{"id":363,"date":"2026-08-03T21:36:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=363"},"modified":"2026-08-03T21:36:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:36:33","slug":"abdul-el-sayeds-mask-on-mask-off-socialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=363","title":{"rendered":"Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s Mask-On, Mask-Off Socialism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Grand Rapids, Mich.<\/em> \u2014 Abdul El-Sayed tells the media he\u2019s not \u201ctechnically or practically\u201d a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. But watch him speak at a rally alongside big-name Democratic Socialists like Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Michigan Senate candidate sounds an awful lot like he fits right in.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=361\">Fetterman Turns the Tables on Committed Anti-Israel Outlet<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not lost on El-Sayed, or his supporters, that the idea of \u201csocialism\u201d scares many voters, even on the left.<\/p>\n<p>When Jake Prefontaine walked into an El-Sayed canvassing event on Saturday he was proudly wearing a bright red Democratic Socialists of America t-shirt. But when he left to go door knocking for the campaign, he donned a dull green t-shirt, covering up his affiliation with the controversial organization.<\/p>\n<p>Prefontaine, 28, told <span>National Review<\/span> he doesn\u2019t want his association with the DSA to be a \u201cturn off instantly\u201d when courting potential voters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s fine to attach [Democrats] to Democratic Socialism, but for a one-off interaction with people I\u2019ve never met before [while canvassing], it might be better if I\u2019m not showing that truth immediately,\u201d Prefontaine said.<\/p>\n<p>Prefontaine\u2019s reservations about sharing his true affiliations are representative of the fine line El-Sayed has walked throughout his primary campaign, where he strives to please his far-left base, without alienating more moderate Democrat voters.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed has rejected any official association with not only the DSA, but also its theories of socialism.<\/p>\n<p>Back in July, El-Sayed told the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> he is not \u201ctechnically or practically DSA.\u201d Similarly, he pointed out in an interview with CNN, \u201cI am not somebody who is a socialist. I believe in capitalism, I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But El-Sayed has been outspoken in his far-left beliefs, both on the campaign trail and on his website. He supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, expresses anti-Israeli sentiments, and wants to end the Senate filibuster. He also supports Medicare for All, which is one of his most talked about issues \u2014 aside from Israel \u2014 with supporters on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n<p>El-Sayed\u2019s rhetoric is out of step with the more moderate stances of his opponent, and many\u00a0establishment Democrats in the state.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, El-Sayed was heard in a leaked campaign call saying he didn\u2019t want to comment on the death of\u00a0Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei following U.S. strikes earlier this year, because \u201ca lot of people in Dearborn are sad,\u201d the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> reported. Similarly, El-Sayed has refused to support the proposition that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, and has pushed for an end to U.S. aid for the \u201crogue state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not only does El-Sayed\u2019s own platform look like something that could\u2019ve been cooked up at the DSA\u2019s national summit, but many of his allies in the race are outspoken Democratic Socialists. El-Sayed has campaigned with members of the Squad, for example, including Ocasio Cortez and Michigan\u2019s own Representative Rashida Tlaib.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=359\">On the Eve of the Michigan Primary, Stevens Projects Unity with El-Sayed. Her Supporters Aren\u2019t Convinced<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tlaib, who represents Michigan\u2019s 12th congressional district, is explicitly associated with the DSA. She is a member, routinely speaks at DSA events and conferences, and supports many of DSA\u2019s progressive policies, like Medicare for All.<\/p>\n<p>The DSA website, for example, explicitly draws out the connections between Medicare for All and socialism, writing \u201cMedicare for All represents a core demand of democratic socialist politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The El-Sayed campaign did not respond to <span>National Review<\/span>\u2018s request for comment asking about the line El-Sayed has drawn between himself and socialism, despite his obviously aligned beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>On the campaign trail, <span>National Review<\/span> asked El-Sayed to clarify what parts of capitalism he likes, given his comments saying he believes in the economic system. While he made a brief effort to defend an aspect of capitalism, the bulk of his answer was a broader criticism of the prevailing economic system in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe part that I have trouble with is that we don\u2019t live in capitalism,\u201d El-Sayed told <span>National Review<\/span>. \u201cWe live in corporatism, where we allow big corporations to move capital based on the interests of shareholders and a quarterly bottom line that seems to be less about efficiently allocating capital based on supply demand and more about maneuvering or manipulating financial markets in ways that are more about the best interests of the richest people rather than the enablement of the efficient allocation of capital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time El-Sayed has pulled a bait and switch: In 2020, El-Sayed said multiple times that he supported defunding the police. Now he insists that never happened.<\/p>\n<p>In a July interview with CNN\u2019s Manu Raju, El-Sayed claimed people were wrongfully fixating on his use of the word \u201cdefund,\u201d rather than his overall explanation of his view.<\/p>\n<p>El-Sayed is favored to beat his opponent, Congresswoman Haley Stevens, in Tuesday\u2019s primary election. In fact, multiple polls show El-Sayed defeating Stevens by double-digit margins. But in a match-up against the presumptive Republican nominee Mike Rogers, El-Sayed does not fare as well. His uber-progressive agenda does not have a place with Stevens\u2019s strongest supporters, and sends votes in Roger\u2019s direction, <span>National Review<\/span> previously reported.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of the growing popularity of the DSA, a majority of Democrats still prefer a true-blue Democratic candidate over someone affiliated with the DSA, a recent Ipsos poll revealed.<\/p>\n<p>For El-Sayed\u2019s campaign and its most loyal supporters, it is only a matter of time before the jig is up.<\/p>\n<p>Prefontaine, as he headed out to canvass, told <span>National Review<\/span> he only hopes potential voters are able to \u201ckeep an open mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=357\">GOP Holdouts Reach Deal with Trump to Advance Todd Blanche AG Nomination<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grand Rapids, Mich. \u2014 Abdul El-Sayed tells the media he&#8217;s not &#8220;technically or practically&#8221; a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. But watch him speak at a rally alongside big-name Democratic Socialists like Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Michigan Senate candidate sounds an awful lot like he fits right in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elections"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s Mask-On, Mask-Off Socialism - American Housing Transition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=363\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s Mask-On, Mask-Off Socialism - American Housing Transition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Grand Rapids, Mich. \u2014 Abdul El-Sayed tells the media he&#039;s not &quot;technically or practically&quot; a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. 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