On this day in 2017, Donald Trump issued his first pardon. It went to Joe Arpaio, a former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, found guilty of criminal contempt of court for refusing to stop racially profiling suspected undocumented immigrants. Nine years on, the Supreme Court says such profiling is fine and Trump hands out pardons like Tic Tacs.
Good morning, and happy Tuesday to all. Martin here, having undertaken the altogether unenviable task of watching Abdul El-Sayed go on Fox to be shouted at by Jesse Watters, the better to distill the result for your reading pleasure.
The short version, to put it in the language of an English soccer manager, is the boy done good, all in all. There was a deal of nonsensical stuff about progressive positions El-Sayed has taken in past years and which Republicans think mean society is about to crash down around their ears, but then there was always going to be and if El-Sayed sometimes dodged the question, that often had to be inferred because his host wouldnât shut up. When El-Sayed did drag the interview his way, and offered more substantive points, he seized a share of the spoils.
Elsewhere, it was another wholly ludicrous day in Donald Trumpâs trade war with Canada, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced new sanctions for Iran but shrank from actually confronting countries like China and Russia that continue to trade with Tehran. There was a lot more to think about too. Letâs read on.
âYou Got to Give Credit to Abdulâ
Abdul El-Sayed sat for an interview with Fox carnival barker Jesse Watters in primetime and did quite well. So much of the 26-minute exchange was taken up with Watters talking over his guest that the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan mightâve wondered why he bothered. But the hits El-Sayed landed, when he managed to shut Watters up, outweighed some awkward moments.
El-Sayed made Watters laugh, repeatedly, by calling Republican opponent Mike Rogers a âbeta,â for avoiding campaign confrontation and not appearing on Wattersâs show. Whether any Democrat should be joshing with the sort of host who opened with a seven-minute rant about communists and pointedly, repeatedly called his guest âAbdul in Michiganâ might be debated. So might the chances of El-Sayedâs tax policy ever being given a fair hearing on Fox. But consider four minutes that closed out the interview.
Watters said: âBlack people in Michigan voted for this white lady you ran againstâ â Rep. Haley Stevens â âby like eight points over you. What happened there?â
El-Sayed said: âWell, Jesse, I mean you said it yourself, right? You got to give credit to Abdul. He ran against the machine. I got outspent 11-1.â
He didnât mention AIPAC, the pro-Israel group that backed Stevens heavily. Curiously, Watters didnât bring up Israel either. El-Sayed mentioned Hasan Piker, the livestreamer Republicans want to tie to him to, presently at the heart of yet another confected âscandalâ about so-called antisemitism. That might yet count as an unforced error, but Watters didnât pounce. An exchange on âsharia lawâ mightâve had Fox-watching bigots salivating, but it went best for El-Sayed, who pointed out that itâs just the same as âcanon law,â a concept familiar to Christians like Watters and his viewers, only for Muslims, free to practice their faith like all others.
Ultimately, El-Sayed succeeded in bringing Watters back to his core campaign message: Forget the culture war hoo-hah, letâs talk about healthcare, inequality, and the cost of living.