Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

The national press paid some serious attention to Michigan in its primary, sending reporters and observers to watch the race between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed in the Democrat race to run for the Senate seat Gary Peters is vacating.

El-Sayed won.

So what’s he have in mind? I looked at his campaign page to find out.

The first item on El-Sayed’s list of priorities is something that is one of those things that’s nice to have, but something way down the list because it is something that (1) doesn’t have an immediate impact on people who aren’t running for office and (2) not likely to happen:

“Money Out of Politics”

The explanation: “To get corporate and special interest money out of politics, I support legislation to overturn the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision”

Good luck with that.

“In addition, I support banning outside spending thorough corporate 501(c)4s, SuperPACs, and 527 groups.”

Isn’t this an example of the old saw: “The horse has left the barn”? That is, the people behind those various mechanisms are going to use those mechanisms to assure that they won’t be banned, and as laudable as that mission may be, odds are it would take a whole lot of time, energy and effort that could be spent on objectives that address people’s needs.

The next item on El-Sayed’s list is:

“Money in Your Pocket”

And here, guess what politician he sounds like in large part?

No, not Bernie. Not AOC. Rather, Trump.

“Trade deals, like NAFTA, have been a disaster for American manufacturing and have rotted out our towns and destroyed communities. I believe in bringing dignified, well-paying jobs to Michigan. That means investing in the research, development, and growth of the technologies of the future while using tools like tariffs in a steady, thoughtful, and targeted way to protect them as they grow.”

Yes, Trump has referred to NAFTA — and now the USMCA (one would think El-Sayed would be a little more up to date in his references) — as a “disaster.”

And whose favorite word is “tariffs”?

While this might be construed as cherry-picking to make El-Sayed seem like something he isn’t, know that under his “Money Out of Politics” agenda there’s this:

“Abolishing the Filibuster

“The filibuster has been used by senators to shield one another from having to take hard votes. I believe that it is antidemocratic and should be abolished.”

Who else is in favor of getting rid of the filibuster? Yes, President Trump.

Getting back to “Money in Your Pocket,” El-Sayed claims, “Trump’s incoherent, self-serving version of tariffs have only made the problem” — as in the loss of manufacturing jobs — “worse.”

Sort of a fair point, but the loss of manufacturing jobs have a whole lot to do with global competitiveness, not just tariffs.

“I support targeted, smart tariffs that would help protect Michigan manufacturing and incubate the industries of the future with unions at the forefront.”

One might argue that the likes of Lutnick, Bessent and, yes, Trump, imagine their tariffs are “smart,” so that has to be taken into account.

And El-Sayed is quite pro-union in his priorities. He was endorsed by the UAW, whose president, Shawn Fain, was all in on the Trump tariffs of 25% on imported vehicles.

Presumably, if you want to create “industries of the future” you don’t do it by protecting jobs because with protection comes no need to advance.

And finally, 

“Medicare for All”

El-Sayed writes: “I will fight to expand Medicare to cover all necessary healthcare, including vision, dental, and hearing, and extend it to every single American from cradle to grave without premiums, copays, or deductibles.”

Sounds swell. But what he doesn’t have in the explanation of that priority is where the money is going to come from in order to pay for that. And Medicare as it exists today — the “original” Medicare, not the Medicare Advantage plan that is administered by private insurance (El-Sayed: “I categorically oppose the privatization of Medicare”), doesn’t cover vision, dental and hearing, so he’s talking about adding more costs to the program.

And while on the subject of costs of federal programs, let’s not forget that Social Security, which is funded by payroll taxes, will have a shortfall by the early 2030s without action.

And in another channeling of the man behind TrumpRx, El-Sayed proclaims:

“It is absurd that we pay more for prescription drugs than any other country on Earth.”

OK. But let’s look at why that might be the case — the paying more, not the absurdity.

In February 2024, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), which had contracted with RAND Health, released a study, “Comparing New Prescription Drug Availability and Launch Timing in the United States and Other OECD Countries.” This means the study occurred during the Biden Administration.

One of the findings: “Over half of new drugs are launched first in the US before being launched in other countries, with an average lag of about one year between launch in the US and launch in another country.”

Presumably that has a little something to do with the higher prices in the US. And for a parent whose child depends on a breakthrough drug, that year makes a lot of difference.

El-Sayed will face off in November with Republican Mike Rogers.

Rogers, who ran TV ads for weeks during the campaign, even though he was running unopposed, emphasized that he is a proponent of bringing shop classes back into secondary schools because the jobs that will result for those who have taken shop can’t be taken away by the Chinese or eliminated by AI. The skilled trades are not necessarily the consequence of taking shop. (That is a self-observational assessment.) Somehow this position doesn’t seem senatorial. More like someone running for school board.

Rogers doesn’t beat around the bush in how he positions himself: “I’ll stand with President Trump to deliver on the mandate given to him by the American people.”

And what mandate is that? 

The Michigan electorate has a mess on its hands come November.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings where he writes primarily for the right column. He lives in Michigan.

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