Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Thursday mocked Vice President JD Vance and his Republican rival Mike Rogers with a pair of new monikers.
Appearing on MS NOW’s “The Beat,” El-Sayed was shown a montage by anchor Ari Melber of national Republicans attacking him, including a clip of Vance.
“Low-T JD. It’s always funny, man. He just brings the energy down every time you hear him talk,” El-Sayed fired back.
The “low-T JD” nickname flipped a line of attack increasingly used by Republicans and MAGA-aligned figures against Democratic men to portray them as weak.
El-Sayed argued that the attacks on him from national Republicans are simply an attempt “to distract you from the issues at hand.”
He added, “They want to talk about me and my name as if me and my name are causing the problems. They are not. The problems are in fact caused by their boss, Donald Trump, who they cannot deviate from because, of course, he rules their party with an iron fist.”
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El-Sayed reeled off issues he said Republicans would rather avoid discussing ahead of next month’s midterm elections, including gas and grocery prices, as well as the Trump family’s business dealings.
“Instead, they want to point to me, and they think that that distraction is going to last long enough,” he said. “The reality is, when they point to me, all I will be talking about is getting money out of politics, put money in your pocket, passing Medicare for All. And I think people like that message. So, I think it’s backfiring.”
Melber returned to El-Sayed’s “low T JD” dig at Vance, noting that the Democrat has also called opponent Rogers a “beta.”
“What are you doing there? Are you saying they are literally less manly or they have less manly policies?” Melber asked.
“That’s between them and the people around them. I’m just saying that they like to lead on strength, but I don’t see much strength there,” El-Sayed replied.
“Strength is about being able to stand up to the problem. The problem is Donald Trump, and you don’t see much standing up to Donald Trump,” he continued. “Strength is not about punching down. Strength is about being willing to step up and fight on the issues that matter.”
Republicans “want to parade around like they’re some kind of strong, but they are so meek and so weak,” he continued, before unveiling his second nickname of the interview.
“Mike Rogers, ‘Meek’ Rogers,” he said, “doesn’t really want to say anything in response to Donald Trump’s ridiculous policies that the 10 million people in this state whose votes he’s asking for are suffering under.”