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hasan piker
Progressives Warn Democrats Endlessly Invoking Hasan Piker to 'Get Their Shit Together'
"Every Democrat talking about Piker is handing the midterms to Trump."
Aug 28, 2026
Progressives this week have grown increasingly frustrated with the oxygen that Democratic lawmakers are wasting invoking the name of left-wing commentator Hasan Piker, warning that too many in the party are falling for a trap that so obviously favors President Donald Trump and Republicans with midterm elections just slightly more than two months away.
"Democrats need to get their shit together. I'm tired of hearing about Hasan," said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, said in a social media post on Thursday.
"Whatever 3D chess you think you're playing is only pushing away real people," Mitchell added. "Stop obsessing over a streamer. We’re fighting authoritarianism here."
Chuck Idelson, a progressive Democratic voter and retired union official based in California, agreed.
"Exactly," Idelson said in response to Mitchell's declaration. "The obsession with Piker is the rabbit hole the GOP is counting on to focus the Democrats on anything other than the horror show of what Trump is doing to this nation. Every Democrat talking about Piker is handing the midterms to Trump."
As The Independent reports: "All of this is occurring under the spectacle of a national media frenzy surrounding Piker and the Democratic Socialists of America, whom journalists have made the focus of their questions to Democrats of all stripes. And some Democrats are beginning to air publicly their resentment over party leaders like Jeffries falling into what they call a Republican trap."
While much of the discourse around Piker is taking place on the airwaves and social media, Newsweek reported this week on an Echelon Insights poll conducted in April that "found that Piker remains largely unknown among Democratic voters," results that underscore "the gap between his enormous online following and his reach with the broader electorate."
Common Dreams reported earlier this week how critics have viewed the obsession with Piker on the part of establishment Democrats and certain members of the corporate media as a "mass psychosis event."
"I am begging everybody to spend less time arguing about Hasan Piker and more time attacking Republicans," said Mike Nellis, a City Councilman in Chicago representing the city's 32nd Ward, on Friday.
"The election is in about two month," added Nellis. "Lock the fuck in."
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'Mass Psychosis': Corporate Democrats Ripped for Attacks on Anti-Zionist Hasan Piker
"Centrists despise Hasan Piker more than they want to win," said one critic.
Aug 26, 2026
A growing number of establishment Democrats are facing backlash from progressives for their escalating attacks on leftist streamer Hasan Piker, with critics accusing the party's corporatist wing of obsessing over an online influencer while ignoring the economic and foreign policy grievances driving millions of voters away on the eve of the critical midterm elections.
The latest controversy erupted after Piker argued during an online broadcast that Jewish Americans' public support for Israel could contribute to antisemitism. Piker's comments drew swift condemnation from prominent Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY), who, without naming Piker, called them "dangerous and antisemitic."
Other Democrats piled on, prompting rebuke from progressives, who accused the centrists of caring more about an online personality than winning back control of Congress in November.
Former progressive Michigan congressional candidate Kyle Blomquist called it an "absolute mass psychosis event."
"Too many demotivated Democrats stayed home in 2016 and 2024. We can’t repeat past mistakes," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said on social media.
Khanna implored Democrats to stop calling Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who is Jewish—an antisemite and "stop wasting time attacking Hasan Piker instead of [President Donald] Trump’s robber-baron corruption."
"Don't put Israel hawks out of touch with our voters in charge of our Middle East policy," he added. "It is time for a reckoning: Are we a party that represents corporate interests and super PACs, or will we represent the American people?"
According to Track AIPAC, pro-Israel Democrats have taken tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from pro-Israel lobby groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's United Democracy Project.
Khanna's comments came a day after Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced the appointment of Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) as ranking member of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee. Moskowitz, who said earlier this year that he is "to the right" of Vice President JD Vance in his support of Trump's illegal US-Israeli war of choice on Iran, is one of the strongest supporters of Israel in Congress.
This, at a time when three-quarters of Democratic voters oppose US aid to Israel—up from just 45% three years ago—and after the issue was a factor in former Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
A majority of Democratic voters also believe that Israel's US-backed war on Gaza is a genocide, a position also held by United Nations experts, around 20 countries that joined South Africa's ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice, human rights groups, and scholars around the world—including in Israel.
Jasper Nathaniel, a US journalist known for his coverage of Israel's illegal occupation, settler colonization, and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, posted on X: "The entire bipartisan political establishment has coalesced around a willful misreading of what Hasan Piker said in order to silence criticism of Israel. They’re doing the same thing to Mark Ruffalo in Hollywood. It’s all fucking gaslighting. Don’t give an inch."
"What Hasan said is completely intuitive. Everyone knows that Israel’s genocide of Palestinians—and the Jewish institutions’ blanket support for it—has created more hostility towards Jews," he added. "There is no good-faith argument against this."
Jacobin staff writer Branko Marcetic asserted Wednesday that "centrists despise Hasan Piker more than they want to win."
"It’s an extreme stretch to describe Piker’s remarks as an incitement of or justification for violence and bigotry against Jews," he continued. "The basic point he’s making—that the tendency by pro-Israel voices to conflate Jewishness with lockstep support for Israel makes Jews less safe—has been made by a number of Jewish voices, including Ezra Klein at The New York Times, David Klion at The Nation, Norman Solomon at The Guardian, union organizer Molly Kraft, and Hannah Arendt nearly 80 years ago."
The dispute has now ensnared Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who campaigned alongside Piker during his successful Democratic primary bid. El-Sayed has somewhat distanced himself from Piker's comments, emphasizing that the campaign represents his own views and condemning antisemitism. It hasn't placated establishment Democrats.
Some Democrats have implored their party to keep its eyes on the proverbial prize—winning back Congress—instead of engaging in senseless internecine battles.
"Billionaires are draining our resources to develop a technology they want to replace us, millions will lose Medicaid in the new year to pay for tax cuts for the rich, and we’re spending billions on genocidal wars the voters oppose," said Melat Kiros, the progressive Democratic nominee for Colorado's 1st Congressional District. "But sure, let’s keep talking about Hasan Piker."
It's not just Democratic Socialists of America-type progressives who get it. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) admonished reporters during a Wednesday campaign rally for El-Sayed at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
.@RepDebDingell (D-MI) says Hasan Piker is "not what November is about," and that Republicans are trying to divide Democrats over it: "I'm still trying to figure out is it the reason he exercises and looks buff why he has so many followers?" pic.twitter.com/zZLTCHHbTy
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 26, 2026
"Don't any reporter ask me again about Hasan Piker," she said angrily. "It's not what November is about."
"Republicans are... trying to divide us," she continued. "And we've got to stop letting them try to divide us."
Weighing in on corporate Democrats' attacks on Piker from across the Atlantic, British writer and activist Owen Jones said Wednesday that "the Democratic establishment know they’ve lost their base. These smears are driven by panic."
"The bottom line about what’s happening here is this: The American people have turned against Israel in revulsion at the genocide and want to stop facilitating its crimes. That opposition is overwhelming among the Democratic rank-and-file," he continued.
"But the Democratic Party establishment remains invested in the alliance with Israel—and they fear being swept aside by pro-Palestinian left-wing candidates in upcoming primaries," Jones asserted, adding that centrists "would prefer to lose to the Republicans than win with the left. They would prefer to keep facilitating Israel’s genocide and heinous crimes rather than win."
"That’s what we are dealing with here," he added. "And if it means destroying US democracy to defend Israel—that’s a price they’re willing to pay."
Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser to Sanders, expressed a similar sentiment on social media.
"You've never seen corporate Democrats fighting as hard and as on message against Trump as they are against Hasan right now," he said. "It's insane."
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In Post-Primary Media Tour, Angie Nixon Refuses to Take Corporate Media's Bait on Hasan Piker, DSA
"I am actually focused on Florida and making sure that I'm talking to voters here, to uplift their needs and their concerns," said the progressive Democrat. "And so that's what my focus is going to be over the next 76 days."
Aug 21, 2026
The corporate media has spent months helping to push the narrative that progressive Democratic candidates are anti-American and have radical foreign policy views that are out of step with a majority of voters—claims that are not backed up by polling—and news outlets were ready this week to pepper Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon with questions after her stunning Democratic primary victory in the US Senate race.
But Nixon (D-13) suggested Thursday night she prefers to discuss her desire to represent working Florida residents' interests in the Senate over the topics that news anchors are eager to talk about, including various positions held by some members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the specific label she would apply to her political views, and the progressive political figures she does or does not plan to campaign with ahead of the November midterms.
On NBC News, correspondent Kristen Welker asked Nixon on Thursday why she recently joined the DSA "if you disagree with various parts of their platform."
Nixon has expressed in interviews in recent days that she does not support the DSA's platform positions of abolishing prisons—noting that she does support abolishing those that operate for profit—or defunding the police.
Welker asked if Nixon's disagreement with some aspects of the DSA's platform becomes "a distraction from your own campaign and your own agenda."
The state lawmaker, who supports Medicare for All, universal childcare, and annual wealth tax on billionaires, replied, "You all are the only ones that are distracted."
KRISTEN WELKER: Why join the DSA if you disagree with various parts of their platform? Does it not just become a distraction from your own campaign and your own agenda?
ANGIE NIXON: You all are the only ones that are distracted. I’m actually going out, talking to voters about… pic.twitter.com/wgEX6csNB8
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) August 21, 2026
Nixon's hint of exasperation at the question came after a number of interviews in which she was grilled about topics that, she suggested, had nothing to do with the priorities of Floridians whom she's met on the campaign trail.
She quickly pivoted away from Welker's DSA focus and toward the struggles a growing number of Americans are facing with affording healthcare, following the Republican Party's termination of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies and cuts to Medicaid.
"The fact remains that there are people who are dying because they don’t have access to quality healthcare," said Nixon as she turned her attention to her GOP opponent, Sen. Ashley Moody. "Meanwhile, Ashley Moody voted to end the ACA subsidies. As I stated, nearly 300,000 people fell off the Affordable Care Act rolls."
"The status quo is broken," she added, "and the people at the top want to stoke division... At the end of the day I have always been about the people of Florida, which is why my campaign is Angie for Florida."
Welker didn't follow up with a question about Nixon's plans to make healthcare more affordable for Florida voters, instead asking whether she views herself as "a capitalist."
The interview was the latest in a slew of media appearances Nixon has made this week after she won the Democratic primary by 12 points despite being outraised by an estimated 13-to-1 average by former national security official Alex Vindman.
The candidate's suggestion that the corporate media is "distracted" when it comes to her campaign came a day after CBS News anchor Gayle King questioned Nixon about who she has campaigned with, incorrectly claiming that left-wing commentator and streamer Hasan Piker had joined her on the trail during the primary race, along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Nixon politely but firmly replied that she has not campaigned with Piker before noting that Tlaib, who has joined her at rallies, "wants the same things that I want, to make sure that government is working for people and not against it."
"So I'll continue to do the same thing, but I have not campaigned with Mr. Piker at all," she said. "Not sure where that came from."
King then pressed her on whether she would be interested in campaigning with Piker—whose involvement in Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed was used by the centrist think tank Third Way as an attack line against the progressive earlier this year. The news anchor appeared incredulous when Nixon replied that she didn't "really know who he is."
"I am actually focused on Florida and making sure that I'm talking to voters here, to uplift their needs and their concerns," said Nixon. "And so that's what my focus is going to be over the next 76 days."
Journalist Glenn Greenwald commented that King's shocked reaction at the news that the progressive candidate didn't know Piker was "so revealing of the insular media mindset."
"It's the only thing we in the media ever talk about," he said sardonically. "You must be fixated on what we're fixated on."
Nixon also used questions from journalist Don Lemon and MS NOW's "Morning Joe" about whether she supports abolishing prisons as a jumping-off point to discuss her opposition to for-profit prisons, which have secured hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts to run immigration detention centers after they donated millions to President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.
"They exploit labor, and they usher many of our children into the school-to-prison pipeline," said Nixon.
Florida Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon faced a DSA platform gauntlet on Morning Joe, with hosts pressing her on “defunding police,” “abolishing prisons,” and “open borders.”
🔹Nixon, who recently joined DSA, rejected all three characterizations. She said she supports law… pic.twitter.com/uwh1Lr1UPf
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) August 19, 2026
Screenwriter Dan Therriault said that "younger left candidates" like Nixon "are dealing with media in an assertive way that the old Democrats don’t have to do because they’re the status quo."
"The push by media against young left Democrats, who are fighting for their voters," he said, "is causing the media’s conservative corporate bias to be exposed day after day."
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Jayapal Blasts Alma Mater's Cancellation of Hasan Piker Talk as Threat to Free Speech
"Free speech is a constitutional right that we must all stand up and protect," the progressive congresswoman said.
Aug 13, 2026
US Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Wednesday joined First Amendment defenders in condemning the University of Washington’s cancellation of a planned lecture by controversial socialist streamer Hasan Piker and implored all Americans to stand up for free speech.
The University of Washington (UW) vaguely explained earlier this week that Piker's scheduled January 2027 appearance as part of the school's Speaker Series was canceled after "it was determined that the process for organizing this event did not meet the necessary level of rigor for university-hosted events."
"Going forward, procedures will be updated to ensure the standards we have for university-hosted events like the Speaker Series are met, particularly so that we can help elevate the level of dialogue on divisive topics during a polarized time in our country," the school added.
Japayal (D-Wash.), a UW alumna, said on social media: "As a member of the Judiciary Committee, I have been absolutely clear that free speech is a constitutional right that we must all stand up and protect. I have been communicating my concerns about the cancellation of the Hasan Piker event directly to the university, and they have informed me that they are doing an internal review to ensure this never happens again."
As a Member of the Judiciary Committee, I have been absolutely clear that free speech is a Constitutional right that we must all stand up and protect. I have been communicating my concerns about the cancellation of the Hasan Piker event directly to the University... (1/2)
[image or embed]
— Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (@jayapal.house.gov) August 13, 2026 at 11:22 AM
Piker—who has millions of subscribers and followers on Twitch and other platforms—responded to the cancellation by accusing UW officials of caving to a "barrage of botted emails" from Israel supporters.
"If this had happened to Charlie Kirk or if this had happened to Ben Shapiro, this would be the number one news story on Fox News for a month," he said, referring to the assassinated Turning Point USA (TPUSA) co-founder and the co-founder of the right-wing Daily Wire.
In fact, TPUSA spokesperson and Charlie Kirk Show producer Andrew Kolvet opposed Piker's cancellation, writing on X: “Let the radical Mao-loving communist Hasan Piker speak, so long as he can resist the urge to call for the death of his political opponents. Universities do this to TPUSA often and blame some admin error etc. It’s wrong.”
The Anti-Defamation League—which has faced heavy criticism for conflating opposition to Israel's wars, illegal occupation and settler colonization, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid with hatred of Jewish people—accuses Piker of "a history of rhetoric that sanitizes violence and denigrates Jewish people."
Piker's most controversial statements include calling some ultra-Orthodox Jews "inbred psychopaths," calling Zionism a "mental illness," dismissing sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israelis on and after the October 7, 2023 attack, calling Hamas "a thousand times better than Israel," and saying the United States "deserved" the al-Qaeda attacks carried out on September 11, 2001 in response to decades of US militant imperialism in Muslim nations. Piker subsequently apologized for his "inbred" comment; he also called his 9/11 remarks "inappropriate."
Piker and his uncle, The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur, were recently banned from entering the United Kingdom, whose Labour government declared that their presence in the country “may not be conducive to the public good.”
The UW cancellation came four months after the US Department of Justice launched an investigation into the school's handling of alleged antisemitism on campus, which saw a crackdown on pro-Palestine protests during Israel's annihilation of Gaza—described by a United Nations commission of inquiry, international experts, nearly 20 national governments, and people around the world as a genocide.
Ironically, UW officials in 2024 dismantled a sukkah—a temporary outdoor hut built during the annual Sukkot festival—erected by Jewish students opposing Israel's onslaught.
The nonprofit civil liberties group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) also condemned UW's decision to cancel Piker's speech, arguing on X that "if the decision was based on process—and not public backlash or criticism—UW should be transparent about what standards were not met and how they were applied."
"Public universities can set standards for events," FIRE added. "But they can’t use those standards as cover for canceling a speaker because of their views."
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