Trump calls El-Sayed a ‘terrible candidate’

President Trump on Wednesday called Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D) “terrible,” as the progressive battles former Rep. Mike Rogers (R) in a closely contested race in the Wolverine State.

“Mohammed El-Sayed is a terrible Candidate for the Dumocrats,” Trump wrote on Truth Social , using his nickname for Democrats. El-Sayed’s full name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.

The president praised Rogers as “an extremely good” candidate, but said El-Sayed “goes back to days of the Jihad.”

Trump continued, “He is a RADICAL Extremist, Terrorist Sympathizer,” adding that the Democratic hopeful is “no different” from left-wing streamer Hasan Piker.

“Mohammed’s Values are not exactly those of Michiganders, or those of our Great United States of America! He is WRONG for Michigan, and WRONG for America,” the president wrote.

El-Sayed, who is Muslim, was born in Michigan to Egyptian immigrants. He is the former director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services and defeated centrist Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the Democratic primary earlier this year.

Decision Desk HQ , a partner of The Hill, gave the progressive a 70 percent chance to defeat Rogers as of Wednesday. Nine days after the primary, the two candidates were neck-and-neck, with the Democrat holding a 51 percent chance of victory.

El-Sayed has campaigned on implementing Medicare for All, raising taxes on capital gains and billionaires and banning corporate PAC spending in politics.

He has also said the U.S. should cease funding the militaries of Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, blasting the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide.”

Rogers, who represented Michigan’s 8th Congressional District for 14 years, broke with Trump on his trade war with Canada on Wednesday. In a new ad , the Republican said the dispute should end “now,” after previously defending the levies on Canadian imports as “necessary” in a statement last month to USA Today .

The former GOP lawmaker did not mention Trump in his ad, and the president said Wednesday he thought the Senate candidate was directing his message toward Canadian officials.

“I viewed [Rogers] as saying that he thinks Canada should make a deal,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

The president has repeatedly gone after El-Sayed since he won the primary, as Rogers looks to flip the seat held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

El-Sayed responded to the president’s attacks on Monday, saying Trump should “come to Michigan” and stump for Rogers.

“Your candidate can’t speak for himself. [Rogers] doesn’t have anything to say. Clearly, you are the answer, and you should tell everybody why they should imagine you on the ballot,” the Democrat told MS NOW’s “All In,” directing his remarks at the president.