Trump leans into Islamophobic rhetoric at Michigan rally

Key Points:

• President Donald Trump used Islamophobic language during a rally in Michigan, labeling Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed as a “jihadist” and “Muslim Brotherhood member,” while praising GOP candidate Mike Rogers as “apple pie.”
• Trump and speaker David Beamer, whose son died on United Flight 93 during 9/11, compared the Senate race to a fight against terrorism, portraying El-Sayed as a local enemy threatening America.
• Beamer and Trump suggested El-Sayed is “anti-American,” despite his Michigan birth, with Beamer asserting that a birth certificate alone does not make someone truly American.
• El-Sayed has denied any ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Trump’s administration has designated as a terrorist organization in some regions, and has condemned the group.
• Rogers distanced himself from Trump’s extreme rhetoric, focusing on the election as a contest between himself and El-Sayed, though he has previously questioned El-Sayed’s family connections to a controversial charity.