Vice President JD Vance also told Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, to “keep my wife’s name out of your mouth.”
Page A7From§Eachthe milkman edition — 1 September 2026
JD Vance calls Senate candidate 'evil'; candidate responds by urging Americans to 'show you love'.
As it ran on the front
Let's take this in order, because order is the whole joke. A sitting Vice President stands up in Michigan and calls a Senate candidate 'evil.' Not 'wrong.' Not 'misguided.' Evil — the word you save for the guy who actually did something, except the candidate in question, Abdul El-Sayed, has done nothing more evil than run for Senate and, a few days later, tell people to find other ways to show they love their country besides fireworks.
That's it. That's the whole offense. He suggested Americans might express patriotism through something other than controlled explosions, and for that he got 'evil' from a guy one heartbeat from the nuclear codes. I want you to sit with the math on that, because the math is the story: the accusation escalated, the actual offense did not exist, and the response — El-Sayed's response — was to stand by the fireworks comment and ask people to show love another way. He didn't flinch. He restated the position calmer than the man calling him evil.…
…(cont) Here's the con, and it's an old one: you call the other side's guy a monster loudly enough, early enough, that nobody has time to ask what he actually said. What he actually said was about fireworks — a consumer product, a Fourth of July purchase, a thing you buy at a stand off the highway with your kid in the back seat. That's the level of offense we're litigating with the word 'evil.' Not policy. Not corruption. Fireworks.
And look, I get why the word gets reached for. 'Evil' doesn't need a citation. 'Wrong on the merits' needs a citation, needs a follow-up question, needs someone in the room to say 'wrong how.' 'Evil' just needs a microphone and a crowd that already agrees with you. It's cheaper than an argument and it does more damage, and it works precisely because nobody has to prove it.
The stakes here aren't abstract. This is a Senate race, in Michigan, where actual votes on actual budgets get cast — and the argument being run against one candidate isn't about a single one of those budgets. It's about whether Americans should be allowed to say the word 'love' out loud without getting called evil for it. That's not a policy disagreement. That's a leash.
“Calling a Senate candidate 'evil' for a comment about fireworks isn't rhetoric, it's a leash law — it tells you what happens to anyone who says the word 'love' without a flag in one hand. He didn't back down, which is the part they didn't plan for.”
“The Vice President was making a broader point about values, not a literal accusation — 'evil' is a strong word but rhetoric gets heated in campaign season, everybody says things they — I mean, he did say the specific word, so I'll leave it there.”
The receipts
Democratic Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed appeared to defend his criticism of Fourth of July fireworks on "The Breakfast Club" radio show.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.