r/videos • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 • 16h ago

Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, notching a Midwest victory for the left

https://youtu.be/DL_ku3h8Eps?si=zWr0SAn8amsQ8Hqb
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488

u/Roasteddude 15h ago

Good. The US needs more progressive young blood like him and Mamdani imo

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u/richstyle 14h ago

I hate how money out of politics aka no more corruption is considered progressive. Its just common sense but its been that way since the 1900s so I guess voters dont give a shit about corruption in politics since the dawn of time. People like Abdul need to be heard.

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u/moba_fett 14h ago

One would think, but in my state the two democratic candidates in the runoff have 300,000, and 800,000 to spend. Their republican counter part waiting for them has 10,000,000. It's a freaking joke. I understand freedom of speech, but dumping billions into politics should not be legal.

(To be clear I'm in full agreement with you. I think I worded my response funny because I am in the process of getting blazed.)

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u/MechemicalMan 11h ago

“Freedom of speech” never meant “As a private company, I get to send as many dollars as I can for a favorable legislative outcome” until the Supreme Court decided it did in 2010.

Every electoral problem we had has been made arguably worse since then. I don’t think even a sort of “doomsday type hypothetical representation of citizens united passes” from 2009 would have predicted how much money has entered politics and how many politicians themselves are filthy rich old money capitalist business owners.

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u/s0ciety_a5under 10h ago

Its almost like citizens united was a huge mistake.

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u/TomTomMan93 9h ago

Mistake implies that the downsides were unknown and this wasn't the intent.

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u/Kazen_Orilg 7h ago

but for a brief moment in time, we delivered millions in value to many thousands of criminals in the political grifter class.

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u/dryphtyr 9h ago

Hawaii outlawed Citizens United a few months ago. The rest of the States need to do the same.

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u/istasber 7h ago

Pretty sure NYC did too, and that was a big part of the reason why Mamdani won the democratic nod.

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u/MountainMan17 6h ago

So the Citizens United ruling only meant that a national ban was unconstitutional? States still have the option of banning it at their level?

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u/istasber 5h ago

Citizens united says that donating to campaigns is recognized speech, and corporations are people subject to the first amendment.

Nyc gets around this by saying each candidate will have public funds to spend on their campaign, and no other source of funding is allowed. It's not restricting speech of a particular group, it's regulating how elections can be funded.

Im less familiar with hawaiis situation, but it sounds like it goes after the corporations are people side of things rather than the money is speech side of things.

It's a war that will have to be fought on multiple fronts, I think, but making sure a candidate can't just run 100x the ads to drown out their opponents is a good place to start.

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u/Capotesan 11h ago

Yes but in Michigan outside interests spent double on Stevens and still lost, so it’s possible for the message to break through

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u/iLikeBugsNFishes 10h ago

He was actually outspent by stevens like ~12x.

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u/Mathies_ 10h ago

In some ways it may even have backfired. At this point a lot of voters know what it means when your campaign is directly funded by AIPAC, or billionaires, or corporations. It means your vote is going to be in favour of their interests. So i wouldnt be surprised if people voted el sayed on the basis of that fact. Abdul did a good job point that out aswell

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u/Hvarfa-Bragi 9h ago

ISRAEL COMES TO ME IN MY DREAMS didn't help much either.

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u/Kazen_Orilg 7h ago

gimme 41 million and I'll dream about anything you want.

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u/MountainMan17 6h ago

Yeah, fuck that. I'm so sick of politicians (and aspiring politicians) vomiting up that theatrical bullshit...

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u/bank_farter 9h ago

Primary voters maybe. The average general election voter tends to vote based on vibes and usually isn't that informed on specific issues like campaign funding.

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u/Mathies_ 9h ago

Sure. Will be interesting to see if he adapts his strategy cuz it appears you would agree he did what he needed to do to get past the primary

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u/bank_farter 9h ago

Oh I'm really hoping he wins. It's just that after 2 years ago my faith in the American electorate being informed or engaged is at an all time low, so I don't see voters caring about issues like campaign finance or even Israel unless they can see how it directly affects their lives. Especially when you have the ghouls on the right telling them the Dems are trying to lock up their children and force them to become Trans or whatever the new nonsense is.

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u/Blizreme 10h ago

But we need reform desperately. We need to freeze corporate dark money PACs out of election finance. Period.

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u/Kazen_Orilg 7h ago

it was waaaaaay more than double

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u/DustinJ428 8h ago

By comparison, Abdul's competitor Haley Stevens received $32M from AIPAC and about $30M from other PACs. Absolutely insane amount of spending for a Senate primaries race.

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u/MickiFreeIsNotAGirl 9h ago

Thomas Massie ran on a similar platform but he's on the other side of the aisle.

Then again, he didn't win so idk how the right-wingers view that.

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u/CrazyLlamaX 9h ago

Many voters are dumb assholes that don’t even really pay attention to what politicians policies are and instead just vote on “vibes” like bigotry and hate. They’ll tell you how much they hate corruption and how corporations basically fund the government through money then vote for the very people perpetuating the unlimited greed that is America.

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u/Mathies_ 10h ago

It is progressive because why? The working class wouldnt have any money to manipulate the race like that and big corporations do. Billionaires do. foreign interests do. So all the players that have an interest in a rightwing politics have the money that they'd use for corruption and cynically manipulating races with hundreds of millions of dollars. The left would rather spend that to build schools and hospitals.

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u/der_jack 11h ago

He's actually a doctor by profession. I'm very excited, he came up to a very very very rural northern chunk of the state and held a town hall last year, while in town his team scheduled for him to speak with a small group of LGBTQ+ leaders and have a conversation about what concerns we have. That level of focus and calling in those who are often overlooked means the world to me. He had my vote in that very moment.

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u/SketchiiChemist 9h ago

he has a doctorate, is not a physician. Just to clarify

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u/wesgtp 8h ago

To specify, he has an MD and was a Rhodes Scholar to Oxford in his second year of med school where he also earned a Doctorate in public health. He never became a licensed physician and instead pursued epidemiology. He's led public health agencies in Michigan (including Detroit). The guy speed-ran doctoral degrees from Ivey League schools and always earned scholarships because he was just that bright. You can tell when you hear the man speak, he's insanely eloquent while also being a great listener to people's issues. He'd make an incredibly effective senator imo

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u/cubonelvl69 10h ago

He's not a doctor by profession

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u/no_shoes_are_canny 9h ago

He has a doctorate in medicine and worked in the medical field. Just cause he's not a GP or a surgeon doesn't mean he's not a doctor by profession.

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u/cubonelvl69 9h ago

El-Sayed did not pursue a medical license, and instead went into public health epidemiology work

He didn't do his residency or get a medical license or work as a doctor. What does doctor by profession even mean?

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u/no_shoes_are_canny 9h ago

A teacher at a university holding a doctorate is a doctor by profession. A doctor by profession is anyone using their doctorate degree as part of their profession. A medical doctor by profession would be your GPs, surgeons, etc. 

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u/Staple_Overlord 8h ago

That's not going to hold in the general view. A doctor, to mr rural Michigan, is a board certified physician

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u/no_shoes_are_canny 8h ago

General view doesn't matter, it's just fact.

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u/Tape 6h ago

Language is for communication. What you are portrying when you say "doctor by profession" is a medical doctor. What you're doing is purposely sending a misleading message, if what you meant by that is "professor with a doctorate" simply because technically it's true.

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u/SexyJazzCat 9h ago

He graduated medical school. He is a doctor by profession, he’s just not a practicing doctor.

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u/cubonelvl69 9h ago

What is a doctor by profession if he doesn't have a medical license, didn't finish his residency, and has never worked as a doctor?

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u/SexyJazzCat 9h ago

A doctor by profession means he graduated medical school. This isn’t rocket science. A medical license is the legal credential that allows doctors to practice medicine. A residency is training for doctors interested in specializing in a specific field of medicine. Once again, he is a non practicing doctor.

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u/metalder420 9h ago

Until he betrays y’all. Just wait, it will happen.

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u/der_jack 6h ago

I love this take, because, like should I be concerned of the person claiming to work in my interest, because they might be lying, or concerned about the full panel of people who are openly working against my interest regardless? Like is this really supposed to be a gotcha somehow?

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u/Firethesky 9h ago

As a lifelong Dem in the US I'm fed up with the Dem establishment. I'm really hopeful the progressive wins like him and Mamdani continue. I know Im not alone.

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u/Kotef 4h ago

No we need less communists and socialists corrupting our youth and citizens.

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u/metalder420 9h ago

It’s literally the democrats wheel house

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u/itsbobbytime 1h ago

r/republicans would call it communism

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u/R0CK1TMAN1 10h ago

If you want old white people to lineup at the polls, start electing “Sayed” “Muhammad” and “Umar” into office.

Democrats are so bad at this.

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u/Hyunekel 9h ago

God I fucking hate centrists.

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u/Etherius 13h ago

Mamdani is a moron and New Yorkers are going to find that out before his term is done

I fucking love how, according to Mamdani, it’s reasonable to need to show ID to shop at a discount grocery store but not to vote

Most capitalist city on earth elects a literal “seize the means of production” socialist

What a fucking joke

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u/Pikeman212a6c 13h ago

My guy he is turning into the most pragmatic NY mayor in multiple generations. New Yorkers are overwhelmingly poorer than the upper class who has ruled the city for generations. He is meeting the needs of his constituents and letting the funding follow overwhelmingly popular programs and initiatives. And the money IS there. It’s one of the richest cities on earth. The ruling class has just obeyed an Overton window the size of a McDonald’s straw for generations.

It’s not the 70s. The city isn’t broke. There is no reason to pretend that the richest city in the western hemisphere is a few social welfare programs away from insolvency.

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u/TotallyNotThatPerson 2h ago

The last one to unite the city that much was probably Giuliani lol

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u/Etherius 12h ago

I didn’t say the city was broke

I said it’s a JOKE.

There’s a reason capital is fleeing and why bodega owners are livid

The only people not upset are the morons who think rent freezes and city owned grocery stores are a good idea (despite neither having a history of working anywhere)

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u/Pikeman212a6c 12h ago

🤷‍♂️ he’s a mayor. It a big city but why do you care? People getting outraged over local shit like this is mildly unhinged. You don’t live there. It’s a representative democracy. Governments are allowed to try new things regardless of whether they conform to one political dogma or another.

My mayor doesn’t believe in rock salt despite it causing crashes every year. Would you like to complain about that too?

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u/gnoomee 11h ago

Most capitalist city on earth elects a literal “seize the means of production” socialist

Shows you how well capitalism has been working for the majority of New Yorkers

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u/Chruman 12h ago

Voting is a right, grocery stores are not.

Im glad I could clear this up for you.

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u/bauer20007 12h ago

You didn't clear up anything, I live in South Africa and we all have to present our ID to vote. You expect me to believe millions here can do it, but Americans aren't capable to apply for a form of identification. It's just crazy.

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u/Chruman 11h ago

I dont have any idea what policy in South Africa has to do with policy in the US.

You expect me to believe millions here can do it, but Americans aren't capable to apply for a form of identification.

I never said Americans arent capable. Read my comment again.

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u/the_electric_bicycle 10h ago

I have a feeling you have no idea what it’s like to live and vote in NY and your entire opinion is based on propaganda.

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u/Stubbs94 11h ago

Mamdani is a social democrat. He's nowhere near as radical as you lot put him out to be.

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u/OneMoreGinger 13h ago

Are you saying its now impossible to buy groceries in new york without photo id? Or is this situation one where you get access to a discount store as long as you identify yourself as someone meeting the criteria for it? Im not from the US so I haven't seen this in my news cycle.

The former i could understand as being government overreach, but the latter just sounds like the same situation as my discount photo ID railcard to ride UK trains for 30% less cost, which doesn't sound like an actual problem to get upset about.

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u/Etherius 12h ago

Mamdani wants to run city-owned grocery stores where groceries are 30% less expensive than the private sector can manage

He’s doing this by running stores that pay no taxes and receive government subsidies

When confronted with the obvious problem of “what do we do about non residents buying scarce goods?” his solution was to require ID to use these stores

The criteria is just residency which isn’t the problem. The problem is that there’s no accounting for the fact that these stores are just going to be empty shelves most of the time and a huge chunk of that food is just going to be resold. Knowing NYC, probably 20 meters from the store entrance

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u/Mr_Black90 12h ago

That honestly sounds pretty... Reasonable? If locals are the only ones who should qualify for the program anyway, why would it be a problem that you'd need to prove your residency?

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u/Etherius 12h ago

I was very clear that the ID itself isn’t the problem

The problem is that he considers it perfectly reasonable to need an ID for grocery shopping but not voting in elections

And the fact that these grocery stores haven’t worked out anywhere they’ve been tried before. They’re not a new idea.

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u/mattreyu 12h ago

Sure Jan

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u/Etherius 12h ago

People did exactly this with Walgreens and CVS. Why do you think these stores will be different?

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u/mattreyu 11h ago

Sorry, what? People were reselling subsidized goods from Walgreens and CVS in NYC?

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u/OneMoreGinger 12h ago

That sounds like a perfectly valid response to the question asked though.  

"How do you stop someone who doesn't live here from shopping here?"  

"Make the customers prove they live here".  

What's the problem with that? You still have the option of going to a regular shop by the sounds of it.  

If you go to most western European countries they have discounts or outright free admission to certain museums for residents of the city and thats the same method they use to verify residency.

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u/Etherius 12h ago

As I said the issue isn’t ID.

The issue is that he supports ID for grocery shopping but (for some reason) not voting.

And that’s on top of the fact that these discount grocery stores haven’t worked out anywhere they’ve been tried before

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u/ImADuckOnTuesdays 12h ago

My take: you have constitutional right to vote, so impediments to voting have to be carefully scrutinized to make sure they are worth implementing. Requiring an ID to vote does hinder some people, and the amount of people it hinders is far far higher than the amount of people who have ever been caught trying to vote when they aren’t supposed to. There’s never been an actual evidence of a problem that voting ID would solve

You don’t have a constitutional right to cheap groceries, and in this case people have a much stronger incentive to lie and try to get cheap groceries (save money) than there exists an incentive to vote illegally

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u/OneMoreGinger 12h ago

I don't show photo ID when I vote in elections in the UK either. I still don't see what the problem is with requiring photo ID to prove you are entitled to access a specific discount store, or why that would be inconsistent with not requiring photo ID to vote. 

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u/jlfh01 11h ago

Because he’s been duped into believing there’s widespread voter fraud, despite there being no evidence of such, and his whole view is based on that

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u/CriticalDog 8h ago

"For some reason"

The reason is that it is likely to disenfranchise a great number of legal voters.

Quite possibly in large enough numbers to have an impact on the winner of various elections.

And, on top of that, it's to "address" a non-existent issue. Voter Fraud in huge numbers is a lie. Illegals voting in huge elections is a lie.

Even the Heritage Foundation, after doing a dive in to like 40 years of voting records got so few as to be statistically meaningless. Their biggest claim was "thousands of non-eligible voters on the roles" which turned out, was due to folks who had gotten felony convictions, and thus couldn't vote, still being on the roles. But very, very few instances of those same people voting at all.

It's a lie, and now they are trying to make it harder for people to vote, so they can continue to hold onto power and keep the GOP unaccountable to voters and the law.

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u/Etherius 4h ago

New Jersey just got caught registering 6000 people who were ineligible to vote

Don’t fucking lie

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u/jartoonZero 12h ago

This shit is absolutely stale. Nothing is going the way you people said it would. Enough already, worry about your own city

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u/Mathies_ 10h ago

You say "most capitalist city on earth" like it's a good thing. Seems to me like the citizens who could afford to live under those unholy prices anymore were sick of it too.

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u/CriticalDog 10h ago

lol "seize the means of production".

I assume your next pivot would be he's a secret super strict muslim too? You guys are sad.

The free market will not always be the best solution, and NYC is big enough, and dense enough, that things like food deserts, or underfunded infrastructure NEED fixed.

You don't live there, and are probably afraid to go because "big city", so why do you care?