Weekly Roundup: Abdul El-Sayed and the New Red-Green Scare + Project Esther

In the Weekly Roundup, Brad Onishi examines how the American Right and MAGA are reacting to Abdul El-Sayed's victory in Michigan by calling him anti-American, communist, socialist, and more. As Brad explains, these rhetorical choices are strategies that correspond to a larger effort by the Trump administration to criminalize dissent. Brad traces the code words used by the American Right against Sayed, Mamdani, and others to NSPM7 and Project Esther. This is about more than one Senate race in Michigan. It’s about who gets to define what counts as “American,” what kinds of political disagreement are considered legitimate, and what happens when the language of political opposition becomes the language of political persecution. Get signed copies of American Caesar at Annie Bloom's: https://annieblooms.com/ Join us September 16 at Annie Bloom's for the American Caesar book launch! 🔔 Subscribe for daily analysis on religion, politics, and the Christian right. 💬 Join the conversation on Substack and Discord — links below. Go to groundnews.com/SWAJ to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. 💙 Support our work: ⁠⁠https://www.irmce.org/donate⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🎧 Listen to the Axis Daily Brief:Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/033zp4M... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 📚 Preorder Brad Onishi’s new book, American Caesar: ⁠⁠https://us.macmillan.com/books/978125... #AbdulElSayed #MichiganSenate #MichiganPolitics #DemocraticPrimary #ProgressivePolitics #ChristianNationalism #Trump #MAGA #TedCruz #MikeJohnson #Democrats #GOP #AmericanPolitics #IsraelPalestine #MedicareForAll #CitizensUnited #ProjectEsther #PoliticalDissent #2026Election #christiannationalism #religion #christianity #USA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices