GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) used a campaign rally for Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed on Sunday to launch a blistering attack on President Donald Trump, accusing him of running a corrupt administration, stoking racial divisions, and using his political power to benefit billionaires and corporations.
Sanders, who spoke alongside el Sayed in Grand Rapids, said Trump’s attacks on the Democratic candidate were rooted in Islamophobia because Republicans have little to say about the issues affecting working families.
“Perhaps what disgusts me most about Donald Trump is that he is a racist,” Sanders said, calling Trump’s presidency among the worst the country has seen in decades.
 speaks to a crowd of supporters in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. He was speaking at a rally for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed. </p>
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<p>Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to a crowd of supporters in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. He was speaking at a rally for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed. (Barnini Chakraborty/Washington Examiner)</p>
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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to a crowd of supporters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. He was speaking at a rally for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed. (Barnini Chakraborty/Washington Examiner)Sanders pointed to Trump’s yearslong campaign against former President Barack Obama over his birth certificate in what he described as a long-standing pattern of racial attacks.
He also accused Trump of targeting women of color in Congress and said he had now turned his attention to el Sayed to divide voters.
“Like demagogues throughout history, he understands that the best and most effective way to stay in power is to divide people up,” Sanders said.
Sanders said the strategy was being used against el Sayed, a former Wayne County health director who, if elected, would become the country’s first Muslim senator.
“The reason that they are using Islamophobia against Abdul is because they have nothing to say about the real interests of that,” Sanders said.
Sanders challenged Trump to focus instead on the issues facing Americans, including health care, housing, and income inequality.
“Mr. President, instead of slandering Abdul and his family, what are you going to do about the health care crisis in America” Sanders asked.
Sanders also turned his ire on Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers, arguing that, if elected, the former congressman would never stand up to Trump.
He referenced Rogers’s appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier Sunday, when Rogers said he could not hear a question from moderator Kristen Welker.
“I know the answer,” Sanders said. “He will be a rubber stamp for Trump.”
Sanders said the Michigan Senate race has become a national test of whether voters will accept Trump’s agenda or elect a candidate willing to challenge the president.
“Some people think that this race is just about the ideological differences between Abdul and Mr. Rogers,” Sanders said. “This election goes far deeper than that.”
“What this election is about is whether we finally hold accountable the most dangerous president in American history, or whether we continue to have a rubber-stamp Congress approving everything that Trump wants,” he added.
Sanders then broadened his argument to one of his signature themes: the concentration of wealth and political power among billionaires.
He said the country has reached a level of income and wealth inequality that exceeds the Gilded Age, arguing that billionaires are increasingly influencing politics, media, and elections.
“The top 1% now owns more wealth than the bottom 53%,” Sanders said.
He also singled out Elon Musk, accusing the billionaire of trying to influence the Michigan election with hundreds of millions of dollars.
Sanders urged Michigan voters to scrutinize the outside groups behind campaign ads supporting Rogers, arguing that some operate under innocuous-sounding names while wealthy donors fund them.
“They are paid for by billionaires who want Mike Rogers in the Senate to continue to work for them rather than for working families,” Sanders said.
He added that el Sayed shares his opposition to the current campaign finance system and would work with him to overturn Citizens United, restrict super PACs, and expand public financing of elections.
“Democracy, the concept of democracy, is not complicated,” Sanders said to applause. “It is one person, one vote, not billionaires buying elections.”
Sanders also used his speech to outline his broader economic agenda, calling for a wealth tax on billionaires that he said could help finance affordable housing, universal child care, and free public colleges and universities.
OBAMA MAKES THE CASE FOR EL SAYED AND A DEMOCRATIC PARTY THAT CAN DISAGREE
He said the country should guarantee teachers a minimum salary of $60,000 and expand access to health care.
“As a doctor, Abdul understands what the vast majority of people in Michigan, Vermont, and America know: health care is a human right, not a privilege,” Sanders said.
