Right after the primary, Stevens gave a good endorsement of El Sayed. So bizarre to see her reverse herself and totally torpedo any chance at a future career in politics (at least as a Democrat). What the fuck is she thinking?
Good thread on this from Josh Marshall:
MAGA Mike Rogers (GOP candidate for MI senator) and Haley Stevens are having a nice little love fest on Twitter:
It’s a relief that Michigan voters chose El Sayed. With Stevens we might have gotten another Sinema.
The antipathy between different wings can run strong.
There definitely have been progressives who have felt that supporting a centrist is a betrayal of their beliefs; we have posters here who say “fuck that guy” in Iowa over statements on trans issues, with full knowledge that the GOP candidate is much worse, because there should be no room in the party for those statements.
Well if she sincerely believes that that ad is an antisemitic dog whistle (and some of us do) and she believes that his not actively condemning it is passive endorsement of it (fewer but non zero do) then it is rational for someone of those beliefs to take the position she takes.
Especially given the context of how many view his candidacy for implications for the presidential cycle. A progressive who is at least a good friend to the DSA, is diagnostic to a degree that winning in NY is not. I honestly think it would be very good politics for him to bend over backwards to distance his criticism of Israel from antisemitic trope laden support, such as Cenk and Tucker Carlson. Stupid not to.
More cynically, she may be looking past politics and have the political beliefs of some potential employers (and more Christian Zionists than Jewish ones in the world) in mind.
I don’t buy that this is based on any principle of decency or morals. She’s helping Rogers, who has said much, much more bigoted things than that ad (which was not from El Sayed anyway), and who has enthusiastically supported Trump in all his hatred and bigotry. It’s not remotely credible that a decent person seriously concerned about bigotry would decide to help Rogers.
Yeah, her position is completely rational.
Mike Rogers is still worse, so I hope El Sayed wins, but I can’t really blame her for not endorsing him.
El Sayed could very, very easily say “You are right, the ad is anti-semitic and untrue”; that he won’t do it means he either believes it or is trying to appeal to people who do, either of which is troubling.
Not as troubling as supporting the Jan 6 Coup Party, so Mike Rogers is right out. But I’m not going to pretend not to understand where she’s coming from.
I agree; the fact that he isn’t doing that politically expedient thing implies to me that it would go against his own beliefs.
She’s assisting MAGA. Of course you can blame her!
No one cares about that stupid ad from Cenk. It’s trolling and should be ignored. Good for El Sayed for ignoring such obvious trolling (and Stevens’ trolling the last couple of days). Elevating it only helps Rogers.
It’s not rational to oppose AES in this election based on Stevens’ stated views.
Some commentators are able to get a “fuck that guy, now vote for him” message across. If Stevens can, more power to her - sometimes this is what it takes to reach people who realize they should vote for a candidate that is a lesser evil given their views, but emotionally have a hard time bringing themselves to do it. It’s hard to see that as what she’s doing with this stunt.
That is an untrue statement.
I am among those who care about it. You may disagree about it being antisemitic, may think reacting to it as that is an imaginary microaggression, but it reads antisemitism to me. Not putting as much distance as possible between himself and that and from Carlson … I care about that. Not enough to offset “blue no matter who” - but dismissing that concern is … troublesome.
It might be antisemitic. It’s trolling from grifter Cenk. It should be ignored, not focused on and elevated.
AES is making the correct calculation to ignore it, and Stevens is aiding MAGA by focusing on and elevating it.
Very well said.
Someone shared this meme in a Discord group I’m in, and I think it perfectly encapsulates how I feel about El Sayed’s current “predicament”.
Is it enough that, if I lived there, I wouldn’t vote against the Jan 6 candidate? Nope, Jan 6 was among the worst events in our nation’s history and it would take a hell of a lot to get me not to vote against a member of the Jan 6 party.
Is it extremely troubling? Hell, yeah.
That’s not the comments I reference. A few days ago:
With full knowledge that the other candidate is horrible. Because
Some people feel that the battle for the character of the party is more important than a specific Senate seat. Tolerance to antisemitism (not necessarily antisemitism itself) as a winning tactic is akin to allowing transphobia to get a toehold in that mindset. It is a very real concern. I see it as serious. Not paranoid. Real. And way way way overshadowed by other issues, including in my mind a real need to have an American government willing to constrain Israeli government abuses. But also not trivial.
You underappreciate the worry that some of us have about the tactic of blind eye and intentional ignoring of Jew hate. Making the calculation that it is better to ignore it may be politically correct. The number of Jews who will jump ship is a minority of the small minority that are Jews. But that doesn’t make it feel any less like being thrown under the bus for those of us who see uncritical acceptance of Carlson and Unger as problematic.
Cite? I’m not aware of AES talking about (much less “uncritically accepting”) either one.
The way I see it, by turning it into a (perceived, at least) demand for not just disavowment but apology and condemnation, Stevens puts El-Sayed in an uncomfortable position of seeming like he has to “say the magic words” to satisfy someone else . Which would signal weakness.
However at the same time, he could have mitigated this by being quicker to say “eh, that’s Cenk doing his thing, let HIM apologize that’s not what THIS campaign’s about” as soon as it came out.
Ads highlighting Carlson support:
plays a supercut of Fox News hosts/Tucker praising him
Haley Stevens’ specific “demands” are asinine. And responding to them by highlighting that he and Haley disagree on much, including issues regarding Israel, but agree that Uygar’s PAC’s ad is offensive in its appealing to antisemitic tropes, and that to be clear that Carlson does not endorse him and that he does not want his support, but even Carlson appreciates how horrible Rogers is, which says something that he will continue highlighting.
would also have been a missed opportunity to make clear the difference between his appropriate criticism of American support of Israel in its current form, and appeal to antisemitic tropes. Having understanding that there are antisemites using anti Israel messaging as excuses to play on antisemitic tropes would help. Saying “eh …” alone to it … feels like gaslighting.
He has to win. He seems generally very politically savvy. And Stevens … very much not. And he is making a conscious decision about this that is regrettable, even if the calculation is valid.
The single quote from Carlson in that link: “I wouldn’t vote for Mike Rogers at gunpoint,”
Come on. That’s less than nothing. “Even Tucker says this guy is a piece of shit” isn’t remotely “uncritically accepting” him. And he’s said nothing about grifter troll Cenk, as appropriate.
IMO you haven’t remotely presented a shred of anything I, as a Jew, should be concerned about regarding El Sayed. Neither has Stevens, who is clearly not doing this out of anything other than a desire to politically harm the guy who beat her in the primary.
We all react differently. I respect your read and reaction. I hope you can respect that my reaction is a bit more concerned. And that I know quite a few who react more so.
The problem, as Stevens rightly pointed out, is that El Sayed may not be behind the ad but he is echoed exactly the same “Israel is responsible for your increased prices and lack of healthcare and who knows what other problems in your daily life” narrative. So while it’s easy for him to say “I didn’t make that ad” - because he didn’t - any kind of real pushback against the content of the ad is much more difficult for him. Which, as has been said, is troubling.
Hey, at least it’s not somebody TRULY disgusting, like, checks notes… Liz Cheney? That would be beyond the pale, amiright?