Jesse Watters can’t seem to stop admiring Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. The Fox News host loves to talk about how Michigan’s Democratic nominee for the Senate is “in great shape” and how “Abdul . . . beat the machine” — meaning the party establishment’s candidate, Rep. Haley Stevens — in a hard-fought primary. During an interview in August, Watters clearly enjoyed El-Sayed’s jokes and blunt speech, which included calling his opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, a “beta,” and asking the host if he was circumcised when Watters tried to corner him on gender-affirming surgery for minors. The next day, Watters made no bones about El-Sayed’s appeal. “I like him,” he said. “I don’t want to like him. I like him for some stupid reason.”
But the reason was obvious. The doctor-turned-politician has an aggressive bro style that appeals to someone like Watters. Quick-witted with bulldog energy, El-Sayed never backs down from a fight. But despite Watters’ admiration, Fox News has become obsessed with taking El-Sayed down. It’s not because he’s Muslim, though Republicans are ratcheting up the racism in their efforts to derail his campaign. It’s because he is a model for how Democrats can escape their reputations for being weak and feckless.
So you’ll just be in the same predicament that any American a who isn’t a straight white cis male capital owner has always been in.
The people in that predicament right NOW don’t have anything to loose.
Yeah about that. I’m trans and bi. So that is indeed my situation and I’m tired of every president, left or right, either merely tolerating my existence or wanting me dead. I’m willing to vote for the least of the evils when it counts, but I will not stop protesting that the people who are supposed to be progressive are okay falling right back in line behind the same kind of people that drove us to this point to begin with. Call me idealist, call me naive, call me ignorant, say whatever you like. I don’t care. None of the people replying to me understand what the fuck I’m saying and they all act like I’m some kind of secret agent trying to nitpick and sow division among the left, when the truth is most of the left doesn’t actually care about trans rights nearly as much as they claim, when it actually matters. They’ll still say “maybe later” and vote for another cisgendered symbol of masculinity. Well, fuck that. And fuck this thread, too.