Washington Examiner senior editor Peter Laffin pushed back against criticism that Republicans are unfairly targeting Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed over his association with left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.
Laffin argued that the relationship raises legitimate questions about el Sayed’s judgment. “It isn’t Islamophobia to say that Hasan Piker, the live streamer, who is very prominent with this cohort on the left, was at his pre-primary pool party last week in Michigan,” Laffin said on C-Span’s Washington Journal on Sunday.
“And then was with him again later that evening at the victory rally,” Laffin said.
Piker, who has emerged as an influential figure among young progressives, has increasingly become a political flashpoint for Democrats. Laffin pointed to a resurfaced clip from a 2019 livestream in which the streamer claimed America “deserved” the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
El Sayed, a progressive Democrat, has repeatedly appeared alongside Piker as he courts younger voters. Laffin argued that criticism of the relationship should not be dismissed as anti-Muslim sentiment, emphasizing that the issue is Piker’s own public statements and conduct.
“This is a person who says and makes no mistake of it, that America ‘deserved 9/11,’” Laffin said. “You can’t say that America deserved 9/11, have the poster there, talk about it lightly, and then campaign with this person, and we can’t talk about it, or we’re Islamophobic.”
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Republicans have also noted the controversy as an issue, including Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who is the GOP nominee expected to face Abdul el Sayed in the general election for the open Senate seat. Rogers recently shared a post on X, writing, “You are who your friends are, and Abdul El-Sayed’s are radical leftists who hate America.”
“There’s something deeply disconcerting about that,” Laffin said, arguing that Michigan voters deserve answers about the association.