新闻密歇根州马凯特讯——民主党参议院候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛德周四晚间指责总统唐纳德·特朗普和共和党对手迈克·罗杰斯利用其穆斯林信仰作为政治棍棒。
The News MARQUETTE, Mich. — Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Thursday night accused President Donald Trump and Republican rival Mike Rogers of using his Muslim faith as a political cudgel.
“请根据我的行动和工作来评判我，但请不要认为，仅仅因为我的祈祷方式可能与任何曾担任此职位的人不同，我就不是对这部宪法深怀承诺，”埃尔赛德在回答塞马福（Semafor）记者提问时表示。
“Judge me by my actions and my work, but please do not assume that because I might pray differently than anybody who’s ever held this office, that somehow I am not deeply committed to this Constitution,” El-Sayed said in response to a question from Semafor.
共和党近来放大了埃尔赛德及其家人与穆斯林兄弟会有联系的说法。特朗普周四晚间发布的一段视频直接称埃尔赛德是该组织成员；该组织成立于埃及，特朗普政府已将其部分分支列为恐怖组织。
Republicans have recently amplified claims that El-Sayed and his family have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Trump posted a video Thursday night that directly called El-Sayed a member of the group, which was founded in Egypt; his administration has designated chapters as terrorist organizations.
埃尔赛德是埃及裔美国人，若当选将成为首位穆斯林参议员，他对共和党的指控感到恼火，包括在最近一次电视采访中。周四的言论是他在竞选活动中最接近指责对手存在伊斯兰恐惧症的表态。
El-Sayed, an American of Egyptian descent who would be the first Muslim senator if elected, has rankled at the GOP accusations, including in a recent TV interview. His comments on Thursday are as close as he has come on the campaign trail to alleging Islamophobia by his opponents.
“他们不想谈论人们在生活中实际经历的任何其他问题。他们想谈论我，或者指着我的妈妈或我的妹妹，”埃尔赛德说。“我的妈妈和我的妹妹并未参选。我才是参选人。”埃尔赛德称，认为其家人成员是穆斯林兄弟会成员“简直是疯狂的假设”，并表示他“不知道我母亲在1970年代的埃及在做什么”。共和党人引用了他同父异母妹妹的社交媒体帖子，这些帖子似乎提及其母亲与该组织的关联。
“They don’t want to talk about any of the other issues that people are actually experiencing in their lives. They want to talk about me or point to my mom or my sister,” El-Sayed said. “My mom and my sister are not running for office. I’m running for office.”El-Sayed called it “an insane thing to assume” that members of his family were part of the Muslim Brotherhood, saying he didn’t “know what my mother was doing in Egypt in the 1970s.”Republicans have cited social media posts from his half-sister that appear to refer to his mother’s engagement with the group.
“我很小的时候——才3岁——父母就离婚了，”埃尔-赛义德说道。“在父亲和继母的抚养下，我有好几年都没见到母亲。据我所知，我的家人中没有人加入过这个组织。”
“My parents got divorced when I was very young — 3,” El-Sayed said. “I didn’t see my mom for years after I was raised by my dad and my stepmom, and when I asked, [to] the best of my knowledge, nobody in my family’s been a member of this organization.”
埃尔-赛义德还表示，那些因他的宗教信仰就暗示他可能不忠于宪法的说法，“和当年针对肯尼迪总统的指控如出一辙——当时有人声称‘身为天主教徒的肯尼迪会听从教皇的命令’。同样的手法也曾被用来针对奥巴马总统。”美国首位罗马天主教徒总统约翰·F·肯尼迪曾因信仰遭到所谓“双重忠诚”的莫须有指控；而身为基督徒且是美国首位黑人总统的奥巴马，也遭到极右翼势力对其宗教活动散布种种阴谋论。
Know More El-Sayed said insinuating he might not be loyal to the Constitution because of his faith was “the same thing that was done to JFK when they tried to say that, ‘Oh, well, he’s going to answer to the Pope because he’s Catholic.’ Same thing they tried to do to President Obama.”John F. Kennedy, the first Roman Catholic president, faced some false accusations of “dual loyalties” because of his faith. And the hard right pushed conspiracy theories about the religious practices of Obama, who is a Christian and was the first Black president.
本周，埃尔-赛义德与进步派众议员、纽约州民主党人亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯一同在密歇根州上半岛开展竞选活动。他们希望能在这个传统上倾向于共和党的地区扩大民主党选民基础。
El-Sayed was campaigning in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula this week as part of a swing with progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. El-Sayed and Democrats are hoping they can grow the electorate in what has traditionally been redder territory in the state.
值得关注的是，《华盛顿邮报》的一项分析指出，自埃尔-赛义德今年夏天在密歇根州初选中胜出后，右翼社交媒体用户针对他的言论愈发聚焦于其宗教信仰。
Notable A Washington Post analysis found that rhetoric about El-Sayed from right-wing social media users has increasingly focused on his faith since his Michigan primary win this summer.