OTTAWA — Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed appears to have taken a bite out of Pierre Poilievre’s playbook, releasing an orchard video reminiscent of the Conservative leader’s viral apple-eating interview.The campaign video shows El-Sayed sampling apples while speaking with a Michigan grower..“Got some acidic bite to it,” El-Sayed says after taking a bite. “That’s a good apple.”He describes another apple as dense and crisp, with “almost a floral sweetness.”The conversation then turns to health care and operating costs. The grower says the price of diesel has become so burdensome that, for the first time, he recently asked for only half a tank instead of filling it.El-Sayed thanks the grower for his work, the jobs he creates and the apples and cider he produces.“I like them apples,” he says to close the video..The scene closely resembles Poilievre’s October 2023 encounter with Times Chronicle editor Don Urquhart at an orchard in Oliver, B.C.In that unscripted interview, Urquhart accused Poilievre of appealing to the “populist right” and taking a page from Donald Trump’s political playbook.“What does that mean?” Poilievre asked between bites of an apple.When the reporter said some Canadians feared Poilievre’s politics, the Conservative leader repeatedly pressed him to identify who was afraid and explain the basis for his claims.The exchange circulated internationally after Poilievre shared the video under the caption: “How do you like them apples?”Unlike Poilievre’s impromptu confrontation with a reporter, El-Sayed’s version is a polished campaign video released days before Michigan voters head to the polls.El-Sayed is facing former Republican congressman Mike Rogers in the Nov. 3 election for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat. The contest is considered one of the races that could help determine control of the Senate.El-Sayed’s campaign has not indicated whether the orchard video was intended as a tribute to—or imitation of—Poilievre’s viral moment.
