Commentary Culture Investigations

Meyers Claims GOP Attacks On El-Sayed Are ‘Truly Vile, Gutter Racism’

October 30, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Commentary Culture Investigations

On Thursday, NBC’s Late Night host, Seth Meyers, continued late night comedy’s effort to ignore the substance behind GOP attacks on Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s radical past and insist that, instead, they are just “truly vile, gutter racism.”Meyers introduced a montage of various Republican politicians by declaring, “But as gross as the attacks on Talarico are, they somehow pale in comparison to the truly revolting attacks the GOP has been levelling at Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who was born and raised in Michigan. They’ve been trafficking against him some truly vile, gutter racism.”The montage included Sen. Tim Scott claiming, “They don’t just flirt with terrorism. They actually helped fund Osama bin Laden,” and Sen. John Kennedy echoing the idea, “AIPAC wouldn’t be — they wouldn’t come here if Dr. El-Sayed didn’t sleep in a bin Laden jersey.” Seth Meyers claims GOP criticisms of Abdul El-Sayed are “truly vile, gutter racism” and “It’s disgusting how nakedly racist this is.” After a clip of Trump comparing Mike Rogers to apple pie, he adds “I know you’re racist but are you also maybe just hungry?” pic.twitter.com/2L12BwMTDt— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) October 30, 2026 By just playing the clips with no context, Meyers’s liberal audience might not be aware of the fact that El-Sayed’s mother worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, which was indicted for violating U.S. sanctions on Iraq and whose parent agency, the Islamic African Relief Agency, was said by the Justice Department in 2004 to have funneled money to bin Laden.However, the clip that really upset Meyers was the last one of Sen. Ted Cruz, who mused, “If Abdul El-Sayed becomes the senator for Michigan… and if I’m correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result.”Meyers again omitted any talk about El-Sayed’s pre-campaign support for the Muslim Brotherhood and instead huffed, “Spoiler alert, he’s not correct. In fact, if you want to know where Ted got that from, he’s pulling it directly from—”After a brief clip of President Trump saying “his ass,” Meyers rolled on, “It’s disgusting how nakedly racist this is. By the way, Ted, Americans actually did die in the winter storms that happened in your state while you were strolling through the airport with your rolling suitcase looking for a Cinnabon on your way to Cancun. And Americans did die when Trump fomented a riot at The Capitol. Trump is even doubling-down on his racist attacks toward El-Sayed with a dumb new nickname for the GOP candidate for Michigan, Mike Rogers.”Following another montage, this one of Trump claiming Rogers is “apple pie,” Meyers retorted, “You call him apple pie? I know you’re racist, but are you also maybe just hungry?”In a properly functioning world, El-Sayed’s radical past would be a late night comedian’s dream come true. Instead, we get lectures and attacks against Republicans for simply noticing that radical past.Here is a transcript for the October29 show:NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers10/30/202612:51 AM ETSETH MEYERS: But as gross as the attacks on Talarico are, they somehow pale in comparison to the truly revolting attacks the GOP has been levelling at Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who was born and raised in Michigan. They’ve been trafficking against him some truly vile, gutter racism.DONALD TRUMP: His name is actually Abdullah—it’s Abdullah bah bah bah bah Mohammed El-Sayed. So, his middle name is Mohammed. So, I was right. Almost. Oh, by the way, how about that guy? He’s a jihadist.TIM SCOTT: His family. They don’t just flirt with terrorism. They actually helped fund Osama bin Laden.JOHN KENNEDY: AIPAC wouldn’t be — they wouldn’t come here if Dr. El-Sayed didn’t sleep in a bin Laden jersey.TED CRUZ: If Abdul El-Sayed becomes the senator for Michigan [jump cut] and if I’m correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result.MEYERS: Spoiler alert, he’s not correct. In fact, if you want to know where Ted got that from, he’s pulling it directly from—TRUMP: His ass.MEYERS: It’s disgusting how nakedly racist this is. By the way, Ted, Americans actually did die in the winter storms that happened in your state while you were strolling through the airport with your rolling suitcase looking for a Cinnabon on your way to Cancun. And Americans did die when Trump fomented a riot at The Capitol. Trump is even doubling-down on his racist attacks toward El-Sayed with a dumb new nickname for the GOP candidate for Michigan, Mike Rogers.TRUMP [10/25 next to Air Force One]: Mike Rogers is apple pie.[10/14] He’s apple pie. He’s all apple pie.[10/25 on Fox News] He’s apple pie.[10/25 at a rally] I call him apple pie. He’s like perfect, this guy.MEYERS: You call him apple pie? I know you’re racist, but are you also maybe just hungry?

Alaska Democrat Candidate Peltola: ‘It Should Be Criminal Offense to Lie or Mislead Electorate’

October 30, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Commentary Culture Investigations

After Wednesday’s New York Times article exposed a scheme by Democrat Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign to confuse and deceive Alaska’s voters, an ironic video clip of Peltola declaring that her supporters should strive to criminalize such behavior quickly went viral.The Times article documents how Peltola’s campaign sought out and recruited a man with the same first and last name as her opponent, Dan Sullivan, and convinced him to put his name on the ballot in order to dupe voters trying to vote for the incumbent Republican senator.“It should be a criminal offense to lie or mislead the electorate. YES!” Peltola says in the video clip of comments reportedly made in August.“Yes, yes, let’s work for that,” Peltola adds.
🚨Mary Peltola in August:“It should be a criminal offense to lie or mislead the electorate. YES!” pic.twitter.com/oemOFQJxKZ— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) October 28, 2026

🚨Mary Peltola in August:“It should be a criminal offense to lie or mislead the electorate. YES!” pic.twitter.com/oemOFQJxKZ— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) October 28, 2026

The video went viral after being promoted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). On the group’s X.com account alone, the view has been viewed more than 600,000 times as of Friday morning.“We’ve got to stop the lying!” Peltola declares, before being asked the question about dishonest campaigning that prompted her now-viral proclamation, a longer video clip of her comments posted on YouTube by The New York Post shows.Peltola then goes on to urge those who are registered to vote to actually do so.A NRSC press release highlighting Peltola’s claim that “it should be” a criminal offense to deceive voters explains that it already is a crime, according to federal law:“Peltola’s and the Democrat establishment’s desperate scheme to rig Alaska’s Senate race is an illegal conspiracy against rights that violates 18 USC 241. Conspiracy between two or more parties to deceive voters into wasting their votes is a federal crime known as “conspiracy against rights”. The First Amendment does not protect efforts to deceive voters into casting ballots for the wrong candidate.”

Alaska Democrat Senate Candidate Peltola: ‘It Should Be Criminal Offense to Lie or Mislead Electorate’

October 30, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Commentary Culture Investigations

🚨Mary Peltola in August:“It should be a criminal offense to lie or mislead the electorate. YES!” pic.twitter.com/oemOFQJxKZ— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) October 28, 2026

PBS/NPR Affiliated Alaska Public Media Performs Desperate Peltola Spin Control

October 30, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Commentary Culture Investigations

YouTube Screenshot

Alaska Public Media is not just affiliated with PBS and NPR. When their federal funds were threatened, the Democrats put their CEO Ed Ulmer on the panel to testify before the House DOGE Subcommittee last year, as if the NPR and PBS CEOs weren’t enough.The assumption might be that a remote red state so distanced from the continent isn’t part of the Eastern media elite. Think again. They performed such absurd propaganda on behalf of embattled Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola (D) as to reach Soviet levels of the ridiculously unsubtle. What happened is they went through the motions of claiming to have interviewed private citizens yet, amazingly, found none who did not support Peltola. Even the supposed Republican they interviewed claimed he was planning to vote Peltola.Propagandists Eric Stone and Hannah Flor performed their silly Orwellian act on Wednesday in “New York Times report on Democrats’ secret ballot-stacking effort draws mixed reactions from Alaskans.”Oh, they did include a couple bits of criticism of Peltola but that was only from a statement by a public figure, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) and a from a spokesman for the campaign of Alaska’s other Republican senator Dan Sullivan (not to be confused with the other Dan Sullivan installed on the ballot by the Peltola campaign). With that out of the way it was a solid wall of love, Love, LOVE for Mary Peltola:Keven Kleweno, a registered Republican planning to vote for Peltola, said he was unsurprised by the news, given Republicans’ prior claims of Democratic involvement in Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign. “That’s nothing that we haven’t heard before,” he said.But at the same time, he suggested that Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager who spoke to the Times about the campaign’s involvement, was a disgruntled ex-employee who “didn’t like being laid off.”“I just feel it’s another way to, you know, slander Peltola and try to make sure Dan worthless Sullivan is reelected,” he said.Could he have been one of those infamous “life-long” Republicans who, when quoted, always seem to support Democrats?Adam Lees of Anchorage is registered nonpartisan and supports Peltola. He said his opinions of the Senate race were already “mostly baked in.” Still, he said, the reported effort to stack the ballot is “not the best look.” “It does give — I think as some of the kids would describe it — icky vibes,” he said. “But at the same time, I think voters are intelligent and can figure out how to rank and can figure out which Dan Sullivan is their person.”Yup! Despite getting “icky vibes” this one is also a Peltola supporter.Amber McClelland, a registered Democrat and former Libertarian living in Anchorage, said she agreed. Politics wasn’t always this “dirty,” she said — recruiting a candidate just to draw votes away from an opponent “should not be a thing.”“It’s kind of messed up,” she said. “But in the past, Republicans have done everything that they can do to win, including cheat.” The Alaska Public Media then switches gears slightly from finding private people who all just so happen to support Peltola to highlighting those who vouch for the integrity of the Dan J. Sullivan who was selected to be on the ballot by the Peltola campaign:In Petersburg, residents who have known Dan J. Sullivan for decades had a hard time reconciling the picture the Times painted with the man they know. Erica Kludt-Painter said she doesn’t believe he worked behind the scenes with the Democrats to stack the ballot.“I just don’t see him being involved in a national conspiracy,” she said. “I’m sorry, I just don’t. I know him to be a man of integrity who cares about his community and the people in it.”Petersburg Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton-Gregor said the community knows Dan J. Sullivan is a man of “high character,” and he doesn’t see the Times story changing anyone’s opinion of him. He said he was disappointed in the article. Alaska Public Media remained stubbornly true to liberal form by somehow not finding a single supporter of Senator Dan S. Sullivan (R) and ended with a flurry of yet more love for Peltola:D.J. McBride, an independent voter living in Willow planning to vote for Peltola, was taken aback by the suggestion that Alaskans couldn’t distinguish the senator from the retired teacher.“Both sides play pretty dirty pool, and if you’re stupid enough that you can’t tell the difference between an incumbent and a non-incumbent, I don’t have any patience for you,” she said. “Alaskans are smarter than that.”Fairbanks doctoral student Eric Evans said he was frustrated the controversy was drawing attention away from more important issues, such as the war with Iran. He said he had yet to make a final decision on who to vote for in the race.“I think it’s really, really unfortunate that the state Supreme Court of Alaska ruled on this months ago, and that this is what we’re talking about at this critical point in time, when, really, we should be talking about, how are we going to solve things?” he said.Geoff Kennedy, a retiree living in Anchorage who is registered as nonpartisan, said it was “absurd” to think Alaskans would be confused by the two Dan Sullivans. He said he didn’t expect the controversy to have much impact on the race.Mary Peltola critics? They seem not to even exist in the Alaska of the cloistered liberal bubble of Alaska Public Media.

Scarborough: ‘Decoy Dan’ Story a ‘Yawn’ Next to Musk Killing ‘Thousands’ in Ukraine’

October 30, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Commentary Culture Investigations

Mika Brzezinski Joe Scarborough Katty Kay MS NOW Morning Joe 10-29-26

Looks like Joe Scarborough has been doing his stretching exercises.Because on Thursday’s Morning Joe, Scarborough pulled off a piece of contortion that would make Gumby jealous. He admitted that Alaska Democrats putting a second Dan Sullivan—aka “Decoy Dan”—on the ballot to dilute votes for the real Dan Sullivan, the Republican senator, was bad—but not surprising.Ben Smith of Semafor had just laid out the New York Times reporting: Peltola’s campaign was “just absolutely lying to everybody about how the second guy named Dan Sullivan found his way onto the ballot,” which they called a “funny coincidence” but which actually involved “a statewide search for everyone named Dan Sullivan” until they found one on an island willing to run.Scarborough’s response:“Good for the New York Times, getting the story out there when voters needed to hear about it again. Maybe it’s cause I come from the land of W.D. Childers. Maybe it’s cause I come from northwest Florida. You know, W.D. says I want all your money and I want all your votes. I don’t care where they come from, blah, blah, blah. I mean, maybe that’s because, you know, like the people that I, like, this is not a, this story is not surprising to me… I’m not saying it’s not bad, and I’m glad again. Voters have this information before they go out and vote in Alaska, but I gotta say, in northwest Florida, they would yawn.”Scarborough somehow then twisted to Trump and Musk, and made a stunning accusation:Turning Ukraine over to Vladimir Putin [and] having your friend [Musk] turn Starlink down so thousands of Ukrainians are battered and killed. That’s surprising to me.”
Scarborough: ‘Decoy Dan’ Story a ‘Yawn’ Compared to Musk ‘Killing Thousands in Ukraine’ pic.twitter.com/URZfZ46tf5— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) October 29, 2026

Scarborough: ‘Decoy Dan’ Story a ‘Yawn’ Compared to Musk ‘Killing Thousands in Ukraine’ pic.twitter.com/URZfZ46tf5— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) October 29, 2026

The BBC’s “special correspondent” Katty Kay was right there with Joe. The ballot-stacking “doesn’t seem that big” next to “all of the other egregious things, bombing Iran, going into an unnecessary war, driving gas prices up, having a tariff war with our closest ally, Canada.” So, per Katty: compared with those other horrors, Democrats recruiting a decoy Dan Sullivan to peel votes from the real one is small ball.Morning Joe did its best to downplay the Decoy Dan scandal. The Democrats’ scheme to stack the ballot and dilute the Republican’s vote is something northwest Florida would “yawn” at. Trump having Musk turn down Starlink so that “thousands of Ukrainians are battered and killed” is the real shocker.Somewhere, James Carville is smiling: “Look ovah he-ah: a satellite!”Here’s the transcript.MS NOWMorning Joe10/29/266:37 am EDTBEN SMITH: And this is an incredible, and maybe sort of only in Alaska, yarn that the Times has of, of Peltola’s campaign, just absolutely lying to everybody about how the second guy named Dan Sullivan found his way onto the ballot. Which they had said was just a funny coincidence, and in fact involved like a statewide search for everyone named Dan Sullivan, whom there are like a lot in Alaska, and they found one on an island who was, who was willing to run.. . .JOE SCARBOROUGH: Good for the New York Times, getting the story out there when voters needed to hear about it again. Maybe it’s cause I come from the land of W.D. Childers. Maybe it’s cause I come from northwest Florida. You know, W.D. says I want all your money and I want all your votes. I don’t care where they come from, blah, blah, blah. I mean, maybe that’s because, you know, like the people that I, like, [yells, pounds desk] this is not, this story is not surprising to me!EUGENE ROBINSON: Nor to me, and I’m from South Carolina.SCARBOROUGH: Turning Ukraine over to Vladimir Putin. Now that’s surprising. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: And having your friend turn the Starlink down.SCARBOROUGH: Having your friend turn Starlink down.MIKA: And making them take the credit for it.SCARBOROUGH: So, so thousands of Ukrainians are, are, are battered and killed. That’s surprising to me!Like, this is not surprising me. I’m not saying it’s not bad, and I’m glad, again, voters have this information before they go out and vote in Alaska. But I gotta say, in northwest Florida, they would yawn.KATTY KAY: Yeah, I mean, look, when you put it in the context of all of the other egregious things: bombing Iran, going into an unnecessary war, driving gas prices up, having a tariff war with our closest ally, Canada, this doesn’t seem that big.

Jordan Klepper Says Black Man at Vance Rally ‘Might Want To Slip Out A Bit Early’

October 30, 2026 MMN Editor Filed Under: Commentary Culture Investigations

Comedy Central’s Jordan Klepper tried to tie Thursday’s episode of The Daily Show to Halloween by making fun of what he considered to be Republican fearmongering ahead of next Tuesday’s midterms. However, at one point, it was Klepper doing the fearmongering as he noticed a black man in the background of a recent rally featuring Vice President JD Vance and claimed he “might want to slip out a bit early” to escape the supposedly racist crowd.Klepper introduced a clip of Vance discussing Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed by declaring, “Maybe somebody needs to tell the story in a more gripping way. I mean, JD Vance took a swing at that, and people seemed to be on board, although see if you can spot the moment where he might have lost the crowd a bit.” In the clip, Vance rattled off several short sentences on why El-Sayed is a radical, “He says that he wants to pass a Green New Scam and kill the auto industry of the state. El-Sayed says that he wants to defund the police and abandon Michigan to crime. All year, Abdul has campaigned with his best friend, Hasan Piker, a man who said that we deserved 9/11. A man who says the United States is worse than Al-Qaeda. A man who says that we shouldn’t care about black Americans.”After each sentence Vance’s audience booed, including the last one, but a combination of laughter from the studio audience and Klepper cutting the video prematurely made it hard to hear. Yet, Klepper reacted by highlighting a black man behind Vance and retorting, “They were very enthusiastic up until that last part. I’m not saying the crowd is racist, but I am saying that that guy in the middle there might want to slip out a bit early.”As it was, Klepper also continued the trend of not seeing anything wrong with El-Sayed’s embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood, “But I still don’t get it. What is it that you actually think will happen if El-Sayed gets elected?”Sen. Ted Cruz was then shown claiming, “And if I am correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result.”Klepper could only respond, “Yes. Yes! That’s scary! That is scary! Yes. I knew this, man stuck halfway into a werewolf transformation, he would know how to scare me!”Given that Klepper himself has been part of the left-wing effort to try to mainstream Piker, it was also not surprising that he wouldn’t want to deal with the actual substance of the clips he played. Additionally, The Daily Show also has an inglorious history of being especially nasty to black conservatives.Here is a transcript for the October 29 show:Comedy Central The Daily Show10/29/202611:07 PM ETJORDAN KLEPPER: Maybe somebody needs to tell the story in a more gripping way. I mean, JD Vance took a swing at that, and people seemed to be on board, although see if you can spot the moment where he might have lost the crowd a bit.JD VANCE: He says that he wants to pass a Green New Scam and kill the auto industry of the state. El-Sayed says that he wants to defund the police and abandon Michigan to crime. All year, Abdul has campaigned with his best friend, Hasan Piker, a man who said that we deserved 9/11. A man who says the United States is worse than Al-Qaeda. A man who says that we shouldn’t care about black Americans.KLEPPER: They were very enthusiastic up until that last part. I’m not saying the crowd is racist, but I am saying that that guy in the middle there might want to slip out a bit early. But I still don’t get it. What is it that you actually think will happen if El-Sayed gets elected?TED CRUZ: And if I am correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result.KLEPPER: Yes. Yes! That’s scary! That is scary! Yes. I knew this, man stuck halfway into a werewolf transformation, he would know how to scare me!