'Put One Ogre on a Pike': Fake Dr. Abdul El-Sayed's Violent Power Fantasy Rocks Michigan Senate Race

Fake Doctor Abdul is certainly feeling himself these days.

Abdul El-Sayed has a frank private assessment of what victory in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary over Rep. Haley Stevens would mean.
During a recent Zoom donor meeting, El-Sayed indicated that a win in the Aug. 4 contest — and another one in November — would give him a platform to push the progressive movement forward. “You put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message, and all of a sudden starts to sound a lot different,” El-Sayed said, according to audio of the meeting obtained by Playbook.
El-Sayed was responding to a supporter, who asked how he planned to use his “voice at a time when, unfortunately, we’re not going to get any policy over the finish line,” referring to the final two years of the Trump administration.
In his response, El-Sayed framed the race, which has seen a historic level of spending by AIPAC’s political arm, as one of biblical stakes: He likened himself to David and the forces that have lined up against him to Goliath. “I need to use the platform that I have, and frankly, AIPAC and all the other corporations are going to give me if I win this race,” El-Sayed said.
“What they don’t really realize is that in spending so much money, they’re turning me into David, right? So, like, if I’m the guy who came through and beat Goliath, now all of a sudden you just gave me the best platform in the entire U.S. Senate, which I love because then guess where all eyes are going to be?”
The discussion revealed how he views his race as the left’s most consequential stand in the midterms and its implications for 2028 — especially as a newly crowned early 2028 presidential primary state.
“Michigan is going to be, what state number five — first big swing state on the whole map. I love that for us, which means that I get to then start paving the pathway for 2028 and who will be the next president,” he said. “What I’m trying to do in this race right now … is to offer compelling ways or offer sort of memes that people can pick up who are running for president to sound like we need them to sound.”
And he wasn’t speaking purely conceptually. El-Sayed talked about “organizing downward and outward” as part of a larger progressive project with national implications — and targets.
“A big pickup for us could be that John Fetterman seat,” El-Sayed said, referring to the Democratic senator up for reelection in 2028. (Earlier this year at a rally with the far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee, El-Sayed floated the idea of Lee primarying Fetterman.)
“They’re gonna f around and give me carte blanche to go take them out. Like that’s the best thing about the way they’re doing this is if I win … ‘Well, y’all came at me, so now I get to come at you.’ And you know, primarying people like John Fetterman, I have no problem to do that. Like I’m looking forward to it. And people are like, ‘We don’t primary the Senate.’ I’m like: watch me do it. Tell me why I should stop.

Of course, he had to appropriate a Jewish hero of the Bible and compare himself to him. Not hardly, Abdul. You're just a fake physician.

Then, he talked about putting heads on spikes to warn others how to behave? That's some violent imagery.

Harsh thing to say about Fetterman https://t.co/zkKsHb6b7f
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) July 27, 2026

Apparently, the ogre in this case is Fetterman.

Calling your female opponent an ogre you want to put on a pike is not beating the rap that this race has some serious sexism. https://t.co/Sx6VnKJo3m
— Neera Tanden🌻 (@neeratanden) July 27, 2026

Or maybe he was referring to Stevens? Either way, it's a terrible look. How about not threatening to behead anyone?

Abdul El-Sayed is campaigning to represent Michigan, a state in which a group of men plotted to kidnap and murder the female governor. Say these words out loud: "You put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message." Utterly terrifying. https://t.co/l4MkFb0x0N pic.twitter.com/HiMfoQG3lv
— Magdi Jacobs (@magi_jay) July 27, 2026

To be fair, the kidnapping was a big ruse, but it's still a terrible thing to say.

Michigan Senate race down the stretch:

Abdul - plotting 2028 powerbroker status and counting clicks

Haley - laser-focused on message of fighting for Michigan https://t.co/R3zQZjOW6b
— Chris Meagher (@chrismeagher) July 27, 2026