Abdul El-Sayed's Senate campaign hit some rough waters last night when he appeared on Fox News for a one-on-one interview with Jesse Watters. It did not go well for El-Sayed. At all. Not only did Watters expose how dangerous El-Sayed's platform is, El-Sayed made himself look foolish with his answers.
We'll start with abolishing ICE, one of the big planks in the Democrats' platform and part of their radical agenda if they regain power.
JESSE WATTERS : You want to abolish ICE. Who is going to deport the criminal aliens from the country?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
ABDUL EL-SAYED: You and I both know that we've long before we ever had ICE, we had INS. We were able to enforce our immigration policies without shooting people in the face.… pic.twitter.com/JX4mG3eAsT
"You and both that long before we ever had ICE, we had INS. We were able to enforce our immigration policies without shooting people in the face, in the back of the head," El-Sayed said. "And we just celebrated our 250th anniversary. That was an anniversary of throwing away tyranny. Now to bring that tyranny back under the guise of the U.S. government itself seems to me to be inconsistent with the freedom you and I both love."
"That's a dodge, Abdul," Watters interrupted. "They did the same thing as ICE back then, INS. Do you know how many illegal aliens are in the country now?"
"Let me answer the question. We had far fewer when we had INS," El-Sayed replied.
"We have twice as many illegals now than when we had INS," Watters said. "We have to have the manpower to do it."
"If you want to do that correlation, we have ICE now and we have far, far more undocumented people, so ICE is clearly not working," a snarky El-Sayed said.
That's just not true. We have more illegals because Democrats like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris let them into the country almost entirely unchecked.
They stayed on ICE, where El-Sayed couldn't even bring himself to admit that ICE gets dangerous criminals off our streets.
EL-SAYED: When I traveled the state, and I have traveled my state, more people are asking me about how they’re going to afford their gas and groceries because they’re not asking me about immigration.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
WATTERS: They also don’t want to get molested. Abdul, you got a guy here from… pic.twitter.com/vprcoSDlRj
"They also don’t want to get molested. Abdul, you got a guy here from Southeast Asia who molested a kid. ICE just picked him up. You want that guy to stay in Michigan?" Watters asked.
There was a very pregnant pause before El-Sayed had to admit child molesters shouldn't be in Michigan.
"I'm glad that that guy got picked up, but that's a different thing than saying INS would not have picked him up. You're too smart for this," El-Sayed said, being snarky again.
"It's a bureaucratic game you're playing," Watters pointed out. "That's a dodge."
"Playing by your own rules, when we had INS, we had fewer people doing the things you're talking about," El-Sayed said.
"That's because Biden didn't blow open the border back then," Watters replied.
They also talked about El-Sayed' support for the Green New Deal, which would significantly reduce our quality of life and make our utility bills, gas prices, and airline ticket costs skyrocket to "save the planet."
WATTERS: Green new deal. You backed that up. Do you drive an electric car?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
EL-SAYED: I drive a plug-in hybrid made right in the United States. The question about cars is why the president just started a trade war or escalated a trade war with Canada, which is about to make all… pic.twitter.com/egvu4vaUxY
What was really clear from this exchange is that El-Sayed has no idea what's in the Green New Deal.
"You want to get rid of the internal combustion engine," Watters said.
"No, I don't. Who told you that?" El-Sayed asked.
"That's what the Green New Deal says," Watters replied.
El-Sayed didn't do better when it came to taxing wealth and millionaires, either.
EL-SAYED: The question ultimately is, do you want to drive on good roads, or would you have a billionaire make a second billion? That’s what Donald Trump wants. Apparently that’s what you want. I think the people of Michigan want something different.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
WATTERS: So you’re saying… pic.twitter.com/F0M7vWhkTE
Watters played a video of El-Sayed saying he wants to tax people who have over $100 million. "We gotta start taxing wealth for people who have over $100 million. I mean, at that point, what are you even going to do with more money?"
"What are you going to do with more money? Whatever I want," Watters said, laughing.
"I think the people of Michigan want something different. They want good roads and good schools," El-Sayed replied.
"It's not me, it's the American public," he continued when asked about newly minted billionaire Beyoncé. "Beyoncé, I think, would be happy to contribute back to the public schools she went to. I think she'd be happy to invest in good roads in her community. I think she would be happy to pay a little bit more so everyone can have a little bit more."
Watters asked El-Sayed about the cost of socialized healthcare. That went poorly for Abdul, too.
WATTERS: You say you want socialized health care. Abdul, how much is that going to cost?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
EL-SAYED: It’s going to cost the average Michigander a whole lot less than they pay right now.
WATTERS: I have a feeling, Abdul, you don’t even know how much money the government spends… pic.twitter.com/eTGA7Zv0NJ
"I want to bring your costs down. The price of the program is going to be substantially less for an everyday person who is out here who can't afford their healthcare and worried about losing their healthcare with their job," El-Sayed said.
"Give me a number," Watters asked.
"While you're out here trying to talk about the broader national budget, I'm more interested in the everyday budget that Michiganders are thinking about," El-Sayed replied.
Medicare for All would require a 32 percent payroll tax and a doubling of the federal tax rate. At a minimum.
When Watters talked about Sharia law, El-Sayed made a fool of himself.
WATTERS: You said getting rid of Sharia law is white supremacy? Can you explain that one?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
EL-SAYED: Do you know what canon law is?
WATTERS: Yeah, tell me.
EL-SAYED: Canon law is Christian law. I don’t begrudge you your right to practice your faith as you choose. I don’t know… pic.twitter.com/wfBVtiF6Tm
"Canon law is Christian law. I don’t begrudge you your right to practice your faith as you choose. I don’t know why the idea that I can practice my faith as I choose is a problem," El-Sayed said.
"Nobody is trying to push Sharia law on anyone else," he continued. "Just like I hope nobody is trying to push canon law on anybody else."
That's because Canon law is restricted to the Catholic Church. Sharia law dictates every aspect of public life, including mandates that women cover up, a ban on alcohol and pork, and bans on music and other things. They are not even remotely the same.
But when Pete Hegseth has a Jerusalem Cross tattoo, it's proof of impending "Christian nationalism."
Watters also made El-Sayed squirm on his views on the Second Amendment. El-Sayed said he wanted to replace the Second Amendment's right to bear arms with a right to healthcare.
WATTERS: You want to replace the right to bear arms with the right to health care. You don’t want to replace the Second Amendment, do you?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
EL-SAYED: Well, look, man, I think more people are more worried about whether or not they can see a doctor than whether or not they can have… pic.twitter.com/RvtMu1kd4C
El-Sayed never answers a question directly.
"I think more people are more worried about whether or not they can see a doctor than whether or not they can have a gun. I’m just putting that out there," El-Sayed said.
"You're dodging the question," Watters noted. "Do you want to replace the Second Amendment?"
"I'm just saying that more people are more concerned about seeing a doctor. If we had a right to healthcare in this country, they probably wouldn't and I think that'd be a pretty good thing, don't you?" El-Sayed replied.
But it really got ridiculous when asked about gender mutilating surgeries for children.
WATTERS: You think it’s okay for a parent to slash his kid's ding-a-ling off? You think that’s okay?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
EL-SAYED: Are you circumcised?
WATTERS: Circumcision is different than castration. pic.twitter.com/xTl0xQkTjd
"Look, you know, I remember having great conversations with my conservative friends about the right to try legislation, the idea that the government shouldn't tell you what kind of healthcare you should have," El-Sayed said, shortly after saying the government should tell you what kind of healthcare you should have.
"I just think the government shouldn't tell you what kind of healthcare you should have," he continued, "and if you're a minor, that's between you and your doctor and your parents."
"You think it’s okay for a parent to slash his kid's ding-a-ling off? You think that’s okay?" Watters asked.
"Do you really want to have this conversation? Are you circumcised?" El-Sayed asked. A doctor should know that removing a boy's penis and circumcision are two different things.
El-Sayed really knew it wasn't going well for him when he melted down over boys in girls' sports.
Abdul El-Sayed has a MELTDOWN when being questioned about sex changes for minors and boys playing in girls' sports.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
EL-SAYED: Jesse, you have not asked me one time about the issues that people actually care about in Michigan. You don’t want to talk about gas prices. You don’t… pic.twitter.com/6tVfpGEMLM
"I just want to understand what you're getting at here," El-Sayed said.
"You're filibustering here, Abdul," Watters said as El-Sayed ranted and refused to answer direct questions.
"You guys kind of lost on that issue last time," Watters said. "Should men play in women's sports? You have daughters, right?"
And El-Sayed still wouldn't answer the question.
El-Sayed supports reparations, too.
WATTERS: Reparations. Do you support that?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2026
EL-SAYED: I think we need to have an honest conversation about the incredible debt that was put upon black folks as a function of slavery that we have yet to pay, and I think that’s fair. If people are enslaved and forced into servitude… pic.twitter.com/OLaR9Nvlod
"I understand that for folks who really want to inflame the culture war, I just think that it's important for us to think about how do we make sure that communities like the City of Detroit, that have been segregated, so that you have disproportionate people as a function of redlining who are forced into certain communities, how do we make sure their schools are whole?" El-Sayed said.
He lost Detroit, by the way.
Watters spent the interview absolutely bodying El-Sayed, who couldn't answer any questions directly and who did more damage to his campaign than anything.
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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