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CNN's Raju Confronts Democrat El-Sayed on Socialism, Defunding the Police
The Democrat Primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan is coming up on August 4th, with Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens and radical left-winger Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on the ballot, and many in the Democrat Party are fearing that a win by El-Sayed, will mean a loss in the general election in November. That was the lead in a recent CNN story on the race, and may explain why El-Sayed has been given a hard time during recent interviews on the network.Earlier in the month, it was Kasie Hunt who pressed El-Sayed on The Arena, and Sunday on Inside Politics, host Manu Raju, did more of the same. He also began his interview in much the same way Hunt did, relaying Democrat concern over his candidacy.RAJU: As you know, your party leadership, they're, frankly, fearful of your candidacy. They see you as the kind of candidate who could win a primary but can lose a general election in a purple state and cost Democrats the majority. So why shouldn't Democrats nominate a more moderate candidate, someone who doesn't have such progressive views and may not alienate those swing voters you need in November?Raju then turned to El-Sayed's political label. RAJU: You said you're not a Democratic socialist, but your policies really are in line with Democratic socialist ideology, like backing "Medicare for All." And you're obviously campaigning with the most prominent Democratic socialists of them all, Bernie Sanders. So, what makes you different than a Democratic socialist?EL-SAYED: I support "Medicare for All," not because of any ideology. I support Medicare for all because I went to medical school to learn how to heal. And when I graduated, I realized that I didn't want to work in a system that too often chews up patients and spits them out. I am a scientist. Instead of asking El-Sayed about revelations that he has falsely claimed to be a physician, Raju stayed on topic, interrupting with, "Just what makes you different than a Democratic Socialist?" From there, it was on to Israel.RAJU: You have signaled in previous interviews an openness to there being a Palestinian state. Do you believe that a Jewish state of Israel should exist alongside it?El-Sayed did not answer the question.EL-SAYED: I believe that a free Palestinian people, alongside free Jewish Israeli people, ought to decide what the future of the region looks like. That is not my job. My job is to make sure that the money that we're sending over there right now to subsidize a foreign military, to do things like apartheid and genocide, is spent here to provide schools and health care for our kids....Israel does not have a right to their tax dollars. RAJU: So you don't have a view of there should be a two state whether a Jewish state should exist, you don't have a view of that, is that what you're saying?Again, he did not answer the question, and Raju failed to point out that Israel is not the only recipient of U.S. foreign aid in the Middle East, and we have given Ukraine $195 billion in aid. El-Sayed also did not answer when asked if he thought the Israeli government should be considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., the same classification we give Hamas. Instead he called it a rogue state. Next up, defunding the police.RAJU: You've said recently you never, never called for defunding the police, but our K-File team here in CNN found interviews in the past where you did repeatedly back in 2020, including in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing. I want you to listen to your comments here.EL-SAYED CLIP: I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets. What if we were to invest in social services? What if we were to invest in public schools? What if we were to invest in public libraries?... And it also means investing less in police.RAJU: So why did you say you never called for defunding the police when it sounded like you did in the past?The best El-Sayed could do, wasn't very good: "Do you disagree with investing in libraries and public services and social services?.... You fixate on the word defund."The back and forth continued on this issue, before Raju pressed him on why he hasn't released information on his finances.As was the case when Hunt interviewed El-Sayed, Raju treated him more like a Republican guest, and the reason seems to be pretty obvious, to help the Democrats take the Senate.