President Donald Trump intensified his attacks on Democrats on Monday, declaring that “jihadists” are being elected across the country as Republicans continue to portray the Democratic Party as moving sharply to the left ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump argued that Americans are seeing the rise of extremist ideologies in politics, though he did not identify any specific candidates. “Well, the one thing is, we have jihadists being elected all over the place,” Trump told reporters, according to CNN.
Expanding on his criticism, Trump added, “We have this whether it’s communism, jihadism.”
Throughout the election cycle, Trump has repeatedly accused Democrats and Democratic Socialists of embracing communist ideas. More recently, he has also begun using the term “jihadists” when attacking members of the Democratic Party.
The president said the phrase was suggested to him by a friend.
“A friend of mine called up,” Trump said, recounting that the person told him, “You know, really, you should use the word jihadist because that’s what’s happening.”
Asked to elaborate, Trump pointed to candidates from countries including Somalia as examples of those he was referencing.
Trump has long been a vocal critic of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who was born in Somalia. In the past, he has called on Omar and another Muslim member of Congress to go “back from where they came.”
The president has also focused his criticism on Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who is Muslim.
During a campaign rally in Las Vegas last week, Trump described El-Sayed as a “hater of Jews and hater of Israel.”
El-Sayed has been an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and its policies.
Over the weekend, Trump posted an image on social media comparing a photograph of himself and First Lady Melania Trump with one of El-Sayed and his wife, Sarah Jukaku, who wears a hijab. The accompanying caption read, “Two very different Americas.”
Appearing Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, El-Sayed responded by agreeing that the two images reflected different visions of the country, while offering his own interpretation.
“Yeah, he’s right. One in which your overlords are two people who don’t like each other but join in the interest of making billions of dollars off of you. Or, two people who genuinely love each other, enjoyed some pancakes together, want to come together to build the kind of America where they can raise a family and know that that family is going to have the good thing,” El-Sayed said. “So, yes, you got two different visions of America.”
Since El-Sayed secured the Democratic Senate nomination last week, national Republicans have stepped up their attacks against him, with some choosing to refer to him by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.
Trump has repeatedly argued that the Democratic Party has been overtaken by “godless Communists” and has warned that communist ideology poses a growing danger to the United States. Democratic Socialists, while advocating policies well to the left of mainstream Democrats, maintain that their political beliefs are distinct from communism.
{Matzav.com}