There are certain aspects of American life that were never intended to be partisan. Honoring nearly 3,000 lives lost on September 11, 2001, stands among them. For many Americans who witnessed the towers’ collapse, attended funerals, or still feel the sting of “Taps” on anniversaries — that day remains sacred.
Yet this reality has been tested. The Democratic Party has drifted so far from its roots that one of its Senate nominees cannot muster the courage to disavow a prominent supporter who claimed America deserved the worst terrorist attack in history. And the person raising this alarm is not a Republican operative or a cable news pundit, but someone deeply embedded within Biden’s camp.
A high-profile Democrat spokesperson recently delivered a stark warning to his own party.
Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to First Lady Jill Biden, erupted on social media over the weekend after publicly criticizing Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and endorsing his Republican rival, incumbent Senator Mike Rogers.
If you are shocked that a former Biden press secretary would support a Republican over his party’s nominee, welcome to the club. But the reasoning behind LaRosa’s actions is more alarming — and may explain why many Democrats quietly share similar sentiments.
The catalyst is damning: Abdul El-Sayed has failed to distance himself from far-left streamer Hasan Piker, who famously declared in 2019 during a livestream that “America deserved 9/11.” El-Sayed not only avoided addressing the controversy but campaigned alongside Piker, treating him as a valued political ally rather than a dangerous liability.
For LaRosa, this was far more than an abstract policy issue. His best friend’s mother died on September 11, jumping from the 95th floor of the World Trade Center because the alternative — staying inside the inferno — was worse. “Her only crime was showing up to work that morning,” LaRosa wrote. He added he would never encourage any Democrat to support a candidate too weak to stand up to extremists who believe that those men and women jumping from a burning building 110 stories up because the alternative was worse deserved what they got.
Read that and attempt to argue with it. It is not a political calculation but a man of conscience drawing a firm line.
This incident is not LaRosa’s first instance of defying his party. Previously, he refused to defend a Democratic Senate candidate in Maine who had an SS Totenkopf tattoo simply because the candidate bore a “D” next to his name. The pattern is clear: LaRosa defines party loyalty by basic moral decency.
The uncomfortable question for Democratic leadership is how many of their own voters privately align with him. When a lifelong loyalist from the former First Lady’s communications team would rather see a Republican win a critical Senate seat than support a candidate who associates with 9/11 apologists, the problem lies not with the dissenter but with the institution itself.
This is more than a social media controversy. Michigan’s Senate race could shift power in Washington. As Fox News noted, “even a small erosion of Democratic support could matter” in this battleground state. Consider: if Biden insiders are openly stating such views on record, how many everyday Democrats — including autoworkers, suburban parents, and veterans — are quietly concerned about November?
El-Sayed dismissed the controversy with a grin, treating questions about Piker’s 9/11 remarks as mere cheap tactics. LaRosa, unsurprisingly, was not amused: “I doubt the families of those who jumped 95 stories because the alternative was worse consider ‘America deserved 9/11’ some dumb thing.”
There was a time when Democrats understood that patriotism was not partisan. President John F. Kennedy did not hesitate to confront America’s enemies; he condemned them directly. Today, the party that once embodied unapologetic patriotism cannot produce a Senate nominee willing to state simply: “We didn’t deserve it.”
LaRosa’s defection is a symptom, not the disease. The true issue is a political party that has welcomed extremists who glorify the murder of Americans into its coalition — and then demands unwavering loyalty from all others.
