El-Sayed on 'delicious irony' of JD Vance having to swear him in — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00the Democratic Senator-elect from Michigan, Abdul  Elsad, is here in studio with us. Thank you so
2. 0:05much for being here, Senator Elect. It's good to  have you. Um, especially here in studio. Uh, we're
3. 0:10talking about what the agenda is for Democrats  moving in. What is the first piece of legislation
4. 0:15you want to champion when you get there? There  are three goals that we have to have that all map
5. 0:19back to affordability and the president's frank  failure uh, as a leader in this moment. The first
6. 0:25is we need to get some accountability around the  war in Iran. That war needs to end. we need to go
7. 0:29back to a diplomatic path that had worked in the  Obama administration to get us to a place where
8. 0:34we had contained the nuclear threat and we weren't  paying so much whether it was in the lives of our
9. 0:38service members at the gas pump at the grocery  store uh or in our tax dollars. The second,
10. 0:43this tariff war in Canada is insane. It makes  zero sense. There is no economic reason why we
11. 0:49are having a tariff war with our biggest trading  partner. That has to end. And then the third,
12. 0:53we are about to watch the equivalent of a  healthcare nuclear bomb go off in the middle
13. 0:58of our healthcare system with these Medicaid  tax cuts. And the president and his party,
14. 1:02they deliberately made sure that the worst of  the big ugly bill didn't take hold until after
15. 1:06the midterms. Well, we are after the midterms  and in January, Medicaid is going to get cut.
16. 1:10And I want to explain this to folks because it's  really important to understand. It's not that when
17. 1:14you cut people off their Medicaid that they don't  get sick. They still get sick. They just get their
18. 1:17healthcare in the emergency room when it's the  most expensive. So where do those costs go? Well,
19. 1:21those costs get passed on into your insurance  premium. We're going to watch insurance premiums
20. 1:25spike yet again, and that's going to be very  dangerous for the system as a whole. So,
21. 1:29those three things we need to address.  During your um victory speech, you you
22. 1:34called out the vice president specifically.  It's a something it's a a moment that has
23. 1:39definitely gone viral and people are talking  about. Let me play this to remind everyone. JD
24. 1:48Habibi,
25. 1:52there is this delicious irony in the
26. 1:55fact that you're constitutionally  obligated to swear me in in January.
27. 2:07So, you know what that means?  Wolverine one, Buckeye Zero.
28. 2:15be I mean as a Michigan family any any you know  Buckeye comparison is welcome to be had but what
29. 2:23this also gets to is everyone watched during the  campaign. It was there was a series of back and
30. 2:29forth attacks between you and the vice president.  I mean he called you evil and and and then some.
31. 2:34My question now is as senator elect, how are you  going to approach working with or not working with
32. 2:40the vice president and the president? Yeah.  Well, in his role as vice president, if he's
33. 2:44interested in advancing things that are going to  get money out of politics, put money in pockets,
34. 2:48pass Medicare for all, I'm looking forward to  working together. He is the vice president. Donald
35. 2:52Trump is the president. I'll work with anybody  to serve the people of the state of Michigan.
36. 2:56And if they're serious about doing that, let's  get some stuff done in their political roles,
37. 3:00in the ways that they behave outside of their  actual roles as president and vice president,
38. 3:05I find them odious. They've taken this us down the  path. You see JD Vance now he's sprinting as hard
39. 3:09backwards as he can from this terrible disastrous  war in Iran. I'm like now is not the time my guy.
40. 3:14It would have been eight months ago you should  have spoke up but you never will because of course
41. 3:18you have you are a coward who has decided that  whatever Donald Trump says should go until of
42. 3:23course Donald Trump is now a loser at the ballot  box and now you're trying to find a different way.
43. 3:27I'm looking for people who stand on principle and  it's important for the American public that they
44. 3:31see who their elected officials are because  look we it's no I don't have to this is not
45. 3:36breaking news JD Vance is going to try and run for  president and I want folks to understand exactly
46. 3:40who JD Vance is as a person as he tries to do that  and I'm going to take every opportunity to be able
47. 3:46to differentiate between what JD Vance says and  what JD Vance does because I think it's important
48. 3:50for the American public to know who their leaders  are. Debbie Dingle was on often saying how she
49. 3:54was really distressed how how much hate and what  happened and how divisive especially the race in
50. 4:01the campaign in Michigan became and I I'm cur I  with that we've heard from CNN heard from voters
51. 4:10on election day who said that they felt real fear  talked about the fear that they felt and the hate
52. 4:16that they felt we saw a rise in Islamophobia and a  rise in anti-semitism and they spoke to CNN on why
53. 4:21they did not Democratic voters did not vote for  you. Let me play a little bit from them. I don't
54. 4:28feel like Abdul is ready to be in the Senate. Um  I also am a Jewish um member of this community and
55. 4:35feel very strongly that he does not support the  Jewish community. So I voted for Johnson Benson
56. 4:40for Democrat for governor and um did a lot of  ticket splitting throughout the rest of the
57. 4:44ballot. Why could you not vote for Ali? Um because  I'm against hate. Was it hard to cast a vote for a
58. 4:53Republican? Very. They are your constituents  now. And what do you say to them? Well,
59. 4:58I am for love and against hate. I understand what  it's like to be demonized because of how you pray.
60. 5:04And I want a Michigan where nobody feels that way.  Where you drop your kid off to day school or the
61. 5:09synagogue and you know that they're going to get  home safely and be respected in their community.
62. 5:14That's something that we can all work on together.  A lot of the frustration that people felt has more
63. 5:18to do with my position on Israel. And even then,  that is about love. I believe that our tax dollars
64. 5:25should not be used to subsidize weapons, military  that is used to do the worst things to Palestinian
65. 5:32children. You can love and appreciate and rever  Palestinian children and love and appreciate and
66. 5:36rever Jewish children. In fact, I believe that you  have to do both. And so, when it comes to Jewish
67. 5:40safety, I am as committed to the safety of the  Jewish community as I am committed to the safety
68. 5:44of my own children. I hope that I can lead in a  way that over the next six years they can folks
69. 5:48even who didn't vote for me say you know he was  a hell of a senator he worked really hard and he
70. 5:52was there when I needed him but I am not going to  back down on the question of whether or not our
71. 5:56tax dollar should be used to subsidize genocide or  apartheid or war and I think we have to be able to
72. 6:02differentiate between the safety and security of  the Jewish community in Michigan and across the
73. 6:06United States from our foreign policy approach  to the government of Israel. So, are you ready
74. 6:11and willing to work with President Trump when he  said on election day and name checked you over it,
75. 6:16saying that he and Benjamin Netanyahu came to  an agreement that he's not going to extend he's
76. 6:20going to cut the $4 billion of aid annually um  to Israel. I agree. Uh you know, broken clock
77. 6:26can be right two times a day. And then I also  take it a step further. I don't know why we
78. 6:31are engaged in weapons transfers against the Ley  laws, our own policy with a government that has
79. 6:36uh engaged in war crimes and and the worst with  our weapons. Let's talk about leadership and
80. 6:41um heading in as you head into the Senate. You  have declined to commit to supporting Chuck
81. 6:45Schumer as Democratic leader. I I we looked back  at a campaign rally in July. Uh Chris Van Holland
82. 6:51was there. He endorsed you. He endorsed you very  early and you introduced Chris Van Holland at that
83. 6:55event as the next Senate majority leader. Is that  who you want to lead? Chris Van Holland. I've I've
84. 7:00been very clear. I think he'd be an amazing Senate  majority leader. Of course, that's a choice he has
85. 7:03to make about whether or not he wants to pursue  that. It seems like he's he's quite interested in
86. 7:07another goal politically, which um which uh you  know would mean that it would be very difficult
87. 7:11for him to do that. A a vote is a choice between  two or more options. I don't know what those
88. 7:16options are, but here's what I'll say. Why not  support Schumer? He he he supported your campaign
89. 7:22when Haley Stevens endorsed your opponent. Schumer  quickly came out and and called it dis despicable
90. 7:28betrayal. Why would you not support Schumer now?  Well, to me, it's about action, right? It's not
91. 7:33about who or who not. It's about action. But it  has to come from a who, right? I agree. And and
92. 7:37this is what I'm saying. Like I don't know who's  who's who's stepping up and saying I want to be
93. 7:41Senate majority leader. If uh you know if if if  we have another option, I'm going to look at that
94. 7:46and say who is best placed to get us action to  get money out of politics, put money in pockets,
95. 7:50pass Medicare for all. The Democratic senator  elect from Illinois was just on with my colleague
96. 7:55John and she said that she is committing to not  support any nominee that the president sends up
97. 8:03to the Senate for confirmation. Do you agree with  that position? Is that a position you're taking?
98. 8:07I think this administration has shown that the  decisions that they make about who is engaged
99. 8:14in government leading government that that's more  about backroom deals and who curries favor than
100. 8:20it is about their capacity to do the job. I'm  going to look at every nominee and give them
101. 8:25a fair shake. But I'm going to be looking very  very closely for why this person has been chosen.
102. 8:30When you nominate somebody like RFK Jr. who is  anti-science to run HHS. What you get is a bunch
103. 8:36of nasty crap lettuce in the state of Michigan.  So my my position is I'm going to assume I'm not
104. 8:42going to support you until proven otherwise. So  the bar is going to be extremely high. I want to
105. 8:46know that this person was chosen on their merit  and the capacity to to to serve the American
106. 8:51public. That's what I'll be looking for. But this  administration, when people tell you who who they
107. 8:55are, you believe them. This administration  has shown me that they're more interested in
108. 8:58appointing to these roles based on currying favor  with the president rather than doing the job well.
109. 9:02Democrats have actually I've been you know as we  were covering the results had wondered aloud to
110. 9:08me what is Elsaad going to do to rebuild the  coalition in Michigan when you have people
111. 9:15who said I'm not voting for him I'm just voting  against Donald Trump and what you do is you govern
112. 9:22well and and and that's what people are it's not  my seat right like this seat that I'm about to
113. 9:27sit in for the next six years it's not mine it's  Michigan's and every day I've got to go out and
114. 9:32I've got to earn the trust of Michiganders. Both  the folks who gave me their support whether they
115. 9:36were knocking doors or or or or sending text  messages, making calls or they were the last
116. 9:41person to vote for me or they were somebody who  wouldn't vote for me no matter what happened. My
117. 9:45job is to go out and earn their trust. And the  way you govern well is to make sure that even
118. 9:50people who didn't vote for you at the end of your  time will come up and be like, "Hey, that person,
119. 9:54they did what they said they were going to do  and when I needed them, they were there for me."
120. 9:58That's how you earn it. And I think as Democrats,  that's why I'm so focused on action. We've got to
121. 10:02go and earn the mandate that we've gotten against  Republicans. And we've got to earn the support.
122. 10:07This should be the floor for us. That's how we got  to operate, right? Everybody's so excited about
123. 10:11the outcome. This should be the floor. We've  proven what we can get. Now, the question is,
124. 10:15can we govern like we deserve it? That's the  choice that we are going to face. And I'm hoping
125. 10:20that as Democrats, we rise to the challenge. And  I've been clear. The big challenge that's kept
126. 10:24us from being able to do this is people don't  trust our party because too often we're funded
127. 10:28by the very same people who fund Republicans.  Too often we're just doing a lighter version
128. 10:32of that. Can we actually cut the the cord that  we've had to corporate money and start governing
129. 10:37like we give a damn about working people and  start passing the policies that are actually
130. 10:41going to make people's lives better? That's the  choice we got in the next two years. For me,
131. 10:44I got six years to prove out that I am who I said  I was going to be. We'll be watching. We'll be
132. 10:48tracking. We'll be covering. Thank you for coming  and I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.