Donald Trump and George W. Bush may be two very different kinds of Republican presidents, but according to CNN political director David Chalian on Thursday’s Inside Politics, Trump’s attack on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed echoes the “menacing aspect” of Bush’s 2004 campaign against John Kerry for simply pointing out the radicalness in their respective opponents.
As the country prepares for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, guest host Manu Raju began by playing a clip from a pro-Mike Rogers PAC that highlighted El-Sayed campaigning with 9/11 apologist Hasan Piker. He then read a rebuttal from the El-Sayed camp, “An El-Sayed spokesman tells Axios that, quote, ‘Abdul has always unequivocally condemned terrorism and the September 11th attacks. Mike Rogers' attempts to represent Abdul's beliefs are bad faith lies.’”
Ahead of night two of the Republican convention and Friday's 9/11 anniversary, CNN political director David Chalian claims Donald Trump and Mike Rogers are echoing "the menacing aspect of what George W. Bush was doing in 2004" in their criticisms of Abdul El-Sayed, mainly him… pic.twitter.com/kG9HtOplfk
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) September 10, 2026
That’s not quite accurate. El-Sayed has equivocated on 9/11 by comparing America’s response to 9/11 itself. He also responded to the Temple Israel terrorist attack by saying “hurt people do hurt people,” and, of course, it is an immovable fact that he did campaign with Piker. Now that he’s a major party’s Senate nominee, he is trying to run away from all of them, but his record is what it is.
Instead of fact-checking El-Sayed, Raju simply introduced Chalian and wondering, “So David, does that brand of politics still work?”
Chalian responded by looking back on Trump’s Wednesday address to the Republican midterms convention and ahead to Rogers’s address later in the night, “Well, I guess we're going to find out, Manu, when we see the votes counted in this Michigan Senate race, because Mike Rogers seems to be leaning into this. I mean, we, you know, we expect this is going to be a big theme of his remarks at the Republican National Convention today in Dallas. Donald Trump did exactly this attack on Abdul El-Sayed last night from the stage in Dallas. So this clearly is a theme. And we'll see if it has resonance.”
Rewinding his time machine even further, Chalian continued, “But you are right, it does evoke, like, a different time in American politics. This sort of defined a generation of American politics. The politics of 9/11. Take a look at this ad that was sort of central to George W. Bush's theme for his reelection campaign in 2004.”
In the ad, a narrator criticized Kerry for “In an increasingly dangerous world, even after the first terrorist attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence operations. Cuts so deep they would have weakened America's defenses. And weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm.”
Trying to tie it all together, Chalian reacted, “I mean, the menacing aspect of what George W. Bush was doing in 2004 about not trying to switch parties in the middle of the fight against terror is sort of what Rogers is trying to remind voters about now in some way with Abdul El-Sayed that a vote for him goes in a different direction that may make you less safe. And it's something that El-Sayed is clearly going to have to work with and defend against in this cycle, but we're in a different time. So I don't know how it will play with voters.”
By “menacing aspect,” Chalian apparently means pointing out El-Sayed and Kerry’s own radical records.
Here is a transcript for the September 10 show:
CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash
9/10/2026
12:30 PM ET
MANU RAJU: An El-Sayed spokesman tells Axios that, quote, “Abdul has always unequivocally condemned terrorism and the September 11th attacks. Mike Rogers' attempts to represent Abdul's beliefs are bad faith lies.”
CNN's political director, David Chalian, is in his office with some thoughts on all of this. So David, does that brand of politics still work?
DAVID CHALIAN: Well, I guess we're going to find out, Manu, when we see the votes counted in this Michigan Senate race, because Mike Rogers seems to be leaning into this.
I mean, we, you know, we expect this is going to be a big theme of his remarks at the Republican National Convention today in Dallas. Donald Trump did exactly this attack on Abdul El-Sayed last night from the stage in Dallas. So this clearly is a theme. And we'll see if it has resonance. But you are right, it does evoke, like, a different time in American politics. This sort of defined a generation of American politics. The politics of 9/11. Take a look at this ad that was sort of central to George W. Bush's theme for his reelection campaign in 2004.
2004 BUSH CAMPAIGN AD NARRATOR: In an increasingly dangerous world, even after the first terrorist attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence operations. Cuts so deep they would have weakened America's defenses. And weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm.
CHALIAN: I mean, the menacing aspect of what George W. Bush was doing in 2004 about not trying to switch parties in the middle of the fight against terror is sort of what Rogers is trying to remind voters about now in some way with Abdul El-Sayed that a vote for him goes in a different direction that may make you less safe. And it's something that El-Sayed is clearly going to have to work with and defend against in this cycle, but we're in a different time. So I don't know how it will play with voters.
