MS NOW’s Soboroff Calls Haley Stevens ‘Racist’ for Accusing El-Sayed of Blaming Jews

Jacob Soboroff Ilhan Omar MS NOW The Connection 8-1-26

On Saturday's edition of MS NOW's Connect with Jacob Soboroff, the host trained his focus on AIPAC’s spending in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary. 

He lamented "AIPAC has, has played a huge role in the Michigan Senate race...in a state that is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in America."

He then read a recent X post from Rep. Haley Stevens directed at her rival, Abdul El-Sayed:

“Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.” She added that El-Sayed is a “celebrity and part of the complainer class” chasing “the next book or podcast deal.”

Soboroff’s reaction: 

“I would say some people view it as racist, but it sure sounds racist to me. That’s the way I look at it.”

He then turned to radical Rep. Ilhan 'All About the Benjamins' Omar, who was on the ground campaigning for El-Sayed. Omar ignored the substance of Stevens’ charge and instead accused Stevens of having an "underlying tone of Islamophobia, of xenophobia and divisive politics." As if Omar is a unifier?

 

Nowhere in the segment did Soboroff examine El-Sayed’s own record. The candidate has made AIPAC and Israeli influence a recurring theme, declaring that “for too long our foreign policy has been handed to us by the likes of the state of Israel and AIPAC, who has made sure that both Democrats and Republicans are doing their bidding.” He has branded AIPAC spending “legalized bribery at its worst” and accused Stevens of being “more committed to the future of a foreign country than keeping your tax dollars here.” Soboroff could barely contemplate that this sounded like antisemitism. 

Nor did Soboroff mention El-Sayed’s embrace of the vile antisemite, Hasan Piker. The popular Twitch streamer has called ultra-Orthodox Jews “inbred,” referred to a Jewish critic as a “bloodthirsty, violent pig dog,” declared that “Hamas is a thousand times better than a fascist settler colonial apartheid state,” and said he “would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.” Piker has stated, “It doesn’t matter if rapes f***ing happened on October 7—like that doesn’t change the dynamic for me even this much.”

Abdul El-Sayed Hasan Piker campaigning in Michigan 4-26

In April, Piker joined El-Sayed for high-profile campus rallies at Michigan State and the University of Michigan. El-Sayed declined to disavow Piker’s comments, dismissing the criticism as “platform policing.” Photos from the events [see screencap] show El-Sayed actively posing with Piker, including taking a group selfie with the streamer at his side.

The fact that El-Sayed embraces the endorsement of, and campaigns with, a figure whose odious antisemitic rhetoric has been widely condemned somehow does not bother Soboroff — someone who prepared an emotional NBC Nightly News segment on the miraculous survival of his childhood synagogue in the devastating January 2025 California wildfires in Pacific Palisades. 

Instead, Soboroff only sees racism in Stevens’ remarks on the influence of Jews. El-Sayed’s own statements, and his association with the likes of Piker, go unremarked. Call it what it is: a textbook case of suicidal empathy.

Here's the transcript.

MS NOW
The Connection
8/1/26
10:37 am EDT

JACOB SOBOROFF: I wanna talk to you though about an issue that has taken over, both the airwaves there, and a lot of conversations about the race. 

AIPAC has, has played a huge role in the Michigan Senate race, an affiliated super PAC has spent more than thirty million dollars on behalf of Representative Stevens. That's in a state that is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in America. There's a massive uncommitted movement of folks there. There are other outside groups as well, and I'm just looking at some of the numbers right now that are spending on, on behalf of Stevens as well. The same cannot be true, is not true, of El-Sayed. Outside money pales in comparison. What does it say to you about the influence of outside groups in Democratic primaries, and about this race in general?

ILHAN OMAR: That's a really good question, and that has been, one of the things that's been on the minds of Michiganders who are going to the polls at this moment and will make their final decision on Tuesday. 

They are seeing seventy million dollars being spent to keep Abdul out of the Senate, and they're asking themselves, why is that? What does Stevens promise these groups in order for them to spend seventy million dollars in supporting her candidacy?

. . . 

And I haven't heard from Haley what her actual agenda and her policies are, and what she plans to do for Michiganders. And she hasn't answered for the seventy million dollars that is coming in to support her, and what that support gets them.

SOBOROFF: One of the things we have heard, though, from Representative Stevens was the way in which she addressed El-Sayed directly in a post on X, recently. And I wanna read to you what she said in part, in part at least. 

Quote, "Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans." And she added that El Sayed is a, quote, "celebrity and part of the complainer class who is in the race to secure, quote, "the next book or podcast deal." And she concluded it with, quote, "Bro, I just want to work for Michigan." 

I would say some people view it as racist. But it sure sounds racist to me. That's the way I look at it. Other people say Stevens was, you know, accusing him of, of antisemitism. What is your response to that post?

OMAR: I mean, there is an underlying tone of Islamophobia, of xenophobia and divisive politics.