Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed laid out his foreign policy views in a Thursday interview with Mid-Michigan Now, calling for Congress to pass a war powers resolution and arguing that the United States should position itself as the main enforcer of international law rather than acting unilaterally abroad.
Asked by Sinclair Statewide Political Reporter Remington Hernandez about the war and his broader foreign policy vision, El-Sayed said the first step would be stripping the current administration of its ability to continue what he called “this stupid war.”
“It’s Congress that declares war, not an errant president who’s doing it, because, well, he’s too dumb to get us out,” El-Sayed said.
El-Sayed then argued that the U.S. role should be to uphold international law rather than act as though it is above it, criticizing both President Donald Trump and former President George W. Bush for what he described as treating themselves as the law when it comes to military action.
“Too often, when it comes to presidents like Donald Trump or George W. Bush before him, they think that they are international law. They think that they get to make war. That’s not their prerogative,” he said.
He pointed to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now Iran, as examples of prolonged conflicts the country has struggled to exit. “I think we need to end the era of dumb wars. We need to be invested in keeping peace,” El-Sayed said.
He also called for an end to unconditional U.S. military funding for foreign governments, naming Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia specifically.
“I pay my tax dollars so that my kids get good schools, rather than dropping bombs on other people or subsidizing tanks for foreign militaries,” El-Sayed said. “If we are willing to be the chief among equals to enforce international law, we will have a more peaceful world, and we will be able to actually address some of the challenges that we face.”
El-Sayed closed by tying his foreign policy stance to domestic manufacturing, saying the U.S. is “the best single place in the world to make stuff” and criticizing past presidents for what he characterized as failing American workers in favor of outsourcing to China.
“For too long, we’ve watched presidents just kick the can down the road, or worse, they are selling us short to China,” he said.
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