A former Democratic Socialists of America insider in Michigan is sounding the alarm about what he describes as a dangerous lurch toward extremist, sectarian politics on the American left and is warning voters to reject far?left Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed as dishonest and "sanctimonious.
".
The warning comes from Jake Altman, a onetime DSA member and former union staffer, who now says both his old organization and parts of the Democratic Party have been captured by hard-left ideologues. According to Fox News, Altman believes that ordinary voters of all political stripes must step in before fringe elements further poison the countrys political culture and undermine its civic fabric.
"So, I think that it's up to everyone to not sit on their hands, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, we all need to be out there," Altman told Fox News Digital. "We all need to be supporting candidates who love this country, who want to deliver for Michiganders. We should not be leaning into this sectarian politics. My fear is we've seen the left wing of the Democratic Party import the politics of Hezbollah into the United States, and now we're living with the sectarian aftermath of that." His comments reflect a growing concern among moderates and conservatives alike that the activist left is importing the rhetoric and tactics of foreign radical movements into American politics.
Altman, who spent years working for several labor unions, said the DSA began to change dramatically around 2014 and 2015. In his telling, the group opened its doors to fanatical factions, including self-described Marxists and Leninists, who were less interested in workplace issues than in ideological warfare.
He claimed that at the same time, similar far-left actors were maneuvering to take control of labor unions, hoping to use well-intentioned workers as pawns in a broader effort to drag the Democratic Party sharply to the left. That period, he said, was when he decided to walk away from the movement, which he now describes as "very susceptible to extremist takeover."
"That's not America," he said. "We want... a broad, tolerant America. We want pluralism here. We don't want to be at each other's throats. I'm just we have to stand up and say 'no' to this." For Altman, the issue is not simply partisan disagreement but the preservation of a shared national culture that rejects imported sectarianism and ideological absolutism.
Tensions between the DSA and the broader Democratic Party have been building for years, but Altman argues they have reached a boiling point in Michigan. There, progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who has openly courted socialist influencers such as online streamer Hasan Piker, is struggling to win over moderates in his bid for the U.S. Senate.
"So, I've met Abdul several times," said Altman. "I worked very closely with his dad when his dad was union president of the AAUP local I worked for. So I have, you know, I think I have a pretty good read on the guy." That personal familiarity, he suggested, has only deepened his skepticism about El-Sayeds character and political style.
Mohamed El-Sayed, Abdul's father, is an engineering professor at Eastern Michigan University and a prominent figure in campus labor politics. He served as president of the universitys AAUP chapter and led a faculty strike in 2022, giving the El-Sayed family a long-standing foothold in progressive academic and union circles.
"When I was at the Democratic Party convention, the recent Democratic Party nominating convention, [Abdul El-Sayed] recognized me," Altman continued, referring to April's contentious Michigan Democratic Party endorsement convention. "He was working a line that I was standing in, and he recognized me, and he asked me, 'why all the hate?' 'cause I had been critical of the campaign up to that point." The exchange, Altman said, revealed a candidate more concerned with image and grievance than with honest engagement.
Altman said Abdul El-Sayed insisted that his campaign "doesn't do that," apparently denying that his team was involved in political mudslinging. To Altman, that claim rang hollow in light of what he had personally heard from the candidate.
"We see that the guy is not a straight shooter, he's not an honest broker," said Altman. "He, himself, said that his primary opponent, who I was supporting, couldn't string two coherent sentences together. I mean, the idea that he is somehow above it all is just not true. He's the most sanctimonious man in Democratic Party politics, and that's going a long way because there's a lot of sanctimony in that party." Such remarks underscore why many centrists and conservatives view El-Sayeds brand of politics as elitist and divisive rather than reform-minded.
As for the DSA itself, Altman contends the organization bears little resemblance to the group he joined a decade ago. What was once, in his view, a left-leaning but broadly liberal outfit has become a vehicle for hardline socialist and communist currents.
"So, you had this older generation that was very tolerant, part of a broader liberal tradition, engaged in a productive way with the Democratic Party, not a destructive way as we see today," Altman explained. That earlier generation, he said, understood that working within the system and respecting democratic norms was essential to any lasting progress.
Part of that tradition, he added, was a firm rejection of communism and its authoritarian offshoots. But in recent years, DSA leaders have reversed course, voting to lift the groups longstanding ban on Leninists and thereby opening the door to more radical elements.
"We've seen in August 2025 that DSA at the convention voted to remove its prohibition on having Leninists operating within the organization," he said. "I mean, it doesn't get any clearer than this." For conservatives, that decision confirms long-held fears that the DSA is less a social-democratic reform movement than a staging ground for ideological extremism.
Altman also criticized current DSA co-chair Megan Romer, whom he described as a "Marxist-Leninist" and "fan of the Cuban regime." Her leadership, he argued, symbolizes the organizations embrace of regimes and ideologies fundamentally at odds with American constitutional values.
Romer traveled to Cuba last year with a group of 40 far-left activists, where she praised the communist dictatorship as "care-focused vs. production-focused." She also blamed the United States' blockade for the islands food shortages and mass emigration and claimed the country has "the most LGBTQ-friendly constitution in the world." Such rhetoric, conservatives note, glosses over Havanas long record of repression, economic failure and human-rights abuses.
Meanwhile, Abdul El-Sayed is attempting a delicate balancing act as he tries to court moderate Democrats while running against Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in the high-stakes 2026 midterms. Control of one or both chambers of Congress could hinge on races like Michigans, making the ideological contrast between a progressive firebrand and a more traditional Republican particularly stark.
El-Sayed has also faced persistent questions about his alliance with Hasan Piker, the controversial socialist streamer he invited onto the campaign trail during the primary. He has declined to distance himself from Piker, dismissing him instead as a "streamer from California" with little relevance to Michigans concerns.
Piker said in 2019 that "America deserved 9/11," and has also praised Mao Zedong and Communist China, said capitalists should be murdered in the streets and spewed a litany of antisemitic comments. For many voters, especially those wary of rising antisemitism and anti-American rhetoric on the left, El-Sayeds refusal to clearly repudiate such views raises serious questions about his judgment and values.
Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed's campaign. As Michigan heads toward a pivotal election, Altmans warning about extremist infiltration on the left, the DSAs flirtation with Leninism and El-Sayeds associations with radical figures are likely to sharpen the contrast between candidates who embrace traditional American principles and those who appear increasingly comfortable with ideological extremes.
Login