DAVID MARCUS: Socialism and El-Sayed run into harsh reality in blue-collar Michigan
By now, we have all seen the evidence that the socialist uprising happening in the Democratic Party is fueled mainly by highly educated White voters, and on Saturday, I saw even more evidence of it at a Detroit rally for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. It was whiter than a toothpaste ad.
Scanning the hundred or so people in line for the event that featured Marxist superstars Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., I saw fewer Black people than you could find at Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s restricted beach club in Rhode Island.
Outside of the Opera House where the event was taking place, I met Chris, selling socialist merch. Like me, he had arrived that morning, redheaded, ruddy and a bit sunburned from his recent swing through Texas supporting the supposedly non-socialist Senate candidate James Talarico.
A bit surprised that the Democratic Socialists of America were stumping for Talarico, I asked him whether Texas voters were put off by it.
"I’m not supposed to do interviews, but yeah, it’s different for sure depending on where we go," he said.
A moment later, I had a conversation with the spokesperson for Don Offord, the progressive running for the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District. One of the animating elements of this socialist insurgency became crystal clear, as he couldn't stop talking about AIPAC.
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"Don doesn’t take any money from AIPAC (the pro-Israel lobbying group)," Mark said proudly. I asked him if this could be a problem, not just with Jewish voters, but with moderate Democrats who support the Jewish state. A kind of shock fell over him, as if he’d never considered this, and he just refused to answer.
Tim, from Ann Arbor was there, not as a fan of the socialists but as a concerned citizen, largely worried about data centers.
"I just want transparency," he told me. "People are making so much money, and us normal people don’t have much say over it."
I asked if he found the arguments from AOC and Bernie convincing, to which he simply replied, "Not really."
Later in the evening at the Anchor Bar, named not for sailors but for the newsmen who historically call the dive bar home, I met Glen, in his 50s who works for the federal government in Detroit and is not particularly fond of socialism.
"No way El-Sayed can win," he told me. "These socialists sound crazy. Free, free, free everything, that’s not going to work here."
When I asked about El-Sayed’s supposedly more moderate opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, Glen told me, "She seems fine."
It does appear in recent days that the El-Sayed camp is aware of the warning Glen laid out. He has been all over TV claiming that he is not a socialist even as he appeared on stage with Bernie and AOC, the king and queen of the commie jamboree.
With the primary drawing nearer, we are seeing cracks behind El-Sayed’s Mamdani-esque creepy permasmile, as he tries to distance himself from the socialists while also trying to surf their zeitgeist.
It turns out that, unlike the communist corridor in New York City, here in Michigan, being a socialist is more of a bug than a feature. It's a lesson that the suddenly capitalism-loving El-Sayed has probably learned just a bit too late.
This is the reality that Democrats smitten by the socialism bug are soon to run smack into all over the country, whether they know it or not. Does Talarico in Texas really want redheaded Chris and his communist buddies to be an avatar for him in the Lone Star State? I doubt it.
From what I see on the ground, both from his supporters and his detractors, El-Sayed is in serious trouble in this Senate election. Saying, "I hate Israel" only gets you so far, especially in a city and state that has seen economic improvement over the distinctly non-socialist President Donald Trump era.
It is too soon to say that this race for the Senate nomination in Michigan is over. Perhaps there is a scandal or two that can harm Stevens in the late stages, but right now, she has the momentum, and El-Sayed has little or no ability to find new voters.
Meanwhile, the establishment is beginning to strike back against the socialists, with the Congressional Black Caucus this past week endorsing Stevens, as a check on the emerging power of the White and immigrant socialist voting bloc within the Democratic Party.
The question is whether there are enough tattooed White kids with worthless degrees to get El-Sayed over the top. The answer, it seems increasingly clear, is no.