Trump Brings Out Father Of Flight 93 Victim, Calls El-Sayed A Jihadist

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/23/2026) (PORT HURON) – President Donald Trump brought the father of one of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, a flight hijacked during the 9/11 terrorism attacks, on stage with him today to criticize Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

During a rally held in Port Huron, Trump called El-Sayed a "jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member." Within 15 minutes of his remarks, he welcomed onto stage David Beamer, the father of Todd Beamer, one of the Flight 93 passengers who tried regaining control of the plane, preventing it from reaching its presumed target, the U.S. Capitol.

"(Sept. 11) was a surprise attack. What's going on right now in our country and here in Michigan is not a surprise. We can see the attack coming," Beamer said on stage. "The enemy has not come from abroad. The enemy is right here among us, local terrorists, local citizens who want to demolish the country. They call themselves Democratic Socialists of America."

Beamer accused El-Sayed's base of wanting to defund the military, pretend that American enemies don't exist and to make "everybody slaves to the government regime handout."

Nine days ahead of election day, Trump hosted a rally in St. Clair County, which he won in 2024 with 66.5% of the vote. It took place at the 4,800-seat McMorran Place entertainment complex, with speakers including Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers, gubernatorial candidate John James (R-Shelby Township) and popular rap artist Nicki Minaj.

U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Romeo) also spoke, as well as U.S. Army veteran Mike Bouchard, who's running in the competitive 10th U.S. House district, covering southern Macomb County and Rochester and Rochester Hills.

Trump laid into accusations of El-Sayed being linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. At its core are a pair of letters he wrote 15 years ago regarding the Muslim Brotherhood's ascent to power in Egypt. In 2011, El-Sayed, then living in New York, advocated for a democratically elected leader even if the winner of the election was the Muslim Brotherhood. Once they were successful, in 2012, he co-signed a 2012 letter written in Arabic with other Egyptian Americans asking for U.S. support of the troubled Muslim Brotherhood-run government, which included a quick purge of the police and media.

His biological mother – who El-Sayed says did not raise him – has been brought in negative messaging as well for allegedly being a Muslim Brotherhood activist in the early 1970s. The Rogers team has also tried going after some of El-Sayed's donor list for having some ties to controversial Islamic and anti-Israel groups.

"Anyone of that record of support for jihadists would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane. They certainly should not give him a seat in the United States Senate," Trump said. "He would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he's allowed to go into the Senate."

Trump argued that El-Sayed should not have governing influence over the United States' military and borders, especially with Michigan manufacturing so much of the country's military equipment.

Meanwhile, he called Rogers "apple pie."

Additionally, today served as Trump's opportunity to defend himself on gas prices, which were at $4.51 per gallon, on average, for regular unleaded. He argued that today's high costs were a small price to pay in order to keep a nuclear weapon out of Iran's hands.

As for the trade war with Canada, Rogers boosted Trump's tariffs on trucks entering Michigan to deposit their trash in landfills.

In attendance today was Debbi Ringle, a 64-year-old from Shelby Township. When asked if Republicans have an enthusiasm gap heading into next Tuesday's election, Ringle said she didn't think so. She said she believes there's a "soul problem across our country."

"I'm not saying that there aren't some people that are hurting. (But that's) all the more reason why we need to keep our resources, both financial and other jobs, here in the United States," Ringle said. "If you took the billions of dollars in fraud and put it where it was actually intended to go . . . then we wouldn't have the people struggling like we do."

Although she hears about people's struggles, Ringle noted that she also sees 2-year-olds being given iPads and individuals driving large-sized vehicles while complaining about gas.

"Everybody wants to blame what's going on in Iran, and I hate war," Ringle said. "Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world, and we live in a sinful world, and things happen . . . you have to have a strong leader that can address those things, and they're not easy decisions to make."

MIRS spoke with Sheila Reid, a 66-year-old Port Huron preschool teacher. She came to Trump's today with "all my friends," excited to witness the first-ever visit by a sitting president in St. Clair County.

She called today exciting for her town. Additionally, she said the issues motivating her to the polls this fall were the economy and education, not wanting to shake up the "well-rounded education" she hopes to provide her students.

"I've always been a Republican. My grandfather was a Republican. My mother was a Republican," Reid said. "Obviously, nobody likes the way the economy is right now, but I think if you truly believe in being an American, you know that all good things are worth the wait."

She added that she's being pushed by fears of communism and socialism.

However, there were protesters outside of Trump's rally, like 72-year-old Robert Kulp, a Port Huron resident and retired special education teacher. He said he's a proud American who's a friend of Canada, joking that in his youth, he could throw containers of cream and sugar across the St. Clair River.

"Maybe in my youth. My arm's not like it used to be," Kulp said.

He said he voted for U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) in the Democratic primary, but it didn't take him long to join El-Sayed's camp.

"I taught in clinics, and round trip, it was about 80 miles a day. And if I were still doing that, it'd be quite expensive to get back and forth to work, and I don't know how people are doing it because a lot of people from this area commute down to Detroit and even beyond every day," Kulp said.

Kulp said he does have some Trump supporter friends who now feel sour amid his second term.

"Matter of fact, I have one who was a very staunch Trump supporter, and six or eight months ago he called me up and said 'I think I've switched sides.' Literally, he took the time to call me up," Kulp said. "He was tired of the lies. Trump saying, 'I'm going to send everyone a $5,000 check . . .' and the war in Iran. (My friend's) a veteran. He didn't see the point of it because either we had already destroyed the nuclear program or we hadn't, which is it?"

He said he did understand the community's excitement for a first-time presidential visit, but "I just kind of wish it was somebody else."

On the other side of the state, El-Sayed headlined his own rally with progressive Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders at the DeVos Performance Hall. He agreed with Trump's message tonight that voters should pretend like he's on the ballot.

"While they lie and resort to desperate, bad faith attacks, Abdul remains laser focused on his plans to bring down costs and stand up to the chaos and corruption in Washington. Michigan knows Trump is on the ballot on November 3rd – and they will vote like it by rejecting Trump's rubber stamp Mike Rogers and sending Abdul to the Senate," said El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak.