A Michigan resident and former Democrat whom Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon (R.) referenced in a debate last week called out CBS late night host Stephen Colbert for doubting his existence.
On Oct. 26 Colbert mocked Dixon on The Late Show for being "an anti-choice MAGA Republican" and said she "made up" a story about a man who left the Democratic Party. Colbert's attempt to undermine Dixon's comments came as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D.) faces a tight gubernatorial race in the historically blue Michigan. With Election Day less than a week away, Democrats and the liberal media across the country are already bemoaning a probable red wave.
In the debate, Dixon relayed a conversation she had with Muslim-American Khalil Othman in which he expressed his concerns about sexually explicit books in his son's school library.
"And he said," Dixon recounted, leaving out Othman's name, "'I went to the Democrats and I said, I cannot believe that this is in there.' ... He said because Democrats won't stand up for our children and go back to the basics, 'I'm leaving the Democratic Party.'"
Colbert, before playing the clip on his show, referred to the man as a "guy she totally made up." After the clip, Colbert responded, "Ok fine. That happened," making sarcastic quotation marks with his hands.
But Othman confirmed to the Detroit Free Press that he is a real person and did make those comments at a Dixon rally a few days before the debate.
"To claim that I'm not here, I don't exist, I'm not human, that's absolute ignorance," Othman, a former Dearborn, Mich., city council candidate, told the Free Press. "If [Colbert] did his due diligence and start researching or has his team do a little bit of research of who's this person who attended Dixon's rally, they will be able to find my name right away easy on social media. Just Google it."
Othman referred to a Facebook post he made with pictures from the Oct. 21 rally.
"Ever since immigrating to this great country almost 20 years ago, I've been a loyal Democrat," Othman wrote in his Facebook post. "Never once did I ever vote Republican. However, the situation with the sexually explicit material in the schools was for me a bridge too far. When it comes to my kids and my family, I will not budge. Family before party!"
Dixon's campaign confirmed Dixon was referencing Othman in her speech. On Sunday, Dixon responded to Colbert's blunder.
"I told his story ... and Stephen Colbert picks it up. ... And they make this whole skit about how this has never happened. That's what he said, this story never happened. That's where the Democrats are right now. You don't exist, your stories are not important."
"Right now, it's a crunch time for both candidates," Othman said. "And [Colbert's] trying whatever he can do with his media influence to hurt her campaign. He doesn't know me."