Abdul El-Sayed reacts to Trump's attacks after primary win: Full interview

And joining me now is Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul Al -Sayed.Dr. Al -Sayed, welcome to Meet the Press.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you so much for being here and congratulations.Let's talk about your victory this week.You narrowly defeated Congresswoman Haley Stevens.And when you actually add up all of the votes, the vote totals that went to Stevens and Mallory McMurrow, a majority of voters actually ended up voting for candidates who are more moderate than you.So how do you win over those voters who voted for someone else?

Well, thank you, Kristen.I really was just grateful for everybody who participated in the overwhelming recognition of the vote tallies is that 500 ,000 more Democrats voted than did Republicans in that election.If that happens, we are going to win in a landslide.Now, I know that we had it out with a very tough primary.There are a lot of issues that were discussed and differences that were identified and fixated on.But I will tell you this, that all of us agree that our differences are far smaller than what we agree on.

And what we agree on is that Donald Trump has been an existential threat to our democracy.He is costing us jobs.He is costing us more at almost every aspect of our lives, whether it's our gas, our groceries or our health care.And that Mike Rogers is going to be nothing more than a rubber stamp on Donald Trump's disastrous economic and foreign policies.And so this is an opportunity for us to come together, to mend fences, to build together the coalition that is going to defeat Mike Rogers in November and defeat Trumpism over the next two years.

Well, let me ask you about some news that we are learning this morning.Local outlets reporting that you spoke to former President Barack Obama on the phone.I know you're not going to give me every detail of the call, but what was the crux of his message to you, Dr. El -Sayed?

Well, Kristen, you're right.I like to keep private conversations private.But it was a really warm and inspiring conversation.I've got to be honest with you.I never saw myself ever able to run for public office.I literally told former President Bill Clinton that at my college graduation, in which I was the senior speaker and he was the main speaker.

And I then watched the next year.Barack Hussein Obama run for and win the presidency.I watched him serve with a level of class, a level of elegance that we could only pine for now.So I really enjoyed the conversation.I was grateful for his advice.It was very warm, very inviting.

And I know that he knows the critical role that Michigan is going to play in holding Trump accountable, in winning back the Senate, and in building forward the future that we need.

Is he going to campaign with you, Dr. El -Sayed?

Look, I really hope so.And it was a really good conversation about what we need to do to be able to win.And obviously, this is somebody who knows a lot about winning Michigan.

Just to be clear, do you anticipate he'll show up on the campaign trail with you?Is that one of the broad topics you all discussed?

Look, we talked a lot about what it'll take to win.Obviously, his presence here in Michigan would mean so much to the coalition that helped elect him.So I hope that we get to campaign together.

One of the big issues you ran on, of course, was Medicare for All.So let's talk about that.You served as a public health official in Michigan.You even co -authored a book making the case for Medicare for All.Senator Bernie Sanders also campaigned on it as a presidential candidate back in 2016.Ten years later, this idea still does not have a majority support in Congress.

If you were to win in November, Dr. El -Sayed, how do you make Medicare for All a reality when so far it has not had enough support?

Well, Kristen, I've been up and down my state and everywhere I go, people say the same things.It just shouldn't be this hard.And one of the big thingsthat they bring up is the fact that they're worried about having to see a doctor if they get sick and what that will mean for them.The median deductible, meaning the money that you pay to get the health care you already thought you paid for every single month, it's about $4 ,500 for a family of four.considering the fact that the median income is about $80 ,000, means that you're going to lose more than a whole paycheck just to actually pay for the health care you thought you already paid for.

Our system has only gotten less and less effective, less efficient over time, as we've watched health insurance corporations collude with big hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry to figure out how to pick more and more of our dollars out of our pocket to put into theirs.We don't have to live like this.We have an opportunity to guarantee cradle to grave health care from the moment that somebody is born to the moment that they expire, God willing, at 120 years of life after a long, healthy life in their sleep peacefully.guarantee them the health care that they need, independent of the circumstances, wherever they needed to go.That is the kind of security we've never had in this country.And it's the kind of security that the health care corporations have denied us.

So we're watching more people support Medicare for all every day.We're watching more elected officials support Medicare for all every day.And in a lot of ways, this campaign was a referendum on whether or not we want health care here or bombs somewhere else.And I think the Michigander, the Michigan voter chose health care here.

Well, you know, some Americans worry, though, you can only make Medicare care free and universal if you increase taxes.So if you are elected and make this push, would you need to increase taxes?

As I've said across this campaign, I am for taxing billionaires their wealth.

What about people who make less than a billion and less than a million dollars, though, Dr. El -Sayed?What about people making less than a million dollars?

So for the average person, and you look at your W -2, if you're an employee, he gets paid every two weeks or four weeks.After you pay your taxes, the next biggest check that comes off the topof your pay stub is to your health insurance company.So imagine instead of paying that to your health insurance company, whose CEO makes $20 million a year, instead you paid a little bit more in taxes for health care that you wouldn't lose if you lost your job or turned 26.or got married or got divorced.I think all of us would be a lot more interested in that kind of a system if we knew that our health care would be free at the point of care and would be free without having to worry about losing it in general.

So there's an opportunity here, I think, to trade what we give to a big corporation who gets to decide who we get to see and who we don't for a little bit more paid into FICA.And I think that's a trade that's worth making.I think the broader public understands that that's a trade worth making considering how many people are holding medical debt, a third of all Michigan households right now.

Just to be very clear, you're describing this trade -off.You are effectively acknowledging that people making less than a million dollars could see their taxes go up.I just want to be very clear.Is that a yes?

I'm saying that we'd be paying for health care in a different way.Instead of paying a health insurance company whose CEO makes $20 million, I would much rather pay for durable health care into a government which, of course, we all know provides health care for seniors who need health care the most.So if I'm trading paying a CEO to make more money or paying a government to guarantee me health care, I'm picking the latter every time.

All right, let's talk about another big issue that dominated the campaign and will undoubtedly be a big topic of conversation in the general election, your criticism of Israel.President Trump had this to say after your win this week.I'm going to play it.Get your reaction on the other side.Take a look.

He doesn't love Israel.He doesn't love Jewish people.He hates them.He hates them with a passion that burns in his heart.

What's your reaction to that, Dr. Al -Sayed?

I love and revere Judaism and the Jewish people.I believe they're a light unto the world.I grew up in a community that had a large Jewish population.I was so grateful to get to be invited to Seder and to shul and to bar and bat mitzvahs.I'm really honored for what I learned and got to share with my Jewish sisters and brothers.But they are not the same as AIPAC in Israel.

AIPAC is an organization that spent, what, $30 million to beat me so that we could—they could have one vote, one more vote in the U .S.Senate to guarantee that our Taxpayer dollars would be sent abroad to subsidize a foreign government's military to do the worst things, genocide, apartheid, take us into wars we have no business fighting.And I'm running for Senate here in Michigan.I believe that we have a responsibility here in Michigan.I want our tax dollars spent to provide good schools, to pay for health care, to rebuild our roads here in Michigan, rather than it being sent abroad to subsidize foreign militaries.

That's not just Israel, by the way.That is also Egypt and Saudi Arabia.and Jordan and Pakistan.So I believe in international law.I believe in equal rights to peace, dignity and self -determination for all people.I believe in a process that allows a free Palestinian people and free Jewish Israeli people to come together around what they believe the ultimate peace should look like.

And I believe that our tax dollars should be spent on the things that are needed here in Michigan rather than to subsidize foreign militaries abroad.

Let me follow up with you on that point.You've said you've just reiterated that you would rule out unconditional foreign military aid to Israel, just to be very clear.Is there any scenario where you would approve more aid to Israel, more military aid, in any form?

Well, if we were in a scenario where there were equal rights to peace, dignity, and self -determination for the Palestinian people and Jewish -Israeli people, and they had come together to achieve that ultimate peace, and there were circumstances in which that was guaranteed, there would be a very, very different circumstance.But for right now, we are in a situation where we are committedsubsidizing the military of a state that has behaved in ways that can only be described as rogue.You think about the genocide in Gaza.You think about the continued attempt to annex southern Lebanon.These are things that we cannot subsidize, considering the fact that we have kids who need better schools and better roads and bridges and better health care here in America.

You're saying you would not support sending aid to Israel, which was attacked by Hamas.But you have also said that you would support sending military aid to Ukraine, which was, of course, attacked and invaded by Russia.Where do you draw the line there?

Well, in Ukraine, you're talking about attacks from a leader of a neighboring sovereign country.of Ukraine and its efforts.

You have said, and I want to talk about your political identity now, you have said you're not a Democratic Socialist.You were backed by Senator Bernie Sanders, who of course proudly says he is a Democratic Socialist.You've even attended events hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America.Where do you differ from Senator Sanders?Is there one policy issue where you can point out a difference?

You know, I'm a scientist, and I believe in good, thoughtful, evidence -based solutions to problems.You know, when it comes to the question of capitalism, allocating capital based on supply and demand, at the level at which it's supposed to work, where you have free entry and exit, it's not going to work.I support that idea.I understand right now, though, that we don't live under capitalism.We live under corporatism.You have huge corporations that have used their power in effect to try and buy politicians so that those politicians will turn around and help them use government to protect their position in markets.

That is anti -capitalist.And look, you can go back to Adam Smith, the guy who coined the idea of capitalism, and he understood that the biggest risk to capitalism was not government regulation.It was always monopoly and oligopoly.If you think about the circumstances that we live under right now, the power of the biggest players in almost every market, both to squeeze labor To pay us less and to raise prices so that we have to pay more that has been anti -capitalist on its own terms and so it's not that you have to be a socialist to believe that the government has a role in protecting a market or Guaranteeing us health care or fixing our roads and bridges or providing us good schools It's that you have to understand what capitalism is and how it works I want to give you an opportunity to respond to some of the other attacks against you This is a ad by the Republican Party.

Take a look Abdul Rahman Mohamed El -Sayed, the most radical Senate candidate in America.El -Sayed pledged support for the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, a designated foreign terrorist group.

Radical, dangerous, how do you respond?

We always knew they were going to go here.I mean, notice how they chose to use my full name in echoes to exactly what they did against President Obama.At the end of the day, it's not radical to believe that people should be able to afford their groceries.It's not radical to believe that you should have health care in this country.It's not radical to believe that you don't think the president should be able to deny elections or make $2 .2 billion off of his role in office.It's not radical to believe that all of us should be able to breathe clean air and drink clean water.

Those are the things that I've been fighting for.I believe in an America where all of us can come together to build together a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.Now, they're going to try and paint me as a certain thing, given my name, but I also think it's important for us to recognize that America has a long history of embracing.America is a lot bigger than very small people like Donald Trump or J .D.Vance or Mike Rogers want to make it out to be.

And so I'm grateful for all that America has given me, and I'm grateful for the opportunity now to put myself out there and ask my fellow Michiganders for their stake in our democracy to be able to build an America that's more just, that's more equitable, that's more sustainable, that's more empowering, that's more American than the vision that Donald Trump, J .D.Vance, and Mike Rogers have for it.

You know, you face scrutiny for campaigning with socialist streamer Hassan Piker, who has made a series of inflammatory comments, as you well know, including saying America deserved 9 -11, describing Hamas as a lesser evil than Israel.Do you plan to continue to campaign with Hassan Piker in the general election campaign?

Look, I'm less concerned now with who I'm campaigning with, a lot more concerned about who I'm campaigning to.We've got a lot of work to do to continue to build the coalition that's going to beat Mike Rogers.Would you welcome him, though?

on the campaign trail with you?

Like I said, I'm a lot more focused on who I'm campaigning to.So I think we have this notion sometimes on shows like this that we cannot or should not talk to certain groups of people.And I will tell you that the three million people who listen to Hassan are people I want to make sure understand that there's a pathway into our politics around getting money out of politics so we can keep money back in pockets and pass Medicare for all.And so I'm going to continue to have the conversations with those folks who we desperately need to reach out to, just like I'm going to continue to have conversations with seniors in senior homes, folks up north, folks in Detroit.folks in Grand Rapids.So again, I'm a lot more focused on who I'm campaigning to rather than who I might campaign with.

When asked about Hassan Piker's comments on 9 -11, Senator Bernie Sanders called it a dumb statement.Do you agree?Do you disavow those comments that America deserved 9 -11?

Of course.Of course, it was a dumb statement.And of course, I think Hassan himself would say that was a dumb statement.He disavowed it.So, yes, America didn't deserve 9 -11.But, you know, to sit here and play gotcha politics with a dumb thing somebody said out of context that they disavowed themselves to say, oh, well, what does that mean about what you think?

I want to be held accountable for what I say and what I do, rather than this idea that we're so stuck in cancel culture that all of us agreed was a bad idea back in 2020, but we seem to want to bring back.

We are out of time, but I have to ask you before I let you go, if you win, you will be the very first Muslim to serve in the Senate.What would that mean to you, Dr. al -Sayed?

Honestly, I haven't really thought that much about it, but it's more about what it means to America.You know, this is a place that some people want to define as a lot smaller than it is.I've been Abdul in Michigan my whole life, and I know that people are big -hearted and open -minded.That's the America I've always seen.And once again, Michiganders get to prove just how big -hearted and open -minded we really are against the small vision that people like Donald Trump want to perpetrate on us.So it really is about proving out the America that America has always been, this place that embraces people beyond differences in faith or ethnicity to come together around the ideals that bind us here.

Dr. Abdul El -Sayed, thank you so very much for joining us.We really appreciate it.

Thank you, Kristen.