The newly minted Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan is facing new scrutiny over a digital past he apparently did not want following him into the general election.
CNN’s KFile reported Abdul El-Sayed made at least 100 videos on his YouTube channel private before narrowly winning last week’s Democratic primary. Archived transcripts reviewed by the outlet reveal years of commentary on everything from the Second Amendment and the southern border to Fourth of July fireworks and even football.
El-Sayed defeated establishment-backed Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens by roughly one percentage point setting up a November showdown with former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers in a race poised to help determine control of the U.S. Senate.
On Police and Guns
As reported on Wednesday’s AM Update, the newly uncovered videos add to a pattern of El-Sayed removing portions of his online history as he seeks elected office. KFile previously revealed the Senate hopeful deleted social media posts supporting the ‘Defund the Police’ movement, including a 2020 post that read: “We do need to defund the police.”
El-Sayed has since insisted he never called for defunding law enforcement and argued those previous comments were taken out of context. But policing was apparently not the only issue on his mind.
In a since-removed April 2023 YouTube video, the doctor and former public health official floated the idea of replacing the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms with a constitutional right to health care. El-Sayed made a very similar argument in an episode of his America Dissected podcast released that same month, which remains publicly available on Apple Podcasts:
“Imagine what America might be if we took access to health care as seriously as some people take access to guns,” he said. “If I could tweak one thing about the Constitution, it would be two words in the Second Amendment from ‘the right to bear arms’ to ‘the right to have health care.’ Guns take a lot of lives in America. Healthcare, health care saves them.”
In a statement to CNN, El-Sayed’s campaign said the candidate “respects the Second Amendment while supporting policies aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.”
On Immigration and Fireworks
Another now-private video from September 2022 had El-Sayed taking aim at Republican concern over the southern border. He called it an issue the party “love[s] to flog” while arguing it did not even rank among the five biggest issues affecting Americans’ lives.
According to the El-Sayed campaign, however, he “has long argued for immigration reform that keeps the southern border safe and secure and has criticized ICE’s recent actions under the Trump administration.”
The KFile report found the 41 year old also took aim at some distinctly American traditions. A July 2024 video asked Americans if they could “PLEASE” find another way to celebrate the Fourth of July as he gave viewers four reasons “why fireworks suck.”
The since-removed video included a section titled “Fireworks just aren’t worth it: hear us out” with El-Sayed citing air pollution, chemicals, risks to children and pets, and the possibility that fireworks could trigger PTSD among veterans.
On Football
And then there is the topic of football. Unlike many of the other clips uncovered by KFile, this one is still publicly available.
In a February 2023 episode of America Dissected, El-Sayed questioned whether the sport could ever be “ethical” or “safe” before connecting football’s culture to that of the slave trade. Here is a bit of the wisdom he espoused:
“I’m out there hitting somebody, trying to hit them harder than than they hit me, recognizing that both of us are at risk of injury, all because we got to tell ourselves that we’re stronger, faster, more powerful, and, you know, let alone and like in our own lives, it has destructive consequences, let alone what that tells us about where our country does. Right? You think about all the wars that we fight abroad, all of the sordid history of oppressing other people in the name of this American idea. Right. Whether it was, quote, Manifest Destiny and destroying uh Native Americans or it was the transatlantic slave trade where, you know, folks who, quote, founded this country on the backs of of native folks that they destroyed, then captured people, enslaved them, and had them work their fields because they thought it was their right, right? And all of this, like a lot of these narratives you kind of see echoed in the ethos of football.”
You probably won’t be surprised to hear his campaign pushed back on the significance of the resurfaced material, telling CNN: “Abdul is the former captain of his high school football team, loves Michigan football on Saturdays, and celebrates the Fourth of July with fireworks like the next Michigander. Cherry-picked comments from old podcasts don’t reflect his beliefs today.”
You can get all the day’s headlines by tuning into the AM Update with Megyn Kelly on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch AM Update on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111).