At a Michigan rally, Democratic politician Abdul El-Sayed delivered a speech focused on healthcare, economic fairness, and political reform ahead of the midterm elections. He urged supporters to stay engaged, emphasized grassroots organizing, and called for policies aimed at improving the lives of working families. The speech drew enthusiastic reactions from the crowd and gained significant attention online. While supporters praised his message, the claim that it "left Trump stunned" is a promotional characterization rather than an independently verified fact.
#AbdulElSayed #Michigan #Democrats #Midterms #Trump #USPolitics #Healthcare #Campaign #Rally #BreakingNews #PoliticalSpeech #Election2026 #Grassroots #News #Politics
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#AbdulElSayed #Michigan #Democrats #Midterms #Trump #USPolitics #Healthcare #Campaign #Rally #BreakingNews #PoliticalSpeech #Election2026 #Grassroots #News #Politics
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NewsTranscript
00:00We got some business to cover, huh?
00:04Money out of?
00:06Money.
00:07Money in your?
00:08Not care.
00:09Medicare for?
00:10All.
00:10Let them here in the next town down.
00:13Money out of?
00:14Not care.
00:15Money in your?
00:16Not care.
00:17Medicare for?
00:18All.
00:19Now listen, y'all.
00:21It just shouldn't be this hard.
00:23Shouldn't be this hard to afford a second bag of groceries.
00:26Shouldn't be this hard to pay your rent.
00:29Shouldn't be this hard to believe you could ever own a home.
00:34Shouldn't be this hard to stay in your home if you're over 65.
00:37Shouldn't be this hard to see a doctor in the richest, most powerful country in the world.
00:43Shouldn't be this hard to pay your taxes and know that that money is going to be spent on
00:48you rather than to drop bombs on somebody else and their kids.
01:01Now y'all know I was never supposed to run for office.
01:04I mean my parents gave me an 11 letter first name.
01:07It's got sounds that come out of parts of people's throats most people don't know they have.
01:11They have.
01:11They have.
01:15I like it too.
01:18I wanted to be a doctor.
01:20I wanted to be a doctor since I can remember because I would spend my summers, days like
01:27this in Alexandria, Egypt where both my parents immigrated from.
01:30And on the trip there it would take me 15 hours to get there but I would travel 10 years
01:36difference
01:37in life expectancy.
01:38And that was written in the bodies of my family.
01:43My grandmother, smartest, wisest person I have ever met in my whole life, never got to go
01:47to school.
01:49She was the 9th of 14, born and raised in a time and a place where little girls like
01:54her were denied that right.
01:57She raised six kids of eight to whom she gave birth.
02:02Two died before their first birthday.
02:05An aunt and uncle I never got to meet.
02:07A sister and a brother that my dad watched pass before he turned five years old.
02:13My grandmother, when I would be in Egypt, she would remind me, you're not any smarter,
02:20any better looking, any more athletic, any harder working than any of your cousins.
02:26But you might have the most important gift of all.
02:29I'd ask her, what's that?
02:31She'd tell me, you get to go back to America at the end of the summer.
02:36Your cousins have to stay here.
02:39And she's right.
02:41I had the gift of incredible public education.
02:44Got vaccinated against diseases that my aunt and uncle died of before their first birthdays.
02:52I got to go to an amazing public university.
02:55I got my medical education paid for by the federal government at the NIH.
03:00Those are opportunities my cousins could not have dreamed of.
03:03And that's the life that America gave me.
03:10People like to tell me, oh, you must hate America.
03:12In fact, we had one of those come in today.
03:15Oh, you must hate America.
03:17I love America.
03:25USA!
03:27USA!
03:31But to love America is to be honest with America.
03:43See, I didn't have to go 15 hours to travel 10 years difference in life expectancy.
03:51I could go 15 minutes from where I grew up and I would cross the same 10 year difference in
03:57life expectancy.
03:57And the very same America that gave me all of these incredible gifts denied them from children growing up 15
04:05minutes away whose families had been here far longer than mine.
04:09I love America, but I love America enough to be honest about what America owes all of our children.
04:21I went off to medical school to learn how to heal only to realize that it was our health care
04:28system that too often was part of the problem.
04:30I was learning all this physiology about how illness manifests in a body, but watching as my patients were exposed
04:39to the pathophysiology of our politics just outside.
04:46Air, water, inability to go to a good school, all things that dictate whether or not you get sick or
04:55you stay healthy.
04:57And watching people exposed to dirty air and unclean water walk into a health care system more eager to spit
05:04them out than to take care of them made me realize that I didn't want to work in the health
05:08care system, I wanted to work on the health care system.
05:18So, when we all graduated medical school, and yes, I did graduate medical school, and all my classmates went and
05:28pursued residencies like normal people to become specialists in medicine, I went into public health.
05:35Go public health, yeah, that's right.
05:37Hey, if y'all, if y'all don't like explosive diarrhea, yay, public health, huh?
05:48Can't even eat the lettuce.
05:51Gotta breathe the, like, wildfire air.
05:55And they appointed RFK Jr.
05:58To be the health director.
06:03You laugh so you don't cry.
06:05But, you know, it's no wonder that the dude who's best public health advice is that you got to drink
06:09raw milk is overseeing all of this.
06:19He said it.
06:24I got the opportunity to come home to rebuild the health department in this incredible city after it had been
06:30shut down.
06:31When the state rolled through here, imposed emergency management, and threw the public health department overboard.
06:40The same emergency management that made the decision to change the water in Flint and caused the Flint water crisis.
06:48They shut down a 185-year-old health department in a city with a higher infant mortality rate than my
06:54father's native Egypt.
06:56Now, we rolled up our sleeves, working together with Detroiters, we rebuilt that department.
07:03Put glasses on thousands of kids, took on some of the biggest corporate polluters in our state, had every school,
07:12daycare, and headstart tested for lead in the water.
07:16Built a program to take on maternal and child health disparities called Sister Friends.
07:23And I'm grateful today that that very same health department is being run by a young man who was a
07:29fellow of mine way back about 10 years ago.
07:34And they're still fighting the public health fight for this incredible city.
07:39I got to lead Wayne County's Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services.
07:48We put Narcan in vending machines for free.
07:55Built a program to provide new small businesses free health insurance.
08:05Put air quality monitors all over this county.
08:10And when we found out that our county ranked number eight for medical debt nationwide,
08:15we set aside $7 million to erase up to $700 million in medical debt.
08:29Here's my favorite.
08:30They're like, well, it hasn't erased it all yet.
08:32My question is just how much medical debt have you erased?
08:38But let's be honest.
08:40At the end of the day,
08:42so much of this work sits downstream of a politics
08:45that leaves us having to clean up the messes
08:50that the politicians in D.C. create.
08:55And I'm never going to forget the day sitting in my office
08:58when this administration froze federal funds.
09:01Y'all remember that?
09:02Feels like 10 years ago.
09:04It was about a year ago.
09:09And I'm trying to figure out how to make sure
09:11that WIC checks keep going out
09:14to put food on the table for moms and babies.
09:17How to make sure people don't miss the appointment
09:19they've been waiting for at the federally qualified health center.
09:22Trying to make sure
09:24that vaccines can still go in arms.
09:26And I get a notification on my phone
09:28that after his long career,
09:32our current U.S. Senator Gary Peters
09:33is no longer seeking re-election.
09:36And I told myself, you know,
09:38maybe it's time for us to get a U.S. Senator
09:39who actually wants to go and fight.
09:53Now, y'all know this is not my first rodeo.
09:56I ran for governor back in 2018.
09:59It was the first time that orange gentlemen had been elected.
10:05And I told myself, you know what?
10:08I know I might be 32,
10:09but let's go big or go home.
10:11I went big, then I went home.
10:14But we earned 340,000 votes.
10:18We got outspent 7 to 1,
10:19but we were 2 to 1 more efficient
10:22than our opponent who won
10:23and 3 to 1 more efficient
10:24than the guy that Donovan's about to kick out of Congress.
10:30And we said something in that race
10:33I think now has matured,
10:35which is that Donald Trump
10:36is not himself the disease of our politics.
10:39He's just the worst symptom
10:40of the disease of our politics.
10:42The disease is the system
10:44that allows big corporations,
10:46billionaires, special interests like AIPAC
10:48to buy and sell politicians
10:50to do their bidding instead of ours.
10:52We have to pay more for all we pay for,
10:56get paid less for the work we do
10:57and watch as our tax dollars
10:59get misappropriated
11:00to drop bombs
11:01and buy tanks abroad
11:02rather than to invest in schools
11:03and healthcare here at home.
11:08So we're running a simple campaign.
11:11We want money out of?
11:13Put money in your?
11:15Pass Medicare for?
11:17And look, that campaign's taken us
11:19to 110 different cities now,
11:23475 public events.
11:27And people say the same things.
11:31You can be in a living room in Lansing,
11:33a church here in Detroit,
11:36a VFW hall in Escanaba,
11:39a park in Grand Rapids.
11:42People ask you the same things.
11:43When am I going to be able
11:44to afford my healthcare?
11:46Why does it feel like I'm working
11:47twice as hard to get half as far?
11:51Why do I keep driving all over
11:53the same stupid pothole
11:54they told me they were going to fix?
11:59Why do I pay my taxes
12:01to kill other people
12:02when my own kid deserves a better school?
12:18We got an opportunity in this race
12:20to fight for what we need and deserve.
12:23It's a pretty crazy thing
12:25that in the year of our Lord,
12:262026, I am the only candidate
12:27for U.S. Senate
12:28who is not taking a dime
12:29of corporate money
12:30to run my campaign
12:31and never will.
12:36And frankly, Detroit,
12:38I think that should be illegal.
12:42Because ask yourself,
12:45if a Democrat is funded by DTE
12:48and a Republican is funded by DTE,
12:50it doesn't matter which one wins.
12:52DTE wins.
12:54If a Democrat takes money
12:56from Blue Cross
12:57and a Republican takes money
12:58from Blue Cross,
12:59you know who wins?
13:00Blue Cross wins.
13:02If a Democrat takes money
13:03from AIPAC
13:04and a Republican takes money
13:05from AIPAC,
13:06AIPAC wins.
13:10So if we're serious
13:11about putting ourselves
13:12back in the center
13:13of our politics,
13:14we've got to be serious
13:14about getting money
13:15out of politics
13:16in the first place.
13:17We need to stand up
13:18to Citizens United
13:18and finally end the chokehold
13:20that corporations have had
13:21on our politics
13:22for far too long.
13:33Now, you heard
13:36from the indomitable
13:37Sean Fane
13:41who reminded us
13:42what we can have
13:43when we're willing
13:44to stand up
13:45and fight.
13:47unions built the middle class.
13:49Unions built
13:50the 40-hour work week.
13:51Unions built the weekend.
13:53I don't get one anymore,
13:53but we built it.
13:56Unions built the fact
13:57that our kids
13:57go to school
13:59instead of going to work.
14:01And unions can build it again
14:03when we're willing
14:04to stand with unions.
14:08So it is time for us
14:10to stand with our union
14:11sisters and brothers.
14:12We've got to pass
14:13that PRO Act.
14:14We've got to normalize
14:15union organizing
14:16in every sector
14:17of American life.
14:19And while we're at it,
14:21let's stand up
14:22to the corporations
14:23who tell us
14:23that there's no more
14:24money for workers.
14:25Let's ban stock buybacks.
14:32And I don't know
14:33about you all,
14:35but I think NAFTA
14:36was a bad idea.
14:39I think USMCA
14:41wasn't much better.
14:43And as much as I
14:44cannot stand
14:45Donald Trump's
14:46approach to tariffs,
14:48which is,
14:49like all things,
14:50ham-fisted,
14:51chaotic,
14:52and self-serving,
14:54I actually think
14:54there's a role
14:55for targeted tariffs
14:57to protect
14:57our working sisters
14:58and brothers
14:59in this country.
15:08Now,
15:09there's no coincidence
15:10that in an era
15:12where union participation
15:14is near an all-time low,
15:16we're watching
15:16more and more billionaires
15:17get spit out
15:18of this economy.
15:20And I don't know
15:21about you all,
15:21but I think
15:22it's a ridiculous thing
15:23that it's easier
15:24for a billionaire
15:24to make a second billion dollars
15:26than it is
15:26for somebody
15:27to make their first
15:2850,000.
15:32Now,
15:32y'all know
15:34how many billionaires
15:35you can make
15:35or how many millionaires
15:36you can make
15:37for one billionaire?
15:38A thousand of them.
15:40And they're out here
15:40trying to protect billionaires.
15:42I don't know,
15:42I'd rather have
15:43a thousand millionaires
15:43than one billionaire.
15:47But more importantly,
15:49I think billionaires
15:51ought to pay
15:52their fair share.
15:54If you tax,
15:56if you tax a billionaire
15:57at 8%,
15:58you know what they still are.
15:59Still a billionaire.
16:01Your kids' kids' kids
16:02are going to be rich.
16:03Maybe you can pay
16:04your fair share
16:04so the rest of our kids
16:05can get to go
16:06to good schools
16:07and travel functional roads
16:09and get good health care.
16:11So it is high past time
16:13for us to stand up
16:14to the billionaire class
16:15and tax them their wealth.
16:24Now,
16:25every single thing
16:26you've got to buy
16:27feels like it's getting
16:28more and more expensive.
16:31And that's because
16:32a few corporations
16:33get to control
16:34every single sector
16:36of American life.
16:37and they use
16:38their power
16:39to rig our economy
16:40to force us
16:40to pay more.
16:41They literally
16:42pick our pockets
16:43so their CEO
16:43can make more next year.
16:45And I think it is time
16:46for us to take on
16:47price gouging.
16:48I think it is time
16:49for us to take on
16:50monopolies and oligopolies.
16:51I think it is time
16:52for us to stand up
16:53to corporate power
16:54and I think it is time
16:55for us to start enforcing
16:57our policies on the books
16:58to make sure
16:59that no corporation
17:00can control prices on us
17:02to pick our pockets
17:03to enrich their CEOs
17:04and their shareholders.
17:12Now, there's one last point.
17:14You don't have to go
17:14too far from here
17:15to see a school
17:16that looks like
17:17it did 50 years ago.
17:19Every time you talk
17:20about trying to rebuild
17:21a school,
17:22they ask you,
17:22how are you going
17:23to pay for that?
17:25I don't know about you all,
17:26but I don't pay my taxes
17:28to buy another country
17:29a bomb or a tank.
17:30I pay my taxes
17:32so that all our kids
17:33get to go to good schools
17:34and get good health care.
17:40So it is time
17:41for us in this country
17:42to stand up
17:44and decide
17:45that we are no longer
17:46going to send
17:46unconditional foreign military aid
17:48to foreign governments.
17:53Not Israel,
17:55not Egypt,
17:57not Jordan,
17:59not Saudi Arabia.
18:00I want my tax dollars
18:01in Michigan.
18:02I want good schools
18:03in Michigan.
18:04I want good roads
18:06in Michigan.
18:06I want health care
18:08in Michigan.
18:08I want child care
18:09in Michigan.
18:10I want my money
18:11spent in Michigan.
18:15And no,
18:17they're going to try
18:18and tell you,
18:19oh, it must be
18:19you hate somebody.
18:20No, it is not
18:21because I hate anybody.
18:22It's because I love everybody.
18:23And I just want
18:25to be clear
18:25about one thing.
18:26I love
18:27and revere
18:28and deeply appreciate
18:30Judaism
18:30and the Jewish people.
18:35And I love
18:36and revere
18:37and deeply appreciate
18:39the Palestinian people
18:40and their history
18:41and their culture
18:42and their tradition.
18:46And I love
18:47and I revere
18:49our kids here at home
18:51who deserve better schools
18:52and health care.
18:55So forgive me
18:56if I want to keep
18:58our tax dollars here
19:00to buy schools
19:02and health care
19:02for our kids here
19:03rather than send them
19:04to a foreign government
19:06to foreclose
19:07on the possibility
19:08of Palestinian self-determination
19:09and do genocide
19:10and apartheid.
19:15It's not about
19:16hating anyone.
19:17It's about loving everyone.
19:26And then let's be clear.
19:29I'm proud of the work
19:30we did on medical debt.
19:32I really am.
19:33But medical debt
19:34shouldn't exist
19:34in the first place.
19:37A third of American households
19:40holding debt
19:40because they went
19:41to see a doctor
19:42when they were sick.
19:45$225 billion
19:46of medical debt?
19:47That is more
19:48than the GDP
19:48of half the states
19:49in this country
19:50in medical debt.
19:52And we can wipe away
19:53all of that medical debt.
19:55And I just want to give you
19:56all some numbers here, okay?
19:57You can erase
19:58all the medical debt
19:59in this country
20:00for a penny on the dollar.
20:01So if you're doing the math,
20:03$225 billion,
20:05you can erase
20:06for what?
20:07About $2.25 billion?
20:10I want you to think
20:11about how much
20:11we are wasting
20:12dropping bombs
20:13in foreign countries.
20:16I don't know
20:17if you were watching,
20:20but the other individual
20:21who would like to be
20:22the Democratic nominee
20:23for the U.S. Senate
20:24just took a vote
20:24to send more than that
20:26to a foreign government
20:27last week.
20:34We've got to be serious, y'all.
20:36And then we've got
20:37to be serious
20:37about the fact
20:38that nobody should
20:39incur medical debt
20:40again in the future.
20:42And the best single way
20:43to prevent that
20:44from happening
20:44is to finally meet
20:45the unmet promise
20:46of America
20:47and guarantee everybody
20:48health care
20:49through Medicare for all.
21:04Now, look.
21:06I know I'm not supposed
21:07to run for office.
21:10I got the wrong name.
21:12Apparently,
21:13if you pray like this
21:14and not like this,
21:15I pray the wrong way.
21:18I got the wrong profession.
21:21But I'm also not going
21:22to stand here
21:23and tell you
21:23what you cannot have
21:24and should not fight for.
21:27I'm not going to tell you
21:28that you cannot have
21:28nice things
21:29in the richest,
21:30most powerful country
21:31in the world.
21:33I'm not going to tell you
21:34that we've got to make peace
21:35with the corporations
21:36who nickel and dime us
21:37at every turn
21:38and that if they want something,
21:39we've got to go on
21:40and give it to them.
21:41I'm not going to tell you
21:42any of those things.
21:45And if you've been watching,
21:48they've taken to calling me
21:50dangerous.
21:52Now, I don't know why
21:53you would call somebody
21:54who looks like me
21:55with a name like mine
21:57dangerous.
21:59It's an interesting
22:00adjective to use.
22:01Nobody's ever called
22:01somebody who looks like me
22:02dangerous.
22:04So I just want to ask,
22:07if you're a child
22:08forced to breathe
22:09at the end
22:10of a smokestack,
22:13you think they think
22:14I'm dangerous?
22:17Or a kid sitting
22:18in the back of the classroom
22:19who couldn't see
22:19the blackboard
22:20who got that first
22:21pair of glasses.
22:22If you're that kid,
22:23I'm not dangerous.
22:26If you're a worker
22:27who wants our economy
22:28to work for you,
22:29I'm not dangerous.
22:32If you're somebody
22:33sitting in medical debt
22:35wondering what your
22:36financial future is
22:37because you deigned
22:38to see a doctor
22:38in the richest,
22:39most powerful country
22:40in the world,
22:40if you're that person,
22:42I'm not dangerous.
22:47If you're somebody
22:49who wants government
22:50to work for you,
22:52I'm not dangerous.
22:53I might just be
22:55the one person
22:56running for U.S. Senate
22:57who actually wants
22:59to serve you.
23:07but if you're the CEO
23:09of DTE,
23:10you damn well
23:10don't believe,
23:11I'm dangerous.
23:14If you're Blue Cross,
23:16Blue Shield shareholders,
23:18yep, I'm dangerous.
23:24If you're a corporation
23:25wanting to buy a politician
23:27with their PAC,
23:27I'm dangerous.
23:30If you're APAC
23:31and want to send
23:32our money abroad,
23:33you damn well better
23:34believe I'm dangerous.
23:37If you're Chuck Schumer
23:39and want to keep
23:40doling out corporate money
23:42to elect people
23:43who are going to do
23:43your bidding,
23:44I am so damn dangerous.
23:48But if you're somebody
23:49who wants government
23:50to work for you,
23:52I aim to be
23:53the best friend
23:53you ever had.
23:55Now look,
23:56I told you,
23:58my childhood taught me
23:59just how blessed I was
24:01to be on the other side
24:03of an accident of history
24:04that had me born here.
24:07And earlier this month
24:08we commemorated
24:09the 250th anniversary
24:10of this country.
24:14And it's been a moment
24:15of reflection I think
24:16for a lot of us
24:16particularly considering
24:17who was president
24:18in this moment.
24:20Now they want to sell us
24:23a fake phony sense,
24:24a cartoon
24:25of what America is.
24:27America is no cartoon.
24:29America is an incredible place
24:32with flaws.
24:35A history of Indian removal,
24:38chattel slavery,
24:42the far too long fight
24:46for women's suffrage,
24:49the discrimination
24:51on who could immigrate here,
24:54Jim Crow,
24:56segregation.
25:02And as you reflect
25:03on those past 250,
25:06I think it's important
25:07for us to ask
25:10how do we make sense
25:12of those flaws?
25:16America has one
25:18incredible gift
25:21and that is the
25:22indelible capacity
25:24to correct.
25:26In this country,
25:27we don't make peace
25:29with our demons.
25:31We exercise them.
25:34In this country,
25:38we don't rest on our laurels.
25:41We fight for better.
25:45Subscribe to One India
25:46and never miss an update.
25:50Download the One India app now.
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