Hasan Piker’s media blitz is throwing Senate Democrats their latest curveball after declaring the United States “worse” than al Qaeda, renewing scrutiny of the controversial and far-left Twitch streamer’s ties to party candidates.
His association with those like Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul el Sayed, for whom Piker has campaigned, offers Republicans another political layup and forces Democrats to do something their nominee has so far been reluctant to do: disavow Piker.
“I think I’ve lost to Piker,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), a staunch Israel defender who’s become increasingly isolated from his party, told the Washington Examiner. “Democrats love him. They campaign with him and they defend him.”
Piker this week has made rare legacy media appearances, including on The Axios Show, where he told journalist Alex Thompson that “pound for pound as far as the number of deaths,” America is worse than the al Qaeda terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks. Piker once said the country “deserved” 9/11 but later retracted the statement, remarks that el Sayed eventually called “dumb” last month following questions from reporters. Piker and el Sayed are fierce critics of Israel and the Gaza war.
“Comparing America to al-Qaeda wasn’t an accident — Piker has built a brand on anti-American hate,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). “This is a man who said America ‘deserved’ 9/11, who framed a newspaper with the Twin Towers on it for his backdrop, and who has spent years excusing the very terrorists who’ve targeted our country. That’s not edgy commentary.”
El Sayed’s Republican rival in the battleground contest, Mike Rogers, referred to his opponent as the “most anti-American candidate across the country” in a Fox News interview for his affiliation with Piker. The Republican Party’s X account shared a clip of Piker’s comments and called him a “Democrat spokesman.”
El Sayed has yet to address Piker’s remarks as of Thursday, and the campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Piker lashed out over the fallout in a series of social media posts to rebuke the criticism.
“He asked, i gave a nuanced answer. we’ve armed al qaeda since 9/11, we made its former commander the president of syria,” Piker wrote in one post. In another, he said: “Our elites terrorize the entire world while ordinary americans continue to foot the bill.”
The timing of Piker’s remarks further shined a spotlight on el Sayed, who on Wednesday met with skeptical Senate Democrats at their campaign headquarters in Washington. His potential colleagues emerged largely united behind him, despite his opposition to their top brass that includes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Gary Peters (D-MI), who is retiring and el Sayed hopes to replace, have endorsed the nominee.
Other Democrats downplayed the connection between Piker and el Sayed as Republicans seek to make the streamer a political liability for other candidates across the map. For example, in Maine’s contested race between Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Democrat Troy Jackson, Piker praised Jackson this summer as the “acceptable substitute” to replace former Democratic nominee Graham Platner.
El Sayed has tried to dismiss Piker as a “Twitch streamer” who does not speak for his campaign. Some Senate Democrats are doing the same.
“God save us from those true believers on the right and left who are paid to say things that excite and worry people,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) told the Washington Examiner. “The voters make the final choice, and they, of course, have to decide what the actual candidates say.”
HASAN PIKER DECLARES US WORSE ‘POUND FOR POUND’ THAN AL QAEDA AS HE GOES ON MEDIA BLITZ
Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) downplayed Piker as a “sideshow.”
“The candidates themselves state where they stand,” Welch said.