After Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization” earlier in the day, El-Sayed chastised the war effort as “illegal and unjustifiable,” arguing that the money spent on funding war campaigns is better spent benefiting American children, schools and the healthcare system amid an affordability crisis. (The U.S. entered into a two-week ceasefire with Iran shortly after the rally.)

“There is no legal authority for a war that Donald Trump is using to torch our tax dollars, to destroy other people's lives rather than using them to make our lives better,” El-Sayed said. 

El-Sayed took aim at another hallmark of the Trump administration in his remarks, advocating for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which he said could not be reformed following the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis in January. 

“There is no reforming, there is no retraining, there is only abolishing ICE,” El-Sayed said.

Refusing to take donations from corporate lobbying groups has been one of the El-Sayed campaign's biggest pitches to voters. On Tuesday, the candidate continued to rail against the influence of large donors in politics.

“The disease of our politics is the system that tells us corporations and special interests get to buy and tell politicians to do their bidding instead of ours,” El-Sayed said. 

His criticism of lobbying power extended to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel group that has spent significant resources attacking El-Sayed. He, in turn, has repeatedly criticized candidates who accept donations from the organization.

“I’m proud that AIPAC has called me the single most dangerous candidate in this race that is not supported by the Israel lobby,” El-Sayed said.

El-Sayed’s opposition to providing military and financial aid to Israel — which he described as being used to “fund the genocide” — has been the source of a thorny divide between himself and moderate Democrats. That scrutiny was heightened by the presence of Piker, whose anti-Israel positions and incendiary past comments have drawn the ire of Democrats and Republicans alike.

MSU Hillel, a Jewish student group, said days before the rally that they were “deeply troubled” by his coming visit and described Piker as a “known antisemite.” An hour before the rally began, MSU leadership reiterated the university’s commitment to free speech principles and condemned anti-semitism in reference to the upcoming rally. 

“I will be absolutely clear,” El-Sayed said. “All of us love and revere our Jewish neighbors and Judaism because we love and revere people, which is exactly why we will not sit idly by while all tax dollars go to fund a genocide on behalf of a foreign government.”

To detractors who've criticized his stance on aid to Israel, El-Sayed said that he’d have few qualms about taking away military aid to Egypt, which he said takes the second-most amount of aid from the U.S.

”Start there first,” El-Sayed joked. “Go ahead and call me anti-Egyptian.”

In a press scrum immediately after the rally, El-Sayed turned his attention to federal funding for public universities like MSU. In fall 2025, the university announced that 83 positions in the university had been axed due to federal funding cuts. The university has attempted to support some research endeavors previously supported by grants.

El-Sayed said the use of federal funding dollars intended for research and development at the higher education level as a “cudgel to ideologically impose” restrictions on universities that promote freedom of speech and free expression is “insane.”

However, the budget cuts prompt considerations over what funding should look like in the future. El-Sayed took aim at schools funding initiatives for “more Fro-yo at residence halls” and “a nicer campus recreation center,” rather than funding causes that further the university’s “educational mission.”

The senate candidate said higher education institutions, like MSU, should be tuition- and debt-free. He advocates for increasing federal funding, but only with certain limitations in place that would eliminate “useless” spending.