Abdul El-Sayed’s derisive speculation about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s high school sports performance drew a sharp rebuke from the father of the Pentagon chief.
Brian Hegseth, the secretary’s father, accused Mr. El-Sayed of being “bitter” with envy and said the 5-foot-9 Democrat had “little man syndrome.”
Mr. El-Sayed, who is in a tight race for U.S. Senate in Michigan, recently appeared on comedian Hasan Minhaj’s podcast, where he said Mr. Hegseth would have been benched in “whatever sport” he played in high school.
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He speculated that Mr. Hegseth’s parents were likely overly supportive: “His mom was making cake, she was wearing his jersey, she had a cap made for him. You know the type. So I’m like, bro, you grew up thinking that you were special, but you are not.”
Mr. El-Sayed contrasted this with the experience of “being a brown kid,” saying he learned as an athlete whose parents didn’t attend his games that “no matter what you do, you’re never enough. So what that means is you never take yourself too seriously.”
The elder Mr. Hegseth clapped back on social media.
“Little man syndrome,” he declared. “Abdul has no idea what he’s talking about. Proud to say, as Pete’s dad, he was an absolute star on the court in high school. … We parents cheered him on, yes. That’s what families do — support each other. Envy makes him bitter.”
On Saturday afternoon, Brian Hegseth posted an image of himself, his wife and the secretary, with the latter wearing his high school basketball jersey in front of a hoop.
“Just two supportive parents still supporting their benchwarming son!” read the Halloween post, directed to Mr. El-Sayed.
Mr. El-Sayed, 42, played club lacrosse at the University of Michigan.
Pete Hegseth is 46.
Mr. El-Sayed often mentions sports on the campaign trail, boasting of having been captain of his high school football team and challenging his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, to a tackle drill with “no pads.”
During the campaign, a 2023 podcast episode resurfaced, in which Mr. El-Sayed said: “Football is very much associated with a particularly masculine and oftentimes toxically masculine culture.”
Mr. El-Sayed posed the question, “Is there a version of football that’s actually ethical, safe?”
Later in the 2023 podcast, he said episodes of violence in America’s history, such as “destroying Native Americans” and the “trans-Atlantic slave trade,” are “echoed in the ethos of football.”
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