My friends, we may have a campaign video that finally dethrones Demon Sheep and "I am not a witch!" in the American political legendarium. And it comes from the one campaign that can ill afford comparisons to hostage videos, to boot.
On the left is Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the Democrat Party primary in Michigan. McMorrow is campaigning for the man on the right, Abdul El-Sayed. In between stands a young woman who appears very reluctant to testify on either's behalf. In fact, this looks like a case of coercion rather than persuasion, by two Democrats who are growing desperate about the prospects of holding the Senate seat for Michigan:
Not sure what just happened at this rally for Abdul El-Sayed pic.twitter.com/ljv44kXgE6
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 31, 2026
Is this literally a hostage video? Of course not. Well ... er ... we should assume not, anyway.
Regardless, this looks absolutely awful. The woman speaking is clearly frightened to be there. McMorrow looks as though she's pushing the woman from behind, while El-Sayed is literally pointing out the pages on the script to the speaker. Presumably the dais was larger than a Port-a-Potty, so it's unclear why both Democrats are invading the woman's body space while she addresses the rally.
It gets worse. At one point, the woman freezes up and El-Sayed has to whisper something in her ear to get her to continue speaking. What does she say after that? It's praise of El-Sayed as someone who "stands with the worker," about as bland a generic cheer as you'll see. People might be forgiven for thinking that they've seen ventriloquist acts performed with more effectiveness in middle-school talent shows than the painful demonstration seen here.
Almost certainly, the woman has difficulty with public speaking. And that's understandable; plenty of people do, and maybe most people do until they grow accustomed to it. However, if that's the case, why choose this woman to deliver this particular argument, which is a generic "Republican is a corporate toady" allegation? This wasn't a personal testimony either for El-Sayed or against Rogers that would require it to be offered by the principal involved. El-Sayed and McMorrow literally stuffed words into her mouth and then hovered over her like Lavrentiy Beria's personal guards in a Soviet show trial to ensure compliance.
As to why they chose this woman to read off the script under apparent duress, I have my suspicions, based on El-Sayed's demographic problems in Detroit.
All of this makes Mike Rogers' latest barb at El-Sayed land even harder:
Trump-endorsed Mike Rogers takes aim at Abdul El-Sayed: “I KNOW a CONMAN when I see one.” pic.twitter.com/89WUELsNIM
— Salem News Channel (@WatchSalemNews) August 31, 2026
A conman, indeed. Looks like McMorrow's on the grift, too.
Speaking of hostage videos, CBS News reminded readers today of El-Sayed's previous comments on terror attacks:
El-Sayed is a leader of a new crop of candidates from a wing of his party that opposed American wars and capitalized on anger over anti-Arab sentiment in a state with a robust and active Muslim community. But now he is attempting to adapt — and in some cases delete — past statements that may run afoul of a broad, general election audience.
As El-Sayed heads into the fall general election campaign against Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, El-Sayed, a former public health official, has already been forced to distance himself from the views of Hasan Piker, a popular Twitch streamer who has appeared at El-Sayed's campaign events and who generated controversy for declaring that "America deserved 9/11" before later retracting the remark.
Meanwhile, El-Sayed's past references to the deadly attacks have continued to surface, including two deleted social media posts verified by CBS News that have not been previously reported. In those posts, he calls for the American public to muster the same outrage for the COVID-19 death toll that they displayed after 9/11.
In one, from April 2020, El-Sayed compared the nearly 3,000 Americans killed on Sept. 11 to the mounting COVID-19 death toll and argued for a response commensurate with the nation's post-9/11 mobilization. In another, El-Sayed wrote that because more Americans had died from COVID than in the Sept. 11 attacks, he hoped "that means we'll spend the next ten years fighting a war for public health & against poverty ... like we launched a global #WaronTerror after 9/11. We could save lives rather than take them."
El-Sayed is now trying to run as a moderate and run away from his own statements. Consider it the long con in Michigan, with the entire Democrat Party in on the action.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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