Trump calls Abdul El-Sayed ‘a jihadist’ at his Iowa rally

Donald Trump flew to Iowa to help Ashley Hinson win a Senate seat, then spent part of the night running against a Muslim Democrat in Michigan.

“If you don’t want communists controlling the U.S. Senate, which is between — how about the gentleman from a place called Michigan? He’s a jihadist. He’s a jihadist.” Then he did a one-man skit, playing both parts: “Muslim Brotherhood. Are you a Muslim? Oh, no, I don’t know anything about Muslim Brotherhood. What about your mother? What about your mother? What about all those little notes back and forth?” He didn’t say what notes. He wrapped it up with “Man, oh, man, this can’t happen to our country,” followed by “Take a look at France.”

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee in Michigan, is Muslim. At a town hall in Caro last weekend he disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood when a man asked him to, and then asked the man why he’d assumed “dual loyalties.” The Guardian’s live blog called the Sioux City riff anti-Muslim fear-mongering and said he repeated false claims about El-Sayed and Ilhan Omar.

About two and a half minutes later he came back for one more pass, lumping Hinson’s opponent in with “extremists like Abdul Mohammed Al-Sayed.” Earlier this month in Clarksville, Tennessee, he explained the name thing: “I’m the president. I can call him whatever the hell I want.”