Hasan Piker, cowboys, Charlie Kirk, and more: Top six takeaways from Republican midterm convention Night 2

The second night of the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas undoubtedly belonged to Vice President JD Vance, who was greeted by loud chants of “48” as he paid tribute to Charlie Kirk and excoriated Democrats, in particular Michigan’s Senate hopeful Abdul el Sayed. 

Beyond Vance’s barnstorming performance, and President Donald Trump’s (very) extended cameo to close out the night, here are some of the top takeaways of the night.

1. Boogeymen el Sayed and Piker

Twitch streamer Hasan Piker was repeatedly referenced throughout the night, particularly when it comes to his relationship with el Sayed. 

El Sayed’s opponent in Michigan, Mike Rogers, portrayed the Democrat as a threat to the United States if sent to Washington and condemned his relationship with the controversial streamer, who once said America “deserved” 9/11 before walking it back.

“Sept. 11 isn’t something that we deserved,” Rogers declared. “No matter what Abdul’s buddies say.”

MIKE ROGERS ACCUSES ABDUL EL SAYED OF WANTING TO ‘REPRESENT PALESTINE’ OVER MICHIGAN

Earlier in the evening, House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) said of el Sayed’s connections with Piker: “Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the darkest day in our nation’s history. A day when we watched Americans jump from towers to avoid being burned to death.”

“A day when terror and chaos came to our streets. El Sayed’s biggest booster, a man named Hasan Piker, he said, and I quote, ‘America deserved 9/11.’ Well, ladies and gentlemen, my mom has a saying: You are who you hang with!”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who is understood to be mulling a 2028 presidential bid, also made sure to name-check Piker.

“When Hasan Piker says ‘America deserved 9/11,’ believe him,” he said during his speech.

And Vice President JD Vance reserved strong words for el Sayed in his keynote speech. 

“The man the Democrats are running for Senate in the great state of Michigan, his name is Abdul el Sayed. He saw me describing what a decent man my pawpaw was, genuinely a decent and good man.

“He saw me talking about my pawpaw and his work and his history and what he loved and what he cared about, and you know what old Abdul did?

“He asked mockingly whether I’d be willing to bring Usha back in time to meet papaw. This is what he thinks of my grandfather, a man I love and who loved his family unconditionally. Abdul looks at him, sees the color of his skin, sees his background, and decides that he could never have loved my wife.

“Now the shocking thing is that Abdul himself was raised by his own white step-grandparents. He knows exactly that kind of bond and what it looks like in a family, and he chose anyway to say that a man like my grandfather couldn’t have loved from the bottom of his heart someone who looks like Usha. Well, thanks be to God that my papaw was a better man than Abdul el Sayed because I guarantee you he’d love my family every bit as much.

“But look, I’m not just here to defend the honor of my pawpaw. I’m here to tell you this is who the Democrats are now, my friends. 

“They’re not just a party of little higher taxes, maybe some dumb regulations. They’re not the party of FDR or JFK. Hell, they’re not even the party of Bill Clinton anymore. 

“The Democrats are the party of hatred,” the vice president said.

2. Red-green alliance and sharia

Tied to the constant hammering of Piker and el Sayed, Cruz warned of a “new and dangerous red-green alliance” between communists and Islamists that he declared is “sweeping over the Democratic Party.”

“They are united because they share the same enemies,” he said. “They hate Christians. They hate Jews. They hate capitalism. They hate the Constitution, and they hate America.”

Cruz received raucous applause for his full-throttle speech, particularly when he spoke about Islamic sharia law.

“Hear me now. Sharia law has no place in America. Sharia law is fundamentally inconsistent with the Constitution, and we need to stand together and stop it now,” he said.

Later, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said: “We are not waiting on Washington, D.C. We will fully ban sharia law in Texas.”

Abbott last year signed an executive order designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as terrorist organizations.

3. ‘Bible-thumping, Jesus-loving, callous-hand cowboy’

One of the highlights of the night was Tano Tijerina, a longtime Democrat from South Texas who switched to the Republican Party in 2024 and is running for the Lone Star State’s 28th Congressional District.

Tijerina brought some sorely needed energy to proceedings as he embraced his inner professional wrestler with a promo Hulk Hogan would have been proud of.

“I’m Tano Tijerina. I’m a beef-eating, truck-driving, gun-slinging,” he began, to which he was met by uproarious applause. “I’m a beef-eating, gun-slinging, I’m a truck-driving, I am, oh, I’m a Bible-thumping, Jesus-loving, callous-hand cowboy that’s going to fight like hell for South Texas!”

Tijerina was applauded throughout his speech.

4. Remembering Charlie Kirk

Thursday night was the one-year anniversary of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination. 

Tributes to Kirk were sprinkled throughout the night, including during Vance’s remarks. 

“He left behind two children too young to fully understand, and a wife who has carried on his mission with more courage than most of us will ever be asked to show,” Vance said.

“To those two sweet kids, I want to say something, and I hope one day you watch this.

“History will record that your father was a great man,” Vance said.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ran against Trump as an independent in the 2024 election campaign before eventually joining his coalition, credited Kirk with bridging the divide between the two men. 

“Charlie Kirk built the bridge that President Trump and I walked across,” he said.

Pastor Lucas Miles, vice president of Turning Point USA Faith, paid tribute to Kirk in a heartfelt speech earlier in the evening.

“There is a peculiar mistake that men make when they try to silence the truth. They imagine that the voice speaking it is the source of it. A voice can be silenced, but the truth cannot. A man can be taken from his post, but if we spent his life awakening courage in other men, his absence may accomplish the very thing his enemies intended to prevent,” Miles said.

“For sometimes the silence of one voice does not produce silence at all. It produces an echo. And, if a voice was true enough in the conviction, deep enough, the echo becomes a chorus,” he continued.

Later he focused on Kirk’s dedication to his faith and reflected on his legacy.

“But his voice has only grown louder. As Christians, we know Charlie is home with the lord, and we want to honor him by carrying forward what he did,” he said. “I remember in the week after his death, one prominent tribute took special note that he died with a microphone in his hand.”

“I can’t help but wonder today: If Charlie were standing here tonight, that microphone still in his hand, what would you say to us?” Miles asked. “I think he would say, ‘The work’s not finished.’”

The convention left an empty chair for Kirk at the convention.

REPUBLICAN CONVENTION NIGHT 2 AS IT HAPPENED

5. Angel parents move audience to tears

In one of the most moving moments of the night, the family of 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, who was killed by an illegal immigrant earlier this year, delivered an emotional speech.

“Tonight, I’m literally standing in my daughter’s shoes because she cannot stand here,” said her mother, Jessica. “I will, because she cannot speak. I will be her voice.”

“One sleeve of this jacket says ‘love extravagantly.’ The other says ‘defend fiercely.’ Sheridan taught all of us that love should never be small.

“When Sheridan was in kindergarten, there was a bench in the play yard for kids who felt lonely or left out. Sheridan stalked that bench. She’d hide behind a tree just to make sure no one sat there alone. She was our sunshine. And on March 19, our world went dark.

“Illegal immigration and these sanctuary policies have stolen so much from us. But the one thing they can never steal is our hope,” she said.

The speech moved the audience to tears as Gorman’s family members remembered her. They credited Trump for getting the influx of illegal immigration into the country under control.

Gorman was attending Loyola University in March when Jose Medina, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, fatally shot her.

Sheridan was honored at the end of her family’s speech with a bench specially handcrafted by North Carolina law enforcement officer Chris Langley.

6. RFK says Democratic Party has ‘turned against every one of its essential values’

One of the loudest receptions of the night belonged to Kennedy, who talked the room through his colorful family history, while noting that his father and his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, would no longer recognize their party.

“Ours was a party of strong principles, clear policies, and an inspiring, idealistic vision for America. My uncle ran on a platform of tax cuts, strong defense, and fighting communism. Does that sound familiar?” the MAHA champion said. 

“The Democrats of that era stood with labor and working people and the American middle class. Nearly every cop and firefighter was a Democrat. Our party was a champion of the Bill of Rights, particularly for unbridled free speech. It was wary of centralized government power and corporate privilege, and secret intelligence agencies,” he continued, arguing that the modern Democratic Party had turned against all of this.

DON JR. URGES REPUBLICANS TO HONOR CHARLIE KIRK’S LEGACY AND ‘SAVE THIS NATION’

He concluded the party had thrown all of this away and was now offering “Americans only one policy, the one policy that they stood for, the unbridled sociopathic and blind hatred of a single man: Donald J. Trump.”

He said: “I mourn the fact that neither my father nor my uncle would recognize the Democratic Party of today.”