Capehart Defends El-Sayed From Socialism Label, Calls Trump ‘Openly Racist’
9th August 2026
MS NOW host Jonathan Capehart joined PBS News Hour anchor Amna Nawaz and The Atlantic staff writer David Brooks on Friday to defend Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed from Brooks’s accusation of being a socialist. While that may have been a bridge too far for Capehart, he had no problem claiming President Trump’s new birthright citizenship executive orders were “openly racist” and “white nationalist.”
To the race-obsessed, all things are racist.
Capehart wasn’t the only member of the trio upset at GOP labeling efforts. Nawaz lamented to Brooks, “What we have seen from Republicans on the messaging front so far is some anti-Muslim rhetoric already. Republicans are now using Dr. El-Sayed’s full name in their ads, which they haven’t used before, which is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, which I guess is supposed to scare people or something. But the president is also talking about a rising communism threat. None of these candidates are communists. Are those the strongest messages the Republicans have right now?”
Both Muslims and communists represent existential threats to both the country and our civilization. How much stronger a message is there?