Marisa Kabas criticizes the premise of the Muslim Brotherhood question
Marisa KabasJournalist and author of The Handbasket
Kabas characterizes the question as an attempt to generate negative publicity rather than a good-faith inquiry about El-Sayed's beliefs.
“Then, on October 17th, Tommy asked his question in Caro, implying that El-Sayed had to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood simply because he’s a Muslim. Without knowing Tommy’s background and the effort by America Next to stoke controversy around El-Sayed’s public town halls, this might have seemed like an honest question, asked in good faith. Instead, it quickly appeared to be an inorganic attempt to generate negative publicity for El-Sayed.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Abdul El-Sayed challenges a Muslim Brotherhood question at his Caro town hall
At a Caro town hall, an attendee asked Abdul El-Sayed to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed answered affirmatively, then challenged the assumption behind the question. Byron York calls the question reasonable and argues that the ensuing response diverted legitimate scrutiny.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
The author presents reporting and an argument about the question at the Caro town hall. Judgments and allegations in the piece are the author's.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Kabas contrasts the Caro exchange with an October 4 Flint town hall, where she reports no major confrontation.
After the quotation
After this passage, Kabas criticizes a CNN headline for centering El-Sayed's disavowal rather than his constitutional argument.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Kabas argues that the question implies El-Sayed must disavow the group because he is Muslim and characterizes it as a publicity attempt rather than a good-faith inquiry.
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More from this case
Read the full caseDmitri Bolt defends asking El-Sayed to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood
“there are straightforward reasons to ask the question, and “because he’s Muslim” isn’t one of them.”Read statement
Byron York calls the Brotherhood question reasonable
“It was a reasonable question.”Read statement
Patrick Wyman praises El-Sayed's willingness to make hostile questioners admit their premises
“One of the many things I love about El-Sayed is that he's willing to engage with someone hostile if it gets them to admit the premises behind that hostility, to the extent that it becomes impossible to avoid the underlying bigotry.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Marisa Kabas criticizes the premise of the Muslim Brotherhood question". First published: 2026-10-21. Last updated: 2026-10-21. https://disputeindex.com/events/6370-kabas-characterizes-the-question-as-an-attempt-to