CNN’s Goldberg Calls Out Media’s DSA Coverage After El-Sayed Discussion Minimizes His Issues

Nicholas Spinnato
August 31st, 2026 12:50 PM

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On Monday, CNN This Morning discussed Michigan far-left Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s apology for comments after a terrorist attack against a Michigan synagogue this March, as panelist and liberal YouTuber Luke Thomas claimed there was no “robust data” that showed El-Sayed having problems with voters, notably Jewish voters, in the state.

Later, panelist and CNN commentator Jonah Goldberg called out mainstream media coverage of the DSA and noted how coverage would be much different if there was a neo-nazi caucus within the Republican Party compared to the new reality of a DSA caucus within the Democratic Party.

First, host Audie Cornish teased the segment on El-Sayed’s synagogue attack statement with an insane lede: “Abdul El-Sayed apologizes for his comments about the Michigan synagogue attack. Do Jewish Democrats have to forgive and forget to keep the Senate seat blue?”

 

 

Thomas then chimed in during the actual segment and completely minimized El-Sayed’s issues: “But what I'm just trying to understand is, I looked this up, how has Abdul El-Sayed, how does he pull with Jewish voters in Michigan? How has he performed with them? And, to my knowledge, there isn't really any robust data about that.”

He continued and said, “It's an 80/20 issue about reining in the government of Israel,” before he closed with more downplaying of El-Sayed’s problems: “There's a lot of focus on this guy and his ideas that are not in any way in contravention to the voting base, and it doesn't feel like the story ever seems to cover that fact.”

 

 

Cornish jumped in and cited Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel’s comments on her possible issues with El-Sayed since she's a Jewish woman. Thomas responded and complained that “she prosecuted students,” presumably at pro-Palestinian college encampments from 2024. The problem with Thomas’s complaints: charges were dropped against those students.

Thomas, described as an MMA analyst, just seemed to agree with the far-left on political topics, as seen with some of his YouTube slop thumbnails.

 

 

At the end of a prolonged discussion on the DSA and whether Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was “too establishment” for the socialist group, Goldberg called out media coverage of the DSA compared to if the right had an emerging radical group in government. 

Goldberg first noted how the group stated they did not approve of AOC, the “Liberation Caucus of the DSA," was a “Marxist, Leninist, Maoist revolutionary organization” that the DSA had to condemn “after the shooting in Washington of two Jews outside of a museum,"

Goldberg continued and called out the elitist mainstream media for their double standards: 

And it's infuriating to me that if it was a neo-nazi caucus, the way the mainstream media would cover them is, ‘Oh my gosh, look how these people are responding. Look how this is a member of this organization.’

Cornish responded and claimed, “Well, we did during the alt-right conversation, and most people were told they were crazy or woke or too sensitive.”

After Goldberg continued his point and said, “All I'm saying is this organization- what AOC should have done is say, look, these guys are like literally Maoists. They defend the murder of 40 million Chinese people,” Cornish interrupted to once again talk to Thomas.

It seemed Cornish did not want to talk about the media double standard as she instead turned to her new favorite liberal MMA analyst to save herself from the DSA conversation.

The transcript is below. Click "expand":

CNN This Morning

August 31, 2026

6:38:43 AM Eastern

AUDIE CORNISH: Abdul El-Sayed apologizes for his comments about the Michigan synagogue attack. Do Jewish Democrats have to forgive and forget to keep the Senate seat blue?

(...)

6:44:02 AM Eastern

AUDIE CORNISH: Okay, the group chat is back. This was a just straight apology. This wasn't. I'm sorry. Some people may have felt hurt. This was: I made a mistake. I shouldn't have said something to minimize this. I am sorry. 

But I do think it's fascinating that Michigan was this thing that Democrats thought they could kind of sweep under the rug after the Kamala Harris race. It was like, those issues are fine and it's come back to bite them in a major way. We are still talking about Michigan. We're still talking about anti-semitism. And October 7th and all of these things.

LUKE THOMAS: Perhaps I have a bit of a different perspective on this one. 

CORNISH: Do it.

THOMAS: I mean, I take his apology sincerely. Maybe there's some different views on the panel here, and that's totally okay. But what I'm just trying to understand is, I looked this up, how has Abdul El-Sayed, how does he pull with Jewish voters in Michigan? How has he performed with them? And, to my knowledge, there isn't really any robust data about that. 

More to the point, if you just look at his views more generally, yes, maybe some political fence-mending is in order. But according to the Democratic voting base, his views are in lockstep with them. It's an 80/20 issue about reining in the government of Israel. So, I can understand why this particular issue is certainly a hot-button one. Again, I take his apology sincerely, and we'll see how the rest of the Michigan voters do. 

But I just want to be very clear about this. There's a lot of focus on this guy and his ideas that are not in any way in contravention to the voting base, and it doesn't feel like the story ever seems to cover that fact.

CORNISH: Here's who disagrees with you? Here's Dana Nessel, Michigan Attorney General, last week talking to –

THOMAS: She prosecuted students, though. I mean -

CORNISH: - to The Atlantic, I just want to say, because there is a world of Jewish Democrats who say the litmus test for being a part of the party now is support or not support when it comes to Israel. So here's Dana Nessel.

[Cuts to video]

MICHIGAN AG DANA NESSEL (D-MI): I think it's a fundamental mistake for the democratic party to think that you can just push Jewish Democrats out and simply replace them with any other population. I have people saying, you, uh, are not going to tell us what you deem to be anti-semitic. We'll decide what's anti-semitic. That's not up for you, the Jewish population, to decide. And I find that to be very off-putting and offensive.

[Cuts back to live]

JONAH GOLDBERG: Uh, look, I think this was foreseeable in a lot of ways. El-Sayed is obviously there are different people with different issues, but he's very much the Democrats. Ken Paxton, he was the worst. He was the less desirable candidate to nominate. 

Where I disagree with you is - his associations with people like Hasan Piker, but not just Hasan Piker, other people who have, you know, come out in support of Hassan Nasrallah and all that kind of thing. Jewish Americans are freaked out, a lot of them, by anti-semitism on the left and also on the right. And each side wants to claim the real problems on the other side. But it's really an American problem right now. 

And they're hyper attentive to these things at the local level, particularly in Michigan, where these things are playing out and they see Sayed play these weird games where he won't even refer to Hasan Piker, who's this anti-semitic, anti-Israel, pro terrorist - I make no apologies about saying any of that - streamer. He campaigned with him. He refuses to sort of repudiate him. And even when he publicly disagrees with him, he refuses to say so by name. 

And you can say, this is all silly games and word games, and there was a lot of silly word games going on. But Jewish voters who saw a truck drive into the synagogue in Detroit, which is what this apology was all about, they're paying super - there are high-information voters in Michigan, and they're paying attention to –

(...)

6:56:17 AM Eastern

GOLDBERG: The clip you showed earlier, the image you showed earlier of the criticism of AOC, if I read it right on the screen, said ‘Liberation Caucus of the DSA.’ I encourage everybody go look up, go to the home page of the Liberation Caucus of the DSA. It is openly and avowedly Maoist, not like - I'm not - this is not an exaggeration. 

Like, they explained that they are a Marxist, Leninist, Maoist revolutionary organization. They've come out. They are a pro-terrorist attack organization so the DSA actually had to condemn them after the shooting in Washington of two Jews outside of a museum. They are nuts, the DSA liberation caucus. And it's infuriating to me that if it was a neo-nazi caucus, the way the mainstream media would cover them is, ‘Oh my gosh, look how these people are responding. Look how this is a member of this organization.’

CORNISH: Well, we did during the alt-right conversation, and most people were told they were crazy or woke or too sensitive.

GOLDBERG: Okay. All I'm saying is this organization, what AOC should have done is says, look, these guys are like literally Maoists. They defend the murder of 40 million Chinese people –

CORNISH: Luke, you look like you have something to say?

(...)

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