Michigan Media Rush To Defend El-Sayed on Mackinac
But the progressive Democrat admits the hate is real.
Last week was a bad one for the Democratic-media alliance in Michigan.
Three days after Abdul El-Sayed won the most-watched U.S. Senate primary in America, the alliance should have been riding high. Instead, an old video resurfaced of Mr. El-Sayed saying he “hates” Mackinac Island, the iconic tourist spot. The Michigan media leaped to his defense, claiming the hot-mic remarks lacked context — only for Mr. El-Sayed to contradict them with a tweet showing there is no missing context, he meant what he said: He hates Mackinac Island.
Let’s break down exactly what happened here.
The original remark
“Ah, I hate Mackinac so much,” Mr. El-Sayed says. “It’s funny because if we win, this is gonna be, like, the summer home. Every time I’ve ever come here, I’ve hated it. Why am I here?”
If all the progressive Democrat said was the first sentence, it would be arguable he was referring to the Mackinac Policy Conference and not Mackinac Island itself. But the second, third, and fourth sentences make clear he is referring to the island. Mackinac Island is a popular tourist destination in Michigan. The remarks did not go over well.
Soon after the footage was released, Congressman John James, the Republican candidate for governor, started selling “I ❤️ Mackinac Island” hats and T-shirts.
Mike Rogers, Mr. El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, posted a pro-Mackinac tweet with two pictures: he and wife Kristi enjoying ice cream and him being interviewed by Michigan journalist Kyle Olson of The Midwesterner.
Conservative media picked up the footage, and it went viral. Just about everybody had something to add, from Kid Rock to Sean Hannity to OutKick’s Clay Travis.
The 28-second video is not recent; it’s from 2018, when Mr. El-Sayed ran for Michigan governor. He was much pudgier back then compared with his slimmed-down frame today. He went to Mackinac Island to participate in the Mackinac Policy Conference, a start-of-summer political gathering that’s especially hot in election years like 2018.
Michigan media plays defense for the Democrat
“LeDuff and El-Sayed both have 1 thing in common: They’re not fans of Mackinac’s policy conference,” tweeted Niraj Warikoo, a Detroit Free Press reporter. “But when LeDuff criticizes it, the rightwing doesn’t mind and in fact joins along with him; when El-Sayed says it, they lose their mind and act outraged.”
Mr. Warikoo is referring to reporter Charlie LeDuff, who writes for Michigan Enjoyer. (As does the author of this piece.) Mr. LeDuff was denied a media credential to the policy conference in May and did a story about it.
Brad LaPlante, a TV-news reporter in Lansing, claimed, “This 30-second clip is taken out of context. El-Sayed was talking about the Mackinac Policy Conference, an annual gathering of policy pros and insiders that he argues brings together well-connected and powerful people and shuts most voters out of politics.”
Ben Solis, a reporter for the Michigan Advance, an avowedly left-wing publication, didn’t try to defend the remarks — he tried to pivot the conversation to class warfare.
“I mean, I love Mackinac Island,” Mr. Solis posted. “I honeymooned there. But let’s not forget that the conference held there each year leaves working class and average Michiganders at the door.”
But the cost of the conference has nothing to do with the governor’s summer residence being on Mackinac Island or Mr. El-Sayed’s long-standing grudge against it.
The comments were captured during the shooting of a documentary, and the filmmakers stepped up and tried to convince the tweeting public to ignore its lying eyes.
“If you’re seeing the viral ‘I hate Mackinac’ clip: it’s from our documentary, How To Fix A Primary. Abdul was headed to the Mackinac Policy Conference to face what he saw as a hostile political establishment,” the producers posted on X. “Here’s the scene in its original context,” the tweet concludes, offering a two-minute version.
That version does not exonerate Mr. El-Sayed or offer any context that changes the meaning of the words that came out of his mouth.
Mr. El-Sayed responds: No, I actually hate Mackinac Island
The Michigan media risked credibility in defending the Democrat or claiming context would exonerate him.
And then Mr. El-Sayed admitted the truth that’s obvious to anyone who watched the clip: He actually hates Mackinac Island itself, not just the conference and not just that the working man is locked out of it.
“Not sure about ‘End Wokeness,’” he posted, “but I don’t think the most ‘American place in MI’ can be a place that…bans cars.”
Mr. El-Sayed’s defense of himself did not fall back on context. He doubled down in defense of his grievance against Mackinac Island because he had to walk rather than take a cab.
 | A guest post by
|