Vice President JD Vance has been vocal in his criticism of the Democratic Party, particularly targeting Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He highlighted El-Sayed’s previous comments linking criticism of Sharia law to White supremacy, suggesting this is indicative of the party’s departure from its working-class foundation.
During his remarks on Friday at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works steel plant in Ohio, Vance reflected on his grandfather, who spent 40 years as a welder and voted Democratic, believing it represented the interests of union workers.
However, Vance contended that the Democratic Party has shifted away from this identity. “This is the party, the Democrat party of graduate students, rather than the union and nonunion workers who make this facility run,” he stated.
He pointed out the difficulty in understanding the current Democratic values, encouraging listeners to pay attention to what they express. “It’s sometimes actually hard to understand what these modern Democrats actually stand for. But look what they say. Pay close attention, and they’ll leave these little hints of what they actually care about.”
Vance then directed his focus to El-Sayed, the child of Muslim Egyptian immigrants, recalling, “He once argued, not too long ago, that criticisms of Sharia law were rooted in White supremacy.”
Vance remarked, “I’d love to go back in time and tell my papa that there is a man who claims to stand for working people who says not only should we have Sharia law, but if you criticize it you’re a White supremacist. That’s not my grandpa’s Democratic Party, my friend.”
Vance referenced a speech El-Sayed gave at the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) annual banquet in 2022, where El-Sayed criticized a 2010 ballot measure aimed at prohibiting courts from recognizing Sharia law in their rulings. Although this measure received support from 70% of voters, it was later blocked by federal courts.
In his speech, El-Sayed linked historical injustices to current debates about Sharia law, stating, “The same exact forces that drove native peoples from their land two centuries ago, destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago, bombed a building decades ago and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago, those forces are alive and well today.”
He further explained, “The reason I wanted to go all the way back to the 1830s is because you can’t understand a Shariah ban without understanding the Trail of Tears. You can’t understand the efforts to uproot Muslim Americans without understanding the Tulsa massacre. You cannot understand the challenges we face today without understanding White supremacy.”
El-Sayed’s statements during the CAIR banquet have received backlash from conservatives, who accuse him of framing political issues through a racial and religious lens. Other controversial comments have included accusations against Israel of committing “genocide” and labeling it an “apartheid” state, raising concerns within the Jewish community.
Nevertheless, after winning the primary, El-Sayed affirmed, “My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. We have a responsibility to take on antisemitism in all of its forms, wherever we see it.”
JD Vance criticizes Abdul El-Sayed for his comments on Sharia: ‘That’s not the Democratic Party I remember’
Vice President JD Vance has been vocal in his criticism of the Democratic Party, particularly targeting Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He highlighted El-Sayed’s previous comments linking criticism of Sharia law to White supremacy, suggesting this is indicative of the party’s departure from its working-class foundation.
During his remarks on Friday at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works steel plant in Ohio, Vance reflected on his grandfather, who spent 40 years as a welder and voted Democratic, believing it represented the interests of union workers.
However, Vance contended that the Democratic Party has shifted away from this identity. “This is the party, the Democrat party of graduate students, rather than the union and nonunion workers who make this facility run,” he stated.
He pointed out the difficulty in understanding the current Democratic values, encouraging listeners to pay attention to what they express. “It’s sometimes actually hard to understand what these modern Democrats actually stand for. But look what they say. Pay close attention, and they’ll leave these little hints of what they actually care about.”
Vance then directed his focus to El-Sayed, the child of Muslim Egyptian immigrants, recalling, “He once argued, not too long ago, that criticisms of Sharia law were rooted in White supremacy.”
Vance remarked, “I’d love to go back in time and tell my papa that there is a man who claims to stand for working people who says not only should we have Sharia law, but if you criticize it you’re a White supremacist. That’s not my grandpa’s Democratic Party, my friend.”
Vance referenced a speech El-Sayed gave at the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) annual banquet in 2022, where El-Sayed criticized a 2010 ballot measure aimed at prohibiting courts from recognizing Sharia law in their rulings. Although this measure received support from 70% of voters, it was later blocked by federal courts.
In his speech, El-Sayed linked historical injustices to current debates about Sharia law, stating, “The same exact forces that drove native peoples from their land two centuries ago, destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago, bombed a building decades ago and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago, those forces are alive and well today.”
He further explained, “The reason I wanted to go all the way back to the 1830s is because you can’t understand a Shariah ban without understanding the Trail of Tears. You can’t understand the efforts to uproot Muslim Americans without understanding the Tulsa massacre. You cannot understand the challenges we face today without understanding White supremacy.”
El-Sayed’s statements during the CAIR banquet have received backlash from conservatives, who accuse him of framing political issues through a racial and religious lens. Other controversial comments have included accusations against Israel of committing “genocide” and labeling it an “apartheid” state, raising concerns within the Jewish community.
Nevertheless, after winning the primary, El-Sayed affirmed, “My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. We have a responsibility to take on antisemitism in all of its forms, wherever we see it.”
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