Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
Appearances
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
where you were focusing on doing things like giving kids free eyeglasses and helping people so what do you make of the situation right now in state you know ben i'll tell you there is so much pain and i trained as a doctor and the thing you're trained to do is to walk in and see pain and ask two foundational questions what's wrong and how can i help and the thing about it is that oftentimes when people see you when they're in pain
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
it's already set into a kind of cynicism. What Trump's one neat trick is, is he's able to take that pain and then really, really drive the cynicism so that he puts people like him and Elon Musk in power. And then they just make it worse because of course they never really had any solutions.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
And you think about that message from that business owner, my neighbor here in Michigan, and we all have to know our worth. We all have sources of pain. In fact, I would argue that the reason Trump ever got elected is because there is so much of it. But the question of pain is, can we actually work together and turn it into hope? Can we believe that things can actually get better?
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
What Trump did on immigration, if I may for a second, because my parents immigrated to this country, what he did was he made us think that it was somebody else who was causing us all this pain. And then he demagogued the whole idea of immigration itself to destroy people's lives. I don't think anybody wants their lives destroyed or the lives of their neighbors destroyed.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
What they really want is to know that the economy works for people like them, not Musk and Trump. They really want to know that they can go see a doctor without taking on crippling medical debt. They really want to know that their kid goes to a school that's going to train them for the future that they hope will be better than the one that they had.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
And so it's just failing to see the challenge in front of folks and turning it into or turning ourselves against one another.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
Yeah, I happen to be one of the speakers at that rally in Warren. I mean, when I tell you what 10,000 people in a high school looks like, it's kind of wild. But the reason that they came out to listen to Senator Sanders is because he's been talking about these issues for a very long time.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
And anybody who knows anything about the senator is that he is unafraid to say what's wrong, to call it out clearly, and to propose real solutions. And you think about the kind of enthusiasm that that's generating. it should remind us that the bar is not really so high, even though I think a lot of politicians get themselves wound around the axle.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
And the reason why is because we're told that the way to win an election in a place like Michigan is to triangulate to the least common denominator position on an issue, and then make sure it's fundamentally inoffensive to anybody. But that then means... That if you're thinking about the corporation whose pack check you want, you end up saying nothing at all.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
But then you say it with enthusiasm because some consultant told you that you've got to really say it. But when you say nothing at all with enthusiasm, you'll look ridiculous.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
And so what Bernie is showing us is that if you are actually willing to surface the conversations people are having with their loved ones across the dinner table or the anxieties that they have when they look their kids in the eye and speak directly to those, that folks want to come out for that. So I'm so grateful for his endorsement, for what he's been doing in our politics.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
And I'm hoping that here in Michigan, we can take that, take that pain and surface it into real solutions that we can actually turn into public policy and start making people's lives better. That to me is where the hope is.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
Yeah, well, number one, it just shouldn't be this hard to get by in the richest, most powerful country in the world. And the people who have exploited that pain, they're just making it worse. So we need somebody who's going to do two things. Number one, you've got to step up and fight back. I got receipts on my role as a fighter and I don't back down. But it's not just about fighting back.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
You've got to know what you're going to fight for. And the thing about me is I'm not afraid to tell you what I think the world ought to look like. to give you a vision for what my leadership would mean in hard public policy. I wrote the book on Medicare for all.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
I know that corporations, the Fortune 500, have literally corrupted our politics for their profits against the kinds of opportunities that we need and deserve. I'm fighting for an economy where one job is enough to feed a family, where it's the best possible place to start a small business and then take care of your workers and spend your money in your local community.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
And I know that I can take on Mike Rogers for a couple of reasons. Number one, Mike Rogers has served. And when he served, he served himself. And number two, dude's from Florida. He's not even from here. And the thing about it is it's fascinating watching all these MAGA Republicans who used to be the kind of country club Republicans who signed on to things like the war in Iraq.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
And the reality of it is we know who Mike Rogers is, and people voted against him for Senate last time for a reason. So here's what we got to do. We got to remember we can't beat something with nothing. And so we've got to remember something, which is when you center the people who you're trying to serve,
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
When you're able to speak truth to their pain and turn it into answers, and you're willing to speak those answers all over your state, you can win a race. And if that's something that resonates with folks out there, I hope that they'll check us out at abdulforsenate.com, be a part of this campaign. I don't take corporate PAC checks, so I rely on good folks like you.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Michigan Dem Senate Candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Trump’s Attacks
I so appreciate you all having me, and thank you for fighting the good fight. We appreciate you.