CNN Counterprograms GOP Midterm Convention with El-Sayed Softball

Nicholas Spinnato
September 11th, 2026 12:41 AM

Text to Speech

00:00 00:00
Font Size
CNN/SnapStream

On Thursday, as the unique RNC Midterm Convention came to a close, CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins did not carry much of the closing moments live and instead turned to panel discussions on the event along with a softball interview with far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, which served as Democrat counterprogramming to the convention on the cable news channel.

After Collins led with a discussion of President Trump’s $5,000 dividend proposal, she began the El-Sayed interview and introduced him as someone who had been “mentioned at the Republican midterm convention about as much as anyone who is not named Donald Trump.”

She first asked if El-Sayed would support the plan, as El-Sayed claimed, “it sounds like the president has really taken on that communism thing and has just decided that he's going to embrace that.” He also labeled the plan as a “bribe.”

 

 

Collins did push El-Sayed slightly, as she tried to get him to explain the difference between his policies and the possible dividend checks: “Some people might hear you say this sounds like a bribe and see that, you know, you've championed other kinds of federal payments, subsidizing child care in that form, potentially reparations. Why is this different?”

El-Sayed called it “quid pro quo” and stated he was “talking about policy that actually addresses the affordability crisis in this country.” In the interview, he did not explain these policies.

Collins then teed up El-Sayed: “Do you think if Republicans did keep the House and the Senate that Americans would actually ever see those $5,000 checks?” He, obviously, answered “No” to the leading question.

 

 

She then turned to comments from El-Sayed's Republican Senate opponent Mike Rogers at the convention, as he connected El-Sayed to radical Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, a figure who El-Sayed campaigned with. Rogers stated, “I never imagined that 25 years after 9/11, I would be running against somebody that campaigns with Hasan Piker, who thinks America deserved it.”

Collins asked, “On the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, what is your response to what Mike Rogers said about you tonight?

El-Sayed completely dodged the question and instead mocked Rogers for attending the convention while he complained that Rogers was focused on a “streamer in California”

But if he thinks that the issue is a streamer in California, then he's got another thing coming because what I hear about is the fact that people can't afford their gas. They can't afford their groceries. They're worried about having to see a doctor. And it all goes back to policies from the guy who summoned him. And I guess if daddy asks for a hug, you got to go give him a hug, even if it's in Dallas.

El-Sayed’s interview acted as counterprogramming to the speakers of the rare Midterm convention put on by the RNC. 

 

 

Later, after the El-Sayed interview wrapped, Vice President JD Vance began his big address to the crowd. CNN did not take a moment of Vance’s speech live, and instead stuck with a panel discussion as video of Vance’s speech played in the bottom right and a CNN text chain scrolled on the left side of the screen.

The transcript is below. Click "expand":

CNN’s The Source with Kaitland Collins

September 10, 2026

9:08:11 PM Eastern

(...)

KAITLAN COLLINS: My lead source tonight has been mentioned at the Republican midterm convention about as much as anyone who is not named Donald Trump. He's actually the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan. Abdul El-Sayed is joining us again tonight. Thank you, sir, for being here. 

You know, when we listen to the president and what he promised last night, how Republicans have responded. Given one of your campaign slogans is, quote, money in your pocket, do you support a $5,000 check for Americans?

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D-MI): You know, it sounds like the president has really taken on that communism thing and has just decided that he's going to embrace that. 

Look, my goal is to do that by taking on the monopolies and oligopolies that make you pay too much for the stuff that you have to buy and pay you too little for the work that you do. It's guaranteeing you things like health care into the future, not just a one-time $5,000 bribe, because it sounds like the only possible way to rescue your failing numbers because of the stupid tariff war that you started and the war in Iran you can't seem to get out of. 

So, I just want good governance. And what's interesting to me is that it's the only time that anybody at that conference has mentioned the affordability crisis at all. A one-time $5,000 cash infusion that he doesn't know how to pay for, but he doesn't want to actually address the fact that people can't afford their gas, can't afford their groceries. They are worried about having to see a doctor in this economy. And all of it goes back to his broken policies. And the candidates who he's summoned to come pay fealty to him, they don't have anything to say about it at all, like Mike Rogers, the guy I'm running against.

COLLINS: Some people might hear you say, "This sounds like a bribe” and see that, you know, you've championed other kinds of federal payments, subsidizing child care in that form, potentially reparations. Why is this different?

EL-SAYED: This is about if we win - it was exactly what he said. He said if we if Republicans win both houses, then heal without an act of Congress, give every adult $5,000. It is a quid pro quo. 

I'm talking about policy that actually addresses the affordability crisis in this country. It's about actually building a livable America where people aren't worried about how they're going to be able to afford their gas, their groceries, or the ability to see a doctor. The fact that people should be able to have kids without having to worry about one of two of the parents having to leave the workforce, usually women and the kind of America where, you know, you get good schools. 

The difference is that we want to govern for the issues that people are facing, rather than bu people off because they voted for us.

COLLINS: Do you think if Republicans did keep the House and the Senate, that Americans would actually ever see those $5,000 checks?

EL-SAYED: No. I mean, look, he said the same thing about DOGE. The only person who got a DOGE dividend was Elon Musk. And now he's spending it to, again, interfere with our elections. He's spending money in my race and races all over the country. 

DOGE never actually resulted in the outcomes that they said it was going to result in. All the money they said they were going to save, that was going to be returned in a dividend, that never happened. Instead, what we got is cyclosporiasis and people sitting on toilets because they got to dodge lettuce in the United States of America. 

So, they break government, tell us that they're going to pay us back, and it never quite happens. I just want to be clear about what's happening here in Michigan. The average Michigander is paying $5,600 for this stupid tariff war we shouldn't be fighting. And now he comes back and says if Republicans win both houses of Congress that he wants to pay back a part of it, not even the whole thing. 

I mean, this is classic Trumpism. Ruin your life and then give you a little bit of something for it. As long as you vote in the right direction.

COLLINS: Your opponent, the Republican in your race, Mike Rogers, also spoke at this convention tonight. I want everyone to listen to part of what he said in his speech.

FMR. REP. MIKE ROGERS (R-MI): I never imagined that 25 years after 9/11, I would be running against somebody that campaigns with Hasan Piker, who thinks America deserved it.

COLLINS: On the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, what is your response to what Mike Rogers said about you tonight?

EL-SAYED: I mean, it's sad. He doesn't really want to talk about any of the issues people are really facing. You know, I don't know what campaign trail he's been on. His includes Dallas, apparently. I was in another city that starts with a D. That's actually in Michigan today, having conversations with actual voters in our state. 

But if he thinks that the issue is a streamer in California, then he's got another thing coming because what I hear about is the fact that people can't afford their gas. They can't afford their groceries. They're worried about having to see a doctor. And it all goes back to policies from the guy who summoned him. And I guess if daddy asks for a hug, you got to go give him a hug, even if it's in Dallas. 

But I don't know what he's doing in Dallas because he's certainly not talking about the issues that Michiganders face, and he seems not to want to do that either. 

He's dodging a debate that we're having in the city of Detroit next week. Now, Mike, I know you're probably watching this. You're welcome to come. I'll find you. I know the internet's hard, but we'll find you some tickets so you can actually answer questions that Michiganders are really asking. If you'd like to have that debate on the 15th. Until then, you can keep talking about culture war issues, but they're not actually addressing the problems that Michiganders are facing.

(...)

Donor Privacy Policy