Tuesday 4 August could prove to be a turning point in American political history. If Democratic primary voters in Michigan choose Haley Stevens, a moderate, as their Senate nominee, the party establishment should stagger on, perhaps up to and beyond the presidential election of 2028.

It’s more likely, however, that the Democrats will elect Dr Abdul El-Sayed, a pro-Palestine radical who supports Medicare for All and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. El-Sayed’s victory would confirm that the hard left is the coming force in national politics, and suggest that the long-anticipated socialist takeover of the oldest party in the US – the party of Andrew Jackson, Harry Truman and Bill Clinton – is finally under way. Just as Donald Trump’s MAGA movement began to devour a rotten Republican party in 2015, a vengeful left-wing populism seems ready to swallow the much-loathed Democratic elite. The only part that’s missing is the element of surprise.

El-Sayed has impeccable credentials for a 21st-century internationalist progressive – or what right-wingers might call ‘a third-worldist’. A practising Muslim from the affluent suburbs of Detroit, the son of an Egyptian engineer, he captained the lacrosse team at Oxford, earned a doctorate in public health, and turned into a podcaster. He has a beard, a buff torso, and walks out on stage to the rap song ‘Changes’ by Tupac Shakur:

American socialists have learned to ‘lean in’ to their more native seditious temperament

American socialists have learned to ‘lean in’ to their more native seditious temperament

Can’t a brother get a little peace?It’s war on the streetsAnd the war in the Middle East. Instead of war on povertyThey got a war on drugsSo the police can bother me.

Can’t a brother get a little peace?It’s war on the streetsAnd the war in the Middle East.

Instead of war on povertyThey got a war on drugsSo the police can bother me.

He insists he’s ‘a scientist not a socialist’ and rejects ideological labels. But that’s what a Trotskyite entryist would say. He has campaigned, done podcasts and even filmed a workout video with the Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has said ‘America deserved 9/11’ and praises Mao Zedong as ‘one of the great leaders of this world’.

El-Sayed is not formally aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The group has, however, reportedly sent volunteers and resources to back him in Michigan, as well as to Francesca Hong’s campaign in neighbouring Wisconsin. Hong is an outright DSA member who is bidding to be America’s first socialist governor. She promises to ‘tax the rich, fund our schools, and stop AI data centres’ – and naturally she’s ahead in the polls.

The DSA is on a roll, having transformed in recent years from a club for fringe eccentrics into arguably the most effective political organisation in America. In January, Zohran Mamdani, a dues-paying member since 2017, became mayor of New York. His apparent moderation in office........

© The Spectator