# Abdul El-Sayed Mocks Trump and Ted Cruz’s Cruel Rhetoric on ‘The View,’ Jokes He Wants ‘Jihadist Leprechaun’ Printed on a Hat

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/abdul-el-sayed-mocks-trump-and-ted-cruzs-cruel-rhetoric-on-the-view-jokes-he-wants-jihadist-leprechaun-printed-on-a-hat/
- Published: 2026-11-05T17:14:09+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-05T21:09:37+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/politics/news/abdul-el-sayed-the-view-slams-trump-ted-cruz-1236940461/
- Topics: Elections, Government, Politics

## Key points

- Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Senate race and became the first Muslim elected to the US Senate.
- He said voters rejected attacks on his faith.
- He challenged Trump to take a lie-detector test.

## Summary

Abdul El-Sayed responded on “The View” to attacks on his Muslim faith by President Donald Trump and other Republicans during his Senate campaign. Two days after defeating Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan, he said voters had rejected divisive rhetoric and affirmed that America should be large enough to include him.

The 42-year-old Democrat is the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. The attacks included Vice-President JD Vance describing him as “very, very evil”, Senator Ted Cruz calling him a “jihadist leprechaun”, and Trump labelling him a jihadist and raising the prospect of a Senate metal detector. El-Sayed joked that he wanted Cruz’s insult printed on a hat, said Republicans had focused on personal attacks rather than issues such as living costs and healthcare, and offered Trump a lie-detector test.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.