JD Vance and Abdul El-Sayed, it’s safe to say, do not like each other.

Vance, the Republican US vice president, recently said of El-Sayed, the Democratic US Senate nominee in Michigan, that there’s something about him “that is very, very evil.” El-Sayed responded to Vance, “Evil is dividing people for your own gain. Evil is selling out your morals for a little bit of power.”

But the two men have something in common: They’re both friends with mega-influential media personalities who have been accused of antisemitism.

Vance and El-Sayed have addressed — or, rather, tried to sidestep — those controversies in remarkably similar ways. Their responses show how quickly the discourse on antisemitism in America is changing, and highlight the collapsing firewall between politicians and extremists.

El-Sayed has close ties to Hasan Piker, the far-left, staunchly anti-Israel streamer. El-Sayed invited Piker to campaign for him in Michigan, delivering speeches promoting his candidacy. The two men have partied together and been photographed together.

Last month, Piker charged that Jews were “making antisemitism worse” by linking their identities to Israel, and warned that someone would “take action” against them as a result. Prominent Democrats condemned the comment as antisemitic.

El-Sayed put out a statement distancing himself from Piker’s remark. But he didn’t mention Piker by name in the statement, and has since rebuffed calls, over and over, to disavow his friend who has made multiple comments widely seen as antisemitic — in addition to a litany of harsh anti-Israel rhetoric. He has said the controversy has nothing to do with his Senate campaign — generally without acknowledging that Piker played a prominent role in that campaign.

“We’re in the state of Michigan. If you want to make this race about a streamer in California, I just think you’re missing the boat,” he said last week in response to a question about Piker’s comments.

Several days later, he said in another interview that the very demand to disavow people was unhealthy, and that he didn’t want to cut off Piker because he wanted to be able to speak to Piker’s audience of millions.

“The idea that you just categorically disavow an individual, that to me doesn’t make sense given that there are going to be things that people say that you deeply disagree........

© The Times of Israel