There's an ad going around in Michigan, nominally in support of Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, that's generating quite its share of controversy in a race where there's concern that El-Sayed may not be able to lock down support from the normally stalwart-blue Jewish community.
The ad comes from Rebellion PAC, which is fronted by left-wing political commentator Cenk Uygur. It depicts a couple in a supermarket saying they cannot afford groceries because they have to set money aside “for killing Palestinians.” It concludes by stating that the Michigan Democrat’s GOP opponent “is for they/them,” referring to Israelis.
The ad actually apparently is a "repurposed" piece from Uygur's absurdist vanity run for President, with the bonus content at the end attacking Mike Rogers. Both Uygur and Rebellion PAC spokeswoman Kara Eastman* took a similar line on the controversy, which was to accuse their critics of mental illness:
“If you think this ad is antisemitic, you’ve lost your mind and you don’t know it,” the Rebellion PAC spokesperson, Kara Eastman, told JTA. “It’s saying we’re giving too much money to a foreign nation — and they’re misusing it. There’s nothing more normal than that. But when someone criticizes the government of Israel, and you hear ‘they hate all Jews,’ get clinical help.”
Shortly after Eastman’s response to JTA, Uygur himself added on X, “If you think this ad is antisemitic, you’re in a cult and don’t know it. You think Israel is owed all the money it wants from US and if Americans don’t hand it over — without complaint — they’re antisemites. That’s insane, but you don’t realize it because you’ve lost your mind.”
For his part, El-Sayed has disavowed the ad.
This is obvious wrecker behavior -- which makes sense, since it's, you know, Cenk Uygur. Indeed, apparently Rebellion PAC is spending a whopping $1,000 (no, I'm not missing any zeros) on this advertisement -- effectively nothing. It's not actually going to be seen by Michigan voters. Its only purpose is to stir up antagonism and controversy, of a sort that I'm confident neither the Jewish community, the Democratic Party, nor El-Sayed have any desire to deal with a week out of election day. Which again, is entirely in line with Uygur's whole MO.
So to be clear -- this ad is trash, and it's designed to be trash. But we shouldn't make it out to be a bigger investment in trash than it is. It's a known wrecker trying to wreck things. Don't give him the oxygen, and don't pretend it's some prominent intervention.
* That name rang a bell, and it is indeed the same Kara Eastman who was the 2018 and 2020 Democratic nominee for the swingy 2nd Nebraska District House seat currently held by Don Bacon. Eastman defeated Brad Ashford, a Democrat who had held the seat for a term in 2014 (he lost it in 2016), in the 2018 primary, then proceeded to lose to Bacon by an even larger margin than Ashford did despite 2018 being a much better year for Democrats than 2016.
