The Final Countdown: MAGA’s Racist Blitz and Trump’s Next Big Lie

About this episode

“Let’s start off by saying, Garrison, this is all lies. It’s ludicrous. I mean, they’re saying things that are just not true.” That’s Stress Test host David Corn, describing to his co-host Garrison Hayes the barrage of Islamophobic attacks from Republicans desperate to hold on to Congress. As this episode shows, the GOP—from Donald Trump to JD Vance to Cabinet secretaries to senators and representatives—has made hateful bigotry a central element of its final midterms push.Those assaults have primarily targeted Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, with Vance calling him a “cancer” with “zero attachment” to America’s land or history; Sen. Ted Cruz falsely labeling El-Sayed a “theocratic zealot” and lifelong Muslim Brotherhood supporter; and Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno declaring El-Sayed doesn’t belong in Washington, DC, because he doesn’t believe “Jesus came here for our salvation”. Pointing out that Moreno appeared to be establishing a religious test for service in Congress, David says, “That’s not what the Constitution says. That is what Christian nationalists say.” The race-baiting doesn’t stop there: Donald Trump warned that El-Sayed and Democrats will invite “hordes