On October 20, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News “Extreme Islam is dangerous” while attacking Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. The Gateway Pundit’s headline added quote marks around Prophet and made his remarks a warning about Islam. Mullin said “the Prophet Muhammad” with no marks around it; The Gateway Pundit’s own transcript prints it that way. The headline adds two curly marks, the sneer in quotes: punctuation that doubts a title so the outlet never has to say so. Then it drops a word. Its first paragraph and Mullin’s quote say “extreme Islam”; the headline says Islam. And it names no target, though its first paragraph says the remarks came while attacking one man, Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed denies ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and, asked at a Caro town hall to disavow it, said “absolutely”. NewsNation reports his sister’s tweets “appeared to show support” for the group, and that Bridge Michigan found no evidence of direct ties. Mullin’s claim that the faith permits lying turns any denial into more evidence. The habit underneath is us and them: the other group’s one member stands for all of them. The tell is a faith named where one person is accused. No other headline in the coverage carries the remark. The Gateway Pundit names no program or date for its video; a FOX One clip of Mullin on The Will Cain Show, aired October 20, is titled on cartels “partnering with Islamic extremists”. The warning comes from the secretary of Homeland Security, so it lands as a briefing, not an opinion. The vote is November 3. An October 1 Mitchell poll had El-Sayed ahead of Republican Mike Rogers 45.6% to 41.4%. The page asks readers to donate and shop.
