# Why El-Sayed ties foreign aid to Michigan's local needs

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/why-el-sayed-ties-foreign-aid-to-michigans-local-needs/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Abdul El-Sayed](https://realalpha.app/people/abdul-el-sayed/) · Abdul El-Sayed is a Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan. · Rebuilt Detroit’s Health Department, restructured Wayne County’s health agency, and authored Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide.
- Host: [Jon Stewart](https://realalpha.app/people/jon-stewart/) · The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
- Show: The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
- Episode: [Abdul El-Sayed’s Progressive Policy Prescription | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/), Oct 21, 2026
- Moment: 32:13 to 38:08 of the episode (6 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/why-el-sayed-ties-foreign-aid-to-michigans-local-needs/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=1933

## Quote

> “We just authorized $2.8 billion of 2,000-pound bombs for a foreign government. And a 2,000-pound bomb **never gave a kid an education**.”
> — [Abdul El-Sayed](https://realalpha.app/people/abdul-el-sayed/) at [36:55](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2215) · The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

## Takeaways

1. He says he supported Uncommitted to send a message to his party.
2. He says he endorsed Harris because he believed Trump would be worse.
3. He argues bomb spending could instead go toward schools and health care.

## About this segment

Abdul El-Sayed explains why he backed Uncommitted, then endorsed Harris, and argues that foreign military aid should be weighed against needs at home. He points to Detroit schools and health care as examples.

From “Abdul El-Sayed’s Progressive Policy Prescription | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart”, Oct 21, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[32:25](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=1945) You know, when I was health director, both in Detroit and Wayne County, I worked to hold a lot of these folks accountable at the same time. Right. Like most folks haven't interacted with me, but they probably have interacted with one of those folks. The other thing I'll tell you is, is that, you know, in the 2024 election, the question of, uh, uncommitted became a serious issue. Break that down a bit. So for people that are listening that don't understand, there was in the 2024 election, a large portion of the community in Michigan that felt that Gaza was not being addressed.

[33:00](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=1980) Right. And it was about the primary. It was about an uncontested primary where President Biden, frankly, shamefully, backstopped the genocide in Gaza. And folks wanted to send a message. And frankly, they borrowed from the political tactics of the community, of the black community, when it came to apartheid in South Africa. They said, look, we are not going to abide this, watching our tax dollars go to kill, for some people, their cousins, literally. And so the community said, look, we're going to vote uncommitted in the primary. And at that point, it was a closed primary. Nobody else was running against the president.

[33:36](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2016) And then, you know, I supported Uncommitted for a reason because I wanted to send a message to my own party. I'd run for governor in 2018. It's not my first time. I wanted to send a message to the party. Now, after President Biden dropped and Vice President Harris became the nominee, I endorsed her the next day. I was the first Arab Muslim leader to do it. And I endorsed her because I knew whether you saw this from the eyes of a child in Gaza or the eyes of a child in Detroit, that Trump would be worse. And I spent a very, very frustrating 106 days, both on the phone with Arab and Muslim leaders trying to be like, guys, don't you remember the first thing he did when he got elected last time was a whole on Muslim ban.

[34:11](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2051) And then also on the phone with the Harris administration being like, hey, there needs to be some daylight between the president's policies and this campaign's policies. And in the end, there was no budging and we saw what happened. But I tried to be on the right side of that both times, both times. So you're balancing that. So the idea is they feel like by putting uncommitted, you might have hurt Kamala Harris's chances there. And so the black community might feel like, all right, that guy, that guy wasn't a good soldier for us when we needed him.

[34:43](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2083) right that his issue was more important except for except for i personally was whereas a lot of folks who looked like me were not right and i again i endorsed the vice president in fact the vice president endorsed me um she came and campaigned with me in in this general election just about a month ago and then all that flips around and now you've got a problem with the jewish vote in michigan it's it's a very complex little dance that everybody has to do and the The thing that you'll get with me is in the end, I'll always side on principle, right?

[35:15](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2115) On principle, I endorsed uncommitted. On principle, I endorsed the vice president when she ran. And on principle, I oppose our unconditional foreign military aid to foreign governments generally. Like, and it's not just Israel. It's Egypt. It's Saudi Arabia. It's Pakistan. It's Jordan. And I, you know, when it comes to the question. Well, it's also the autocracies. Like none of the, you know, these are all military obligations in places where democracy does not live.

[35:43](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2143) That and, you know, it's like we are so incoherent and so hypocritical when it comes to our foreign policy, right? Even just take the question of Israel on its own terms. Every single president has said that they support a two-state solution. and We are out here aiding, arming, and abetting the very government that wants to foreclose on the second state, telling us that we are supporting a two-state solution.

[36:11](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2171) I'm like, no, we're not. We are actually actively not. There was a full-on genocide in Gaza. There's full-on apartheid in the West Bank. Our tax dollars subsidize it. So when you speak with that, and I appreciate the candor, obviously, and so much is made of the semantics of this. but when does principle that you stand on and moral courage get in the way of empathy or understanding of different communities that you have to balance in your home state of Michigan? Because your passion for it is so clear, but if I'm from Michigan, I might think, why do I give a shit about that anyway? Well, John. Bring it. Look. Bring it.

[36:54](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2214) Detroit Public Schools just had $700 million invested in their buildings. Now we're getting somewhere. Come on. Bring it home. They still are behind $1.8 billion. We just authorized $2.8 billion of 2,000-pound bombs for a foreign government. And a 2,000-pound bomb never gave a kid an education. It never fed somebody. It never provided health care. So people are like, oh, well, Abdul cares more about the West Bank.

[37:23](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2243) I'm like, no, I don't. The money that we are spending to subsidize apartheid in the West Bank is money that should be used on the West side. That's our money. It should be spent here. We got a $1.5 trillion defense budget that we're- And wars we shouldn't be fighting. Why? Right. Because our ostensible ally came and lobbied for a war that they had clear war aims in. Right. It's like, if you're walking with your friend in the woods and there's a bear and your friend pokes the bear and now you're running from the bear, you're like, yeah, well, who's more dangerous?

[37:50](https://realalpha.app/v/fmodf-lNGEE/?t=2270) The bear or my friend? you know like i'm just like and what kind of friend put you in a position where you're now fighting a bear well your friend is kind of an idiot