Donald Trump has apparently run out of ways to attack his newest Democratic opponent, so he went after the man’s marriage instead.
On Saturday, Trump unleashed another Truth Social broadside against Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, this time dragging El-Sayed’s wife into the fight.
The president posted a photo of himself with Melania Trump next to a photo of El-Sayed and his wife, Dr. Sarah Jukaku, placing the two couples side by side beneath the caption: “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s.”
Trump also went out of his way to identify El-Sayed by his full name, “Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed”, echoing his long-running habit of emphasizing Barack Obama’s middle name, “Hussein.”
But Trump may have gotten more than he bargained for.
Asked about the attack during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, El-Sayed didn’t exactly take the bait.
Instead, he turned the president’s marriage attack back on him.
“Actually, Sarah and I like each other,” El-Sayed said.
Then came the punchline.
“I don’t know about the First Lady and the president, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a bit of a rocky road,” he added.
Ouch.
El-Sayed, 41, had just won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, defeating establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens and sending Trump’s MAGA supporters into a frenzy.
Trump has already made El-Sayed a target, attacking the former public health official and epidemiologist and warning Michigan voters about his positions, including his support for eliminating the Senate filibuster.
But Trump’s latest attack went somewhere considerably more personal.
The president’s post came after El-Sayed’s primary victory, which could make him the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate if he wins in November.
His use of the Arabic phrase “inshallah”—meaning “God willing”—during his victory speech has also drawn fierce attacks from Trump’s MAGA base.
El-Sayed, however, appears to be taking the attacks in stride.
During his CNN appearance, he contrasted his own family life with what he described as Trump’s vision for America.
“Sarah and I like each other,” he said, before adding the pointed jab about Trump and Melania.
El-Sayed and Jukaku have been together since their college years at the University of Michigan. They became engaged in 2006 and now have two daughters, Emmalee and Serene.
Jukaku, a psychiatrist and the daughter of Indian immigrants, has also played a prominent role in El-Sayed’s personal and professional life. In his book Healing Politics, El-Sayed wrote about how his wife taught him to “dance” with his emotions.
Their relationship has been public for years.
In a 2006 interview with The Michigan Daily, the couple discussed their Muslim faith and their approach to marriage.
Trump, meanwhile, has been married three times.
He married Ivana Trump in 1977, and they had three children. After their divorce, he married Marla Maples, with whom he has daughter Tiffany. Trump married Melania in 2005, and they have one son, Barron.
El-Sayed didn’t stop with the marriage jab. He used the moment to attack Trump’s broader vision for the country.
“You’ve got two different visions of America,” El-Sayed said. “Donald Trump’s vision is the one you’re living in right now. Can you afford your gas? Can you afford your groceries? Do you believe when you look your kids in the eye, that they’re going to have a better future than you did?”
“When we look our daughters in the eye, Emmalee and Serene, we want them to believe that they are every bit as able to have a better future than the one that they could have had under the Trump administration,” he added.
The exchange also comes amid renewed attention to Trump’s personal living arrangements at the White House.
According to Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, a book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Trump and Melania do not share the traditional presidential bedroom.
The book reports that Melania occupies the primary bedroom while Trump has taken over a room next door, traditionally labeled the second-floor “living room.”
The authors also describe an unusual decorating standoff between the president and first lady, writing that Trump moved objects from shared areas into his bedroom and appeared determined to have what they characterized as the better room.
So Trump’s attempt to use his own marriage as a contrast with El-Sayed’s may have produced an awkward result.
The president tried to make the Democratic candidate’s marriage part of the campaign.
Instead, El-Sayed turned the spotlight around—and took a swing at Trump’s marriage in front of a national television audience.
