BelieveTheTruth 🇪🇺

I’ve been told I’m not supposed to like Abdul El-Sayed, apparently because he’s a Muslim, and I have to say I’m stunned by supposed “rationalists” who would prefer Christian nationalist fanatics — who continue to roll back women’s rights, ban books, bring religion into classrooms, and continue to trample all over civil rights and free expression — over pro-secular candidates who support abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, and separation of religion and state despite being religious. If you’re a thinking, rational pro-reason person — not a blindly angry anti-Muslim person — who has seen El-Sayed’s 60 Minutes interview over the weekend — you simply damage your credibility by insisting that he’s a “jihadist.” I knew he was smart, but every answer he gave to Ross Douthat (his Republican interviewer) was brilliant and thought-provoking. Before y’all spit fire in the comments (always love that!), here’s some of what he did: - Defended capitalism with quotes from Adam Smith - differentiated corporatism from capitalism, explaining compellingly why today’s America is run on the former and is eroding its free market capitalist values. - Distinguished between “cultural liberalism” — the cultural choices people make — and “constitutional rights” — the freedom and ABILITY of every person to make those choices; said he only talks about the latter, not the former. Said we should respect the rights of people to make their cultural choices, even if we don’t agree with the choices themselves. - Explained that just as he doesn’t appreciate being held accountable for the actions of Egypt or Saudi Arabia just because he shares their ethnicity, it’s antisemitic to assume that all American Jews are accountable for — or ideologically associated with — the actions of Israel just because of a shared identity. This is something I relate with immensely, as do many Jewish people, diasporic and Israeli. - Gave the best and most relatable explanation for how conservatives who insist people should build more families and have children are disincentivizing people from doing exactly that because of their bonehead economic policies. I’ll let you watch that full exchange yourself. Feels normal now, but I’m old enough to remember how unlikely it once was that a black man named Barack Hussein Obama would become president of the United States. But after watching this interview, I’m seriously wondering whether y’all could potentially have a President El-Sayed — sounds insane, but when it comes to Enlightenment values, let me tell you as someone who literally grew up under Sharia law for almost all of 24 years: today’s conservatives are closer to it than either Mamdani (who was conceived before his parents got married - haram!) or El-Sayed (who avidly supports abortion rights, secularism, and LGBTQ folks - haram!).