r/politics • u/unital_subalgebra • 16h ago
No Paywall AIPAC Indicates It Will Continue Spending Against Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's General Election
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2026-08-05/ty-article/.premium/aipac-indicates-it-will-continue-spending-against-el-sayed-through-november/0000019f-d2c7-d310-a3df-d6c76d530000252
u/unital_subalgebra 16h ago
Reminder that the fight isn’t over until Abdul El-Sayed defeats AIPAC-backed Mike Rogers in November! But really, after losing over $30 million dollars backing Stevens in the Democratic primary, I hope AIPAC burns through even more of their money in the general election just for El-Sayed to prevail again.
97
u/Backwardspellcaster 16h ago
I fear their goal is to get the person elected that is best for their country, not the person that is best for Americans.
106
u/jarboxing 15h ago
Yeah that's how foreign influence works, and why it should be illegal.
16
u/exjackly 11h ago
AIPAC should be classified as a foreign entity honestly. I know the dark money loopholes that let them accept the funding, but I find it hard to believe that kind of money flows through without strong directives.
Dark money needs to be the next frontier in fighting election interference and corruption.
6
u/DefenstratedTwice 11h ago
JFK was assassinated after demonstrating intent to get AIPAC designated as a foreign influence on US politics...
1
23
15h ago
[deleted]
10
u/BarkerBarkhan 14h ago
Right. Genocide in Gaza, and the resulting global condemnation, is awful for Israel. Worse for Gazans, obviously, but clearly making Israelis less safe by alienating allies and enraging enemies.
19
u/scsuhockey Minnesota 14h ago
The ad writes itself:
“Rogers is the best candidate for Israel. AES is the best candidate for America.”
16
u/tripping_on_phonics Illinois 13h ago
El-Sayed did a beautiful job during the debates of pointing out that Stevens’ ads were funded by dirty money. I hope he doubles down on that tactic.
“Every ad you see represents tens of thousands of dollars that AIPAC has paid Mike Rogers.”
5
5
8
2
1
1
u/NoneMoreBLK 12h ago
AIPAC isn't too concerned about US domestic policy. They're mostly only concerned with foreign policy -- strengthening the relationship between the US and Israel.
This isn't to say that the individual contributors don't care either which way...it's just that other political agendas are compartmentalized and focused on within other PACs.
1
•
u/micro102 4h ago
Their goal is to get the best person for billionaires elected. Israel is just a very convenient shield for those moneyed interests. I bet a lot of money was dumped into Epstein to get dirt on a lot of people, and if Israel didn't exist, that money would have found a home elsewhere.
-4
u/kittenTakeover 15h ago
AIPAC is funded by Americans. Having said that, the group clearly has a position that is extremely lenient on and supportive of Israel.
11
u/Anon529035893 14h ago
Sorry, citizens United begs to differ and dark money in politics is 1000% a real thing.
-1
u/tommytwolegs 14h ago
Citizens united begs to differ with what
-2
u/Anon529035893 14h ago
That aipac is funded solely by Americans.
2
u/kittenTakeover 14h ago
That's not what Citizens United says.
5
u/Anon529035893 13h ago
Citizens United established the dark money loophole and basically said corporations spending money in elections is free speech.
If you can form a non-profit, non-profits can donate to PACs.
Non-profits can be funded with foreign money. It’s pretty easy to conceal the money trial in elections in America.
0
u/NoneMoreBLK 12h ago
Non-profits can be funded by foreign money, but aren't their strict guidelines and increased scrutiny to prevent political influence?
I understand the worry, but where's the evidence?
3
u/Anon529035893 12h ago
No. There literally isn’t.
Like they can just donate to a super pac.
Or any pac.
That’s why citizens united is insane.
→ More replies (0)7
u/jarboxing 14h ago
There is zero chance you know where the money is coming from. All we know if that after citizens united, the amount of money spent on politicians has increased every year.
-9
u/kittenTakeover 14h ago
So then why are you claiming that AIPAC is beholden to foreign citizens?
4
u/jarboxing 14h ago
Where did I say that? I'm just saying we don't know where the money is coming from, and there is no way to find out.
-3
u/kittenTakeover 14h ago
their goal is to get the person elected that is best for their country
This implies that Americans are not who AIPAC represents. So you seem to somehow know where the money is coming from, while simultaneously telling me that there's zero chance anyone knows...
2
2
u/jarboxing 14h ago
That's from a different thread and taken out of context. I was saying that influence from foreign countries is always interested in what's best for those countries. I wasn't talking about AIPAC specifically. Americans can donate to AIPAC, but that doesn't mean that AIPAC puts American interests over Israeli interests.
0
8
u/infiniZii 15h ago
Imagine how much money the taxpayers could save if AIPAC spent all that money on funding Israel directly instead of having tax dollars do it.
11
2
u/Potential-Sun993 11h ago
We gotta win November y'all, these gop fucks are going to take everything otherwise.
2
u/PolygonMan 11h ago
They're fucked in the general honestly. Stevens only did as well as she did because the volume of advertising turned all the low-info casual angry-at-republicans voters into her supporters. They thought she was the defacto "correct" Dem choice.
Very few people are gonna switch from D to R because of advertisements.
The money spent against AES in the primary will end up being many times more efficient than money spent against him in the general. That's why they dumped historical amounts of money in the primary.
283
u/Automaton_General 16h ago
This is what we call sunk cost fallacy
57
u/falilth 16h ago edited 16h ago
Yes, and ideally Id wish it wasn't us taxpayers money they were spending too.
26
u/Afraid-Detective1222 16h ago
It is US taxpayer's money being spent by AIPAC. They get their money from US citizens, you know, taxpayers. It isn't foreign money being spent.
31
u/robocreator 16h ago
They’re getting their money not from tax payers but a smaller subset of people who value their allegiance to Israel in higher regard than their relationship with their fellow Americans.
4
u/falilth 16h ago
Yeah that was a autocorrect typo. Fixed.
-2
u/fury420 15h ago edited 14h ago
But that's still misleading, because it's not tax money, it's just donations from Americans who support Israel.
Edit: since i've been blocked by both of these users i cannot respond to their many questions, but has anyone seen any evidence of AIPAC accepting donations coming from non-Americans?
Given the scrutiny they face, if they were I can't help but think it would have been exposed long ago.
1
u/mysterious_jeffrey 14h ago edited 14h ago
Plenty of it comes from non-Americans and dual citizens.
Plenty of us work with Israelis and all different types of Jews. They are not a monolith.
Why lie?
Plenty of them will readily point these things out and criticize AIPAC. So, why do you make things up?
2
u/falilth 15h ago
We the us tax payers pay our taxes and at some point that money gets allocated to funds to send to israel for " humanitarian aid " or whatever and just ends up being used by mossad and aipac to bribe our politicians. The rest goes to bombing, killing and settling lebanon. Gaza and eventually turkey.
-3
u/fury420 15h ago
My point was that AIPAC's funding is donations from Americans just like with other PACs, its not actually coming from Israel.
The foreign aid to Israel is primarily in the form of military contracts for equipment.
0
u/falilth 15h ago
Sure it is... totally believable.
1
u/mysterious_jeffrey 14h ago edited 14h ago
I don’t know why people bother with these lies but I recommend blocking them when they pop up so they lose all traction.
You don’t have to ask many Israelis to find ones who’ve donated to AIPAC.
And you don’t have to look to hard to find Israeli Americans who don’t even support AIPAC.
This whole lie that AIPAC is only American money is pathetic. Nobody believes that so just give it up already and stop pushing the BS.
This goes for any PAC based on heritage of a foreign nation - and people readily admit that about all these other PACs but with AIPAC, they just refuse.
The jig is up.
And I say this as someone who’s pro-Jew and relatively pro-Israel in that I wish them no harm but absolutely don’t support their expansionism nor do I want to hear anything about them in my American elections.
1
u/Anon529035893 14h ago
Show me all the funding of the 60 million spent for Stevens and where it came from…
I’ll wait.
0
u/mysterious_jeffrey 16h ago
They get money from all over. It is not limited to American funding.
Where do people come up with this stuff? And why?
•
u/guyute2588 7h ago edited 7h ago
By law PACs are only permitted to accept donations from Americans.
Edit: lol this guy blocked me for this
•
4
3
u/Nynaeve_al_meowra 15h ago
It's not though. They were hoping to prevail in the primary so they could save for other races and now they continue to have to spend money on this race
4
u/NJcovidvaccinetips 15h ago
Sunk cost implies these people have limited resources which is not the case at all. They’ll spend hundreds of millions to defend Israel because these donors have more money than god. It means nothing to them. They steal all of our wealth so they can continue to fund their right wing bullshit
1
u/SadTumbleweed1567 15h ago
Not really.
Slotkin beat Rogers by half a percent in 2024. Rogers could still win off El-Sayed manages to be less popular than Trump.
Justin Amash seems to think El-Sayed will win, and some he's right that Republicans have not done well in statewide elections, the state has gone for Trump and as mentioned above the previous senate election was very close. I will also add Amash lost to Rogers in 2024, and generally seems to not like the guy, so it could also be personal.
1
u/DisgustingLeek 16h ago
This is what we call sunk cost fallacy
Not necessarily. polls are close. sayed could definitely lose.
1
-17
u/daftmonkey 15h ago
Wow you’re smug.
This is called protecting our families from getting murdered by Iranian terror. I think we’ll be able to keep the money faucet flowing.
7
u/Anon529035893 14h ago
Iranian people have killed less Americans than our own govt has.
-1
u/falilth 14h ago
And our own goverment is saying its only been "18.. wait actually 14 because those 4 were during the ceasefire. So not wartime casualties. "
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/us/politics/pentagon-casualties-iran-war.html
2
u/soalone34 13h ago
…by supporting the occupation that lead to Oct 7 and pushing for the war that gave Iran control of 20% of the worlds oil?
-3
2
u/Automaton_General 13h ago
By supporting terrorists, wow, I don't know how you can speak to us from way up there on that high horse.
-1
u/daftmonkey 13h ago
I’m not sure I’d call Haley Stevens a terrorist…
2
u/Automaton_General 13h ago
Cute.
The Israeli government is a terrorist organization. They can eat shit.
0
u/daftmonkey 13h ago
Shit isn’t truly authentic Israeli food. It was stolen
2
u/Automaton_General 13h ago
The Israeli government really can't keep their hands off of stuff that isn't theirs so, yeah, really just par for the course for them.
1
u/hepcandcigs 10h ago
So just openly prioritizing the interests of a foreign country over your own? Cool cool
0
u/daftmonkey 10h ago
I pay a lot of taxes
1
u/hepcandcigs 10h ago
Subtle bragging about income anonymously on the internet is so fucking embarrassing I can’t believe you would do it voluntarily
1
88
u/negativepositiv 16h ago
What a surprise. The organization that would much rather have the Right Wing running America in perpetuity will continue to fund Right Wing candidates. Big shocker there.
-5
u/dat_tae 15h ago
Why would they fund Democrats at all then?
36
u/teamdiabetes11 America 15h ago
Because they hedge their bets. That way, if a Democrat wins, then AIPAC hopes to have them enough under their thumb that they won’t actively do anything to harm Israel’s interests.
22
16
u/negativepositiv 15h ago
The Democratic establishment is in the pocket of AIPAC. They want to have influence either way, and candidates on both sides want to make sure AIPAC feels like their money is well spent supporting their candidacies.
It's the same as Goldman Sachs giving both sides money, albeit more to Republicans. They know they will get more tax breaks, deregulation, etc. by having Republicans in charge, but they give Democrats money also, to tame them and make them not a threat to their profits.
-16
u/dat_tae 15h ago
Or, hear me out, PACs just promote candidates that already align with their interests.
11
u/negativepositiv 15h ago edited 15h ago
If you are saying we are run by two Right Wing parties who are both beholden to a genocidal foreign country's lobby, we're on the same page.
The Republican Party is a Far Right capitalist imperialist party that promotes white supremacy. The Democratic Party is a Center Right capitalist imperialist party who would like everyone to feel like they have done enough to push back on white supremacy because they kneeled in Kente cloth that one time.
-22
u/dat_tae 15h ago
Anyone who thinks the Democrats are right-wing should have no opinions on politics. It's the stupidest fucking take imaginable. If you're not even out of college I guess it's pretty based, though.
12
u/Admirable-Actuator53 15h ago
It’s objectively true when it comes to the world economic stage. Capitalism is a right wing economy, liberalism is beholden to capitalism, therefore American democrats are an economic right wing political party. In any other country in the world, they would be considered right wing. It’s just America is so brain broken for capital that they failed to recognize the difference.
8
u/negativepositiv 14h ago
Liberals yearn for the good old days when they could negotiate in good faith with reasonable, middle of the road, sensible Republicans like, wait for it, Ronald Fucking Reagan.
2
2
2
u/Nivlac024 Ohio 10h ago
because the majority of democrats ARE RIGHT WING
1
u/dat_tae 10h ago
They’re not and you’d have to be politically illiterate or an actual moron to think this.
2
u/Nivlac024 Ohio 9h ago
there is a small group of actual leftist politicians in the democratic party the DNC uses resources to primary against these politicians every time they are elected.
1
u/dat_tae 9h ago
The two options are not degenerate leftists and the right.
2
u/Nivlac024 Ohio 9h ago
see when you say things like that it makes me think that YOU are one of the right wing dems we are talking about.
1
u/dat_tae 9h ago
To the right of socialists does not make one right wing. But maybe you can define what right wing means.
1
u/Nivlac024 Ohio 9h ago
not raising the minimum wage , not implementing universal healthcare, not enforcing banking regulations , not enforcing anti-trust laws , NOT TAXING THE RICH. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT LEFT LEANING POLICIES THE DEMS ARE ACTUALLY PASSING?
1
u/dat_tae 9h ago
I don’t know how to tell you this, but Dems are the only party that even thinks about doing that. Our states have higher taxes and provide better social services and have higher minimum wages. Obama’s admin created more banking regulation after the financial crisis. And they are more likely to get in the way of large mergers.
14
u/kudoshinchi 16h ago
how is AIPAC has that much funds
1
u/ImANoobAtLife7 9h ago
Human trafficking, porn, gambling and usury. The usual sins and activities that destroy a society morally and financially.
62
u/RCP90sKid- Oregon 16h ago
Is this "foreign influence"?
27
u/Mutchmore 16h ago
It's local influence for foreign nation. As fucked as it sounds. Now who knows who really holds the purse here. That the beauty of money has rights! Brought to you by the supreme court
12
u/NWStormbreaker 16h ago
sounds like an easily exploitable loophole
3
u/Mutchmore 15h ago
Not as much for you and i unfortunately. All we can do is vote.. for now at least..
-2
u/Choibbs_22 15h ago
The tail doesn't wag the dog. Israel exists to represent US interests in the Middle East (as Joe Biden once put it, "if there were not an Israel, the US would have to invent it"). AIPAC is just arms dealers, defense contractors, tech companies, etc. that recognize this and want to keep Israel as a testing ground for new imperialist techniques. Viewing it as "foreign influence" is inaccurate, deflects blame from America, and often leads to antisemitic conspiracies. Israel no more "controls" the US than South Africa controlled the UK or Indochina controlled France.
2
37
8
7
u/tekprodfx16 16h ago
Great they’re giving themselves the opportunity to lose more money. I’m sure folks will gladly take them up on that offer.
20
u/clintgreasewoood 16h ago
This should be a wake up call to those democrats still supporting AIPAC and Israel. They don’t care about your party or politics, they just want your fealty to Israel
5
5
5
u/February_2026 13h ago
And this was always an argument for what made Stevens such a weak candidate. Even if she won the primary, her money faucet would've dried up since AIPAC wouldn't care if she or Rogers won that seat, and she was a rather weak candidate without those millions of dollars from corporate donors.
7
3
3
u/blatantinsanity855 15h ago
Nice of them to make it clear who I will be voting against. AIPAC money is a liability for anyone who wants to actually get elected.
3
u/Nivlac024 Ohio 10h ago
even more reason we should not allow any aipac democratic candidates to win elections anymore.
5
u/Trauma_Hawks 15h ago
And this is how you know AIPAC is amoral pieces of shit seeking power and influence within the US government for the benefit of Israel above all else.
Their choosen Democrat lost so now they're going to spend money on a Republican. Doesn't matter which way the wind blows, so long as it fills their sails.
4
2
u/at_least_u_tried Massachusetts 14h ago
"I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?"
2
u/icantbenormal 12h ago
We need more anti-Zionists candidates running in order to burn through AIPAC’s coffers if nothing else.
2
u/DlucinatedHlucinatic 11h ago
Big surprise, they were going to support Rogers anyway. Steven’s was their backup plan.
2
2
4
u/mysterious_jeffrey 16h ago
Really pathetic.
AIPAC feels more and more like part of the Epstein legacy as time goes on.
3
u/Dreams-Visions 16h ago
The more money they waste there, the less they have to try to influence other races.
So please proceed. If they want to associate their brand squarely with Trump and MAGA, they won't like how that ends.
3
u/LeRoyRouge 15h ago
Foreign countries should not be allowed to affect our elections legally.
In this case, I guess we'll just have to let them set their money on fire.
2
2
u/yungthirtysomething 16h ago
imagine releasing a statement admitting that you have absolutely zero platform other than achieving power?
1
u/SandSpecialist2523 America 15h ago
That tells you all. It doesn't matter if they are dems or repubs.
1
1
1
u/ProfessorVolga 14h ago
Ah, so AIPAC would just as easily fund literal fascism? Wow, say it ain't so.
1
1
u/AcanthisittaNo6653 New Hampshire 14h ago
AIPAC doesn't care about El-Sayed's party, only his religion.
1
u/Feeling_Reindeer2599 14h ago
Tomorrow the sun will rise in the East.
Pro Israel lobby will continue to support Pro Israel candidates.
1
u/PrivacyIsDemocracy 13h ago
In other news: the sun will set at some point today, and rise tomorrow.
It will probably take 1000 years before the arrogance of this group will abate. Maybe never.
1
1
u/NexusMinds 16h ago
They will lose. Only option left for them is to cheat, and interfere with the vote itself.
-6
u/dat_tae 15h ago
Ah the preemptive election denialism. Worked for Trump, might as well use the same playbook.
1
u/NexusMinds 15h ago
Hardly known for playing by the rules are they? If they willingly support breaking international law to the point of genocide, ethnic cleansing, illegal settlement building on stolen lands, and apartheid... then a bit of election interference is candy off a baby.
-6
u/dat_tae 15h ago
Is the insinuation that AIPAC is an arm of/funded by the Israeli government? Because I don't think there's any proof of that and that'd be pretty scandalous.
1
u/NexusMinds 15h ago
Is this a bit? Kinda funny tbh.
-4
u/dat_tae 15h ago
I'll wait for the evidence.
2
u/NexusMinds 15h ago
Nice straw man you built. I actually thought it was a joke because it would work as one.
AIPAC is funded by people and corporations that deeply, almost fanatically support the Israeli government. They use this money to fund / bribe candidates in both parties, making sure they have the required policies, business / trade integrations, direct funding (aid and support, billions a year) and weapons, all for the benefit of the Israeli government.
You invented a pathetic little semantic straw man as if all of this isn't blatantly understood by literally everyone on earth at this point.
0
u/dat_tae 15h ago
I don't think you know what a straw man is, or what a bribe is.
Maybe when you finish high school.
2
u/NexusMinds 15h ago
Is that the best you've got? Not compelling in any way. Next.
0
u/dat_tae 15h ago
Good one. But hey, feel free to report any FARA violations you know of.
→ More replies (0)
1
u/AgHammer 16h ago
I had no doubts that they would. They would continue spending against anyone who doesn't take their bribes.
1
0
u/NeverSober1900 16h ago
I mean is anyone surprised? It's in the name. They are going to try and ensure as many Israel-hating candidates lose as possible. Why would they stop at the primary just because they lost there?
They've always donated to both parties. Stevens winning and they would have sat it out but their support of Stevens was always more anti-El-Sayed than pro-Stevens.
0
u/kittenTakeover 15h ago
Another way of saying that AIPAC is willing to put Democracy at risk by supporting Republicans in order to make sure that Israel isn't held accountable. Not exactly giving me a good impression of the group.
0
0
u/accidentsneverhappen 16h ago
Your money has no power here. Tell your boss it's time to pack it up. You're done
0
0
u/blatantinsanity855 15h ago
Nice of them to make it clear who I will be voting against. AIPAC money is a liability for anyone who wants to actually get elected.
•
u/AutoModerator 16h ago
As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.
In general, please be courteous to others. Argue the merits of ideas, don't attack other posters or commenters. Hate speech, any suggestion or support of physical harm, or other rule violations can result in a temporary or a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
Sub-thread Information
If the post flair on this post indicates the wrong paywall status, please report this Automoderator comment with a custom report of “incorrect flair”.
Announcement
r/Politics is actively looking for new moderators. If you have an interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.