'The View' Co-hosts Debate El-Sayed's JFK Comparison Amid Muslim Brotherhood Scrutiny

Co-hosts of ABC's "The View" engaged in a discussion regarding Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's comparison of questions about his family's alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood to the scrutiny former President John F. Kennedy faced due to his Catholic faith.

During a recent interview, El-Sayed stated that he objected to being questioned about alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood because it implicitly suggested he held dual loyalties. He drew a parallel to the historical concerns raised about Kennedy's Catholicism during his presidential campaign.

Whoopi Goldberg, a co-host of "The View," supported El-Sayed's analogy, emphasizing that Kennedy was questioned about whether his allegiance would lie with the Pope or the American people. Goldberg stated, "He compared the question he received to John F. Kennedy's question because John F. Kennedy, as you know, was a Catholic, and in the days he was running that was a huge deal and people wanted to know ‘Are you going to listen to the Pope? Are you going to listen to the people?’"

Co-host Sunny Hostin echoed Goldberg's sentiment, agreeing that El-Sayed's response mirrored Kennedy's assertion that he was running to be president who happens to be Catholic, not a Catholic president. Hostin characterized the scrutiny El-Sayed has faced as "Islamophobic comments" and "out of pocket for our country to be a country where all religions aren't welcome."

Concerns about El-Sayed's family's alleged connections to the Muslim Brotherhood surfaced following social media posts from his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi. In a 2012 post, Abdelhadi mentioned her mother's involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood during her college years in Egypt, adding the hashtag "#respect."

However, not all co-hosts agreed with El-Sayed's comparison. Alyssa Farah Griffin acknowledged his disavowal of the Muslim Brotherhood but expressed concern over his response to an antisemitic terror attack in Michigan, suggesting such issues should not be dismissed as Islamophobia. Sara Haines argued that the comparison to JFK was not equitable, differentiating between questioning loyalty based on Catholicism and inquiring about reported ties to a designated organization.

Haines also noted that while the reported ties involved El-Sayed's family, the framing of concerns as Islamophobia complicated the discussion. Conversely, Ana Navarro suggested that concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood were exaggerated, stating, "The Muslim Brotherhood is practically defunct in Egypt. That's like asking him to denounce bell-bottoms."

Brooke Goldstein, executive director of The Lawfare Project, criticized Navarro's assessment. Goldstein asserted that El-Sayed was questioned about the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization whose chapters have been designated as foreign terrorist entities by the U.S. Treasury and State Departments. She stated that the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are not defunct and that the comparison to Kennedy was a deflection from unanswered questions about a designated terrorist organization.

"JFK faced religious prejudice. Questions about Abdul El-Sayed’s alleged family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood raise a different concern: where does a candidate’s loyalty lie, with the United States and its constitutional values, or with a foreign terrorist organization?" Goldstein said. She added that national security concerns are distinct from bigotry and that invoking discrimination should not preclude legitimate debate.

Goldstein further argued that any claim of religious prejudice in response to questions about ties to a terrorist group is a tactic to avoid scrutiny. She suggested that framing such questions as anti-Islam implies an alternative of being pro-Islam. Goldstein also raised concerns about DSA candidates advancing an "anti-Western ideological agenda" that could weaken American institutions and freedoms, citing events in France as a warning of the consequences of inadequate responses to extremism.