It's very easy to get depressed by the state of politics right now, but then you see interactions like this one, and it rekindles your faith. A new generation of politicians will come forward and they will be different.
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@jmaris thank you for sharing this! I watched the video 3 TIMES already. Sooo good
@jmaris Watched this a lot yesterday. El Sayed did a great job engaging with an attempted heckling, rhetorically hemmed Tommy in from every angle and pinned him down mercilessly to the actual attack he was making, didn't let him get away with vague propaganda noises. I would bet money that Tommy watches RW "debaters" who post one-sided attacks, and thought he was going to wow the audience.
Yesterday @marisakabas said she thought she found Tommy--going to see if there's any update yet. 😆
Yep. She found him!
#Via Marisa Kabas
@marisakabas
3:53 AM · Oct 18, 2026
"SCOOP: 'Tommy' from the now-viral exchange with Abdul El-Sayed is Thomas Teepell, a former staffer for Republican Senator Josh Hawley with close ties to Christian Nationalist Sean Feucht. He's the son of a former Bobby Jindal staffer whose consultant work was instrumental in getting Hawley elected."
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/tommy-teepell-abdul-el-sayed-viral-video-town-hall-josh-hawley
@jmaris a bigot taken down in civil discourse. We need more intellectual politicians like this guy. Folks who can shut down the rhetoric so it doesn’t spread to other misguided people with weak minds.