USA25 August, 20262 min read
Abdul El-Sayed Clashes With Jesse Watters on Fox News Over Immigration, Iran War
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El-Sayed clashes on immigration enforcement and Iran war during Fox interview. Watters pressed him, repeatedly telling him to 'just answer the question.'
Fox interview turns personal
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed clashed with Fox News host Jesse Watters on “Jesse Watters Primetime” Monday, sparring over immigration enforcement, taxing the wealthy, and the war on Iran as Watters repeatedly told him to “just answer the question.”
“Sex change for minors. Do you support that?”
Fox NewsThe exchange escalated when Watters pressed El-Sayed on gender-affirming care for minors, asking, “Sex change for minors. Do you support that?”
El-Sayed, described as a doctor and former public health official, responded, “I just think the government shouldn’t tell you what kind of healthcare you should have.”
Watters then asked, “So you think it’s OK for a parent to slash his kid’s ding-a-ling off?” before El-Sayed shot back, “Do you really want to have this conversation? Are you circumcised?”
Reactions and campaign stakes
The interview drew a wave of conservative reaction after Watters called El-Sayed’s comparison “wacky,” telling him, “Michigan’s not going for that. That is sick stuff.”
YouTuber Benny Johnson wrote on X that El-Sayed had shocked Watters by “demanding to know if Fox News host is CIRCUMCISED live on-air,” adding, “I’ve never seen more of a nightmare interview.”
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “This is the radical left. This is who they are. Insane and sad.”
El-Sayed is campaigning against Republican nominee Mike Rogers, a former Michigan congressman and Army and FBI veteran, for the seat, and President Trump endorsed Rogers after El-Sayed’s Democratic primary win earlier this month.
Sharia, taxes, and Iran
Beyond the heated exchange on minors’ healthcare, Fox News said El-Sayed was grilled on past statements on Sharia law and White supremacy, as he told Watters, “Nobody is trying to push Sharia law on anyone else.”
El-Sayed also argued that there is “statistical evidence that the president and the vice president like to target me simply as a function of my faith,” and he condemned Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., over proposed legislation including the “No Sharia Act” and “Preserving a Sharia Free America Act.”
On the economy, El-Sayed argued for taxing wealth above $100 million, saying, “we got to start taxing wealth for people who know have over $100 million,” while Watters responded, “Whatever I want!”
The Hill described the interview’s Iran segment as Watters asked if El-Sayed was “glad the ayatollah is dead,” with El-Sayed saying he would “never defend the Iranian regime” as the two debated the JCPOA and the conflict’s nuclear stakes.