, recently deleted some of his past comments on social media about defunding the police. He also faced controversy for responding to an attack on a synagogue in March by saying: “hurting people hurting people“

Far-left politicians’ rhetoric that references violence, even in metaphor, has come under intense scrutiny in recent years following the assassination attempts against President Donald Trump and the murder of TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk.

During Monday’s interview, CBS host Major Garrett noted: “Michelle Obama had a saying: ‘As they go down, we go up.’ You have a variation on this. What is it?”

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Although Abdul El-Sayed has erased some of his past statements, he has doubled down on his belligerent language about Republican opposition. (Monica Morgan/Getty Images)

“Listen, I have deep respect for the First Lady,” El-Sayed began. “I think Democrats need to acknowledge that, though, and I learned that the hard way, as a kid in school named Abdul, that if you let them take your lunch, guess what, you don’t get lunch. I want to eat lunch, too. I want everyone to have lunch. So if they try to come and bully us, don’t be surprised when we fight back. I’m not going to start the fight, but I’m going to finish it.”

“I heard you say, ‘When they come down, we smother them,'” Garrett said.

This appears to be a reference to a famous moment when El-Sayed said during a rally: “We don’t go up when they’re low. We drive them into the mud and drown them.”

“So it’s their choice to go low,” Garrett said. “Don’t come down. I’m just saying.”

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Abdul El-Sayed (R) answers a question as communications director Roxie Richner (C) watches during a press conference at the Michigan Democratic Party State Endorsement Convention in Detroit on April 19, 2026. (Jose Juarez/AP Photo)

Garrett also pressed him during the interview that his campaign with far-left winger Hasan Piker will inevitably be an issue for his opponents to target him as well.

El-Sayed replied, “Major, I’m hanging out with you. I don’t know everything you said. I’m sure you said some things I didn’t agree with. You said some things I agreed with.” “It tends to happen in the real world. We hold people accountable for what they say, not what someone around them says. And it’s this funny, acquired game that Democrats like to play and Republicans like to play, where I think people get sick and tired of politics.”

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