Entire Squad endorses Abdul El-Sayed days before Michigan Democratic Senate primary

Timing is everything here. El-Sayed spends weeks quietly putting daylight between himself and the DSA label, and then days before the primary, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, AOC and the rest of the Squad show up to endorse him anyway. Michigan voters can draw their own conclusions about what that says about the sincerity of the rebrand.

This is the same playbook Democrats have run for years now. Say whatever sounds palatable to the median voter in the closing stretch, while the actual coalition backing you tells a different story. The Squad isn't endorsing a moderate. They're endorsing someone they believe will vote like they do once he's in Washington and no longer needs to worry about a primary electorate that includes plenty of union households and older voters who don't want a senator who sounds like a campus organizer.

None of this is illegal or even unusual. Politicians reposition constantly. But there's something almost comic about watching a candidate try to soften his image while the most recognizable progressive bloc in the House lines up behind him on cue. It tells you who actually thinks he's their guy.

Michigan Democrats should ask themselves a simple question before they vote: do you believe the candidate distancing himself from socialism, or do you believe the four members of Congress most associated with it who just endorsed him anyway? Those two signals cannot both be true.