Michigan Senate Democratic candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed doubled down on some of his controversial rhetoric during an interview on Monday. El-Sayed, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s Senate seat in 2026, has recently scrubbed some of his past social media comments about defunding the police.

Controversy Over Rhetoric

El-Sayed also has faced controversy for having responded to an attack on a synagogue in March by noting that ‘hurt people hurt people.’ Rhetoric from far-left politicians that refers to violence, even in metaphor, has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years after the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump and the murder of TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk.

During Monday’s interview, CBS anchor Major Garrett noted that ‘Michelle Obama used to have a phrase, ‘When they go low, we go high.’ You have a variation on that. What is it?’ El-Sayed began, ‘I deeply respect the First Lady. I do think, though, that Democrats need to recognize, and I learned this the hard way, when I was a kid named Abdul in school, I learned the hard way that if you let them take your lunch, guess what happens, you don’t eat lunch. And I want to eat lunch. I want everybody to eat lunch. So if they’re going to show up and try to bully us, don’t be surprised when we hit back. I won’t start the fight, but I’ll end it.’

Garrett also pressed him during the interview that his campaigning with far-left streamer Hasan Piker would inevitably be an issue his opponents would also target him on. El-Sayed replied, ‘Major, I’m hanging out with you. I don’t know everything you’ve said. I’m sure you’ve said some things I disagree with. You said some things I agree with. It tends to be in the real world. We hold people accountable for what they said, not what somebody around them said.’

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.