Democratic Senate candidate can't hide from 'defund the police' comments, no matter how hard he tries
Another Democrat has tried and failed to distance himself from previous statements against law enforcement.
Abdul El-Sayed, the 41-year-old Islamic leftist who ran an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2018 then served two years later on former President Joe Biden's Unity Task Force for Healthcare, is running as a Democrat to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate.
'I didn't want them to be taken out of context like this.'
Enjoying the help of the Democratic Socialists of America and endorsements from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), El-Sayed — the son of an Egyptian immigrant — has led establishment Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens by several points in recent polls ahead of the Michigan Democratic primary on Aug. 4.
Since launching his Senate campaign in April 2025, El-Sayed has attempted to downplay some of his anti-police rhetoric and gaslight about what he had said previously, telling the Detroit News in an interview published mid-November, "I want to be clear, I actually never, never called for defunding."
Of course, that wasn't anywhere close to being true.
Among the thousands of tweets he deleted before launching his campaign was a tweet where El-Sayed stated in June 2020, "Most major US cities spend WAY TOO MUCH on police departments to police poverty & WAY TOO LITTLE on public schools, health departments, recreation departments, & housing to eliminate poverty. Fixing that is what the #Defund movement is about."
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Per the Detroit News, another said, "#GeorgeFloyd and hundreds of other Black folks are murdered because our police departments are OVERfunded. #COVID19 devastated us, in part, because our health departments are UNDERfunded. There’s an obvious answer: take from one and give to the other."
El-Sayed explicitly called for the defunding of police in multiple interviews reviewed by CNN's KFile.
For instance, according to KFile, he told Detroit Public Radio in June 2020, "I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets."
In a 2020 WDET-FM interview, the Democratic candidate emphasized the need to spell out what was meant by the hashtag, stating, "Defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets and investing more in the means of educating and empowering and engaging communities with the means of being able to take on systemic poverty that we’ve allowed to fester in too many communities."
"I want a re-fund on the taxpayer dollars that I pay to police who use that to buy war materiel to wage war in our streets. And I want to re-fund public health and public libraries and public schools and the means of uprooting poverty," added El-Sayed.
Confronted with the mountain of evidence demonstrating El-Sayed had in fact called for the defunding of American police, a spokeswoman for El-Sayed's campaign, Roxie Richner, told CNN, "His perspective has become more nuanced."
"One simple word has never been enough to fully explain the reforms we need for a challenge as complex as our criminal legal system," said Richner.
When asked repeatedly by CNN talking head Kasie Hunt last week whether he still supported defunding the police, El-Sayed weaseled out of directly answering the question, suggesting that he deleted his old defund-the-police tweets "because I didn't want them to be taken out of context like this so that you could distract from the actual conversation that Michiganders really want to have about what they want their leadership to actually fight for them to do."
Rather than focusing on funding or defunding American law enforcement, El-Sayed apparently tried instead to make spending and support for Israel a top topic in Tuesday's Democratic debate against Rep. Stevens, stressing that "if Congresswoman Stevens makes it or [Republican candidate] Mike Rogers wins, either way, Israel will win."
"AIPAC is perfectly fine with either of my two opponents, because they know that they will have a comfortable, reliable vote in the U.S.A.," added El-Sayed.
El-Sayed also argued with Stevens — who has received a small fortune from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee via United Democracy Project, according to FEC filings — about the conflict in Gaza.
"I also believe that your money needs to be spent here, because at the end of the day, the ultimate losers are you and me, the taxpayers who paid that money to provide good infrastructure, build schools, provide health care for our own kids," said El-Sayed. "Not to watch it get sent to buy bombs and tanks that end up annihilating other people and their children."
Following the debate, the Michigan GOP slammed El-Sayed for his radical record. In a statement given to Blaze News, Michigan GOP senior communications advisor Greg Manz said:
Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, a terrorist sympathizer and phony physician, is the face of the far-left takeover of the Democrat Party. He embraces a radical, Marxist agenda that includes Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and calls to irresponsibly defund the police.
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Winning Mamdani-backed candidate is 'legitimately nuts': 'Apparently, all white women are ugly'
Democratic socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is quickly emerging as a major force in New York politics after going three-for-three in recent primary races with those three candidates taking out Democrat-establishment incumbents.
“We had a clean sweep for Mamdani, three candidates he endorsed in New York in the primaries,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere explains on "Stu and Dave Do America."
“These are taking out incumbents in big races, and Zohran Mamdani takes three crazy socialists and goes three for three,” he adds.
Those three candidates are Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, and Brad Lander.
However, these wins don’t come without risk — especially considering one of them seems to be "legitimately nuts."
“This is a risk for Mamdani in that, like, when you’re coming up, you’re rising in Democratic politics, you can either be the one who plays the game and goes along with everybody who’s got the job already and played this long game, or you can do what Mamdani did here,” Stu says, pointing out that politicians like AOC have tried this in the past.
“You go as far as you can and hope it works out. And so far for Mamdani, I don’t know if this is part of a Knicks hangover or what, but they love this guy,” he continues.
One of the Mamdani-endorsed winning candidates is Avila Chevalier, who is, like Mamdani, a democratic socialist.
“She’s legitimately nuts. She stormed out of a live interview when she was confronted with her old social media posts, which is I guess not a huge surprise considering what her old social media posts were,” Stu explains.
“I forgot to get napkins, so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me,” Avila Chevalier wrote in a now-deleted post on X in 2019.
“These are the people that they’re handpicking for these Democratic jobs,” Stu comments.
In another now-deleted post, she wrote that “black men” and “Arab men” both fetishize “ugly colonizer women.”
“Apparently, white women are all ugly,” Stu says.
“That reads a little jealous,” Dave adds.
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Mamdani claims NYC is broke as his office reportedly plans to blow $10 million to hire woke activists
New York City's democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is reportedly preparing to hire a slew of additional staffers who could cost taxpayers $10 million, after previously claiming the city was facing a critical budget deficit.
The New York Post reported Wednesday that Mamdani plans to hire at least 79 more workers to support his "pet projects."
'Taxpayers who are already struggling should not be bankrolling useless woke jobs for socialists who can't get real jobs in the real world.'
One of those positions includes a senior adviser for enforcement in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice. This individual would be responsible for "establishing policy vision and direction related to Enforcement" and is expected to "manage and coordinate across the assigned agencies, offices, and boards." The job posting describes the department as advancing "policies that promote a more equitable and vibrant New York City." The candidate could earn up to $200,000 annually.
Mamdani is also seeking to hire two temporary World Cup managers to help "lead the planning and delivery of inclusive, community-based public programming." The salaries listed for both positions, a director of NYC World Cup Activations and a project manager for NYC World Cup programming, are over $100,000.
Additionally, the mayor's office is seeking an adviser for legislative advocacy, with a salary of up to $155,000.
Mamdani has pledged to work toward rolling out so-called free universal child care to New York City parents. The city is currently hiring a senior project manager who could earn up to $150,000 a year to lead that initiative.
A senior adviser for fast and free buses, who could earn $180,000 a year, will have "latitude to exercise a wide degree of authority" for the "coordination, implementation, and successful completion of any projects related to the Fast and Free Buses."
Last month, the Post reported that Mamdani's Office of Mass Engagement was seeking to fill over a dozen positions the news outlet described as "catered to activists." Those positions would reportedly cost taxpayers approximately $2 million.
The Post estimated that if Mamdani's office filled all positions, the city's payroll would increase by 20% compared to the former Mayor Eric Adams' administration.
RELATED: Mamdani made big promises to cut the budget — here's the embarrassing result so far
"At best, he's hypocritically spending money we don't have on his supporters," a Democratic operative told the Post. "At worst, he is breaking the law by using taxpayer dollars for political benefit."
"City Hall now needs to be super clear about why these hires are needed and how they're chosen," the individual added.
A second Democratic insider told the Post, "Someone should remind the mayor that the city's budget is not like his daddy's credit card."
"Taxpayers who are already struggling should not be bankrolling useless woke jobs for socialists who can't get real jobs in the real world," the second operative said.
Mamdani previously claimed the city faced a $12 billion budget deficit after Adams left office. He has since stated that the deficit has been reduced to $5.4 billion. Adams has denied Mamdani's claims, insisting that he left over $8 billion in reserves.
Mamdani's office did not respond to a request for comment.
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Video: Brazilian politician protests socialist by wearing blackface: 'Am I black now?'
A Brazilian state deputy put on blackface during a government proceeding in order to protest another member of the federal government.
Fabiana Bolsonaro, a state rep. of the São Paulo State Legislative Assembly, shocked attendees on Wednesday when she applied brown makeup not only to her face, but to her arms as well.
'I want precisely to show that it's useless to put on makeup.'
Now, lawmakers are now calling for the Liberal Party member's removal and have filed an ethics complaint against her, according to Brazilian outlet Folha de S. Paulo.
However, Bolsonaro made it clear during her speech that her reason for putting the makeup on was to protest another member of government. Bolsonaro was protesting the appointment of Erika Hilton as chair of the Chamber of Deputies' Women's Rights Committee because Hilton — born Felipe Santos Silva — is a male who believes he is a woman.
Santos Silva is a federal deputy from Brazil's Socialism and Liberty Party, which holds 14/513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, equivalent to the U.S. House of Representatives.
During Bolsonaro's speech, the politician explained she was protesting the idea that one can become a woman simply by declaring so.
"I, being a white person who has lived everything that I lived as a white person, now at 32 years old, decide to put on makeup, to dress myself up as a black person, applying makeup and making only the outside appear [black]. ... Have I become black?" she asked, according to a translation.
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"Am I black now?" she continued.
Bolsonaro put emphasis on the fact that she could not possibly have experienced what it is like to be black in Brazil simply by putting on makeup.
"I want precisely to show that it's useless to put on makeup. It's useless to pretend something," Bolsonaro added. "I say to you as a woman: I am a woman. It does no good to dress up as a woman. I am not offending any transsexual. Quite the contrary, I am saying that I am a woman."
The liberal also called out the accolades that Hilton has acquired since posing as woman, saying, "The Woman of the Year cannot be a transsexual. ... Someone took her place to put a transsexual there."
RELATED: Megyn Kelly reminds America: Jimmy Kimmel wore blackface — yet she was the one canceled
Hilton has been named as Woman of the Year by Marie Claire Brasil, celebrated as a model for Sao Paulo Fashion Week, and given the label of having won the most votes of any woman in Brazil by British Vogue in 2020.
Bolsonaro remained respectful in her comments, however, saying that "transsexuals must be respected," and claimed there is "an increase in the murder of transsexual people."
She concluded, "I don't want any trans person to go through prejudice, murder, or discrimination for being trans. But I also don't want any trans to take my place."
Bolsonaro, who is not related to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, changed her name in 2022 ahead of elections in support of the president, GB News reported. Her former name was Fabiana Barroso. At the same time, she changed her racial classification from white to mixed-race, the outlet stated.
Since the remarks last week, Hilton has requested electoral authorities to investigate Bolsonaro's change of racial identification, based on Brazilian regulations introduced in 2021 that increased public funding for candidates who are black or female.
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