Abdul El-Sayed On Fetterman: Hes Also Just An Asshole [z86fofOt6Vn]
Last month, David Sirota spoke candidly with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in his home gym. Today we’re sharing the exclusive video of that interview. El-Sayed will face off against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the hotly contested Aug. 4 Democratic primary. You’ll hear El-Sayed not holding back about Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.): “ Fetterman is the sitting counterargument to the kind of Midwest politics that I think really can work… He’s also just an asshole… I try to give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s just he seems miserable, and he seems like he doesn’t like the job. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t run for reelection.” You’ll hear El-Sayed talk about the performative masculinity of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and who’s getting rich off lonely men: “ Once you’ve allowed a big corporation to figure out how to monetize your dopamine circuits, targeting you because you’re a man, through gaming, or porn, or sports betting… absent the high, folks feel empty. When they feel empty, there’s self-loathing. And when they’re self-loathing, in steps the Andrew Tates and the Jordan Petersons of the world.” He shares his perspective on the roughly $30 million that AIPAC and its affiliates have spent to take him down: ”I’m an uppity Arab, so AIPAC’s gonna spend as much as they possibly can to beat me. If they don’t take me out in the primary, they’re gonna try and take me out in the general. I hope that they spend $60 million and lose.” And what El-Sayed’s father told him when he said he was running again: “You might get shot, but you still have to run.” CHAPTER MARKERS 00:00 Do you have to be jacked to be a politician? 00:57 RFK Jr., Hegseth, and performative masculinity 01:39 Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, and manufactured dopamine 03:10 What real strength is actually for 04:06 Sports betting's gambling epidemic 04:46 Algorithms pushing porn and weed ads to kids 07:04 What being a man means to El-Sayed 09:14 Why he's running: "a conscience in the Senate" 11:36 On Fetterman: "He's also just an asshole" 14:06 Staying authentic vs. "thinking like DC" 15:49 Earning respect from voters who disagree 17:42 Why he'd go on Fox News 19:04 Fundraising grind vs. AIPAC's spending 20:02 How he handles political attacks 21:46 The left's "talking down to people" problem 22:50 Being "an accident of history" 24:12 His angry young man phase 25:28 How he measures success in politics 26:28 Fighting the urge to react to criticism 27:37 His grandmother's storytelling wisdom 29:48 His parents' pride and worry 31:06 His father's fear he'd "get killed" running 31:59 Inherited stubbornness vs. strategic restraint 33:28 Why he wants AIPAC to spend big and lose 🔔 Subscribe to The Lever for more independent investigative journalism Want more essential midterm coverage? Check out The Lever’s weekly newsletter, Midterm Madness, for election updates: