House Democrat GOES OFF on Michigan Senate Candidate’s Rally With Hasan Piker

Screenshot via Twitch

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) pulled no punches this week following a report in Politico Playbook about how Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is planning a rally featuring Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.

Piker has long stoked controversy for his past statements, including saying that the U.S. “deserved” the 9/11 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. More recently, Piker has raised eyebrows with his trips to China and Cuba, during which he praised the ruthless communist dictatorships in power in both.

Schneider posted to X on Tuesday, writing, “Hasan Piker is an unapologetic antisemite. Democrats risk losing our credibility to condemn those on the right who traffic in bigotry, antisemitism, & hate when our own Members of Congress & candidates are celebrating or, worse yet, platforming those who espouse hate of any kind.”

“I am proud of our big tent & the fact that we welcome a broad diversity of opinions and priorities. But we cannot allow those who preach hate & seek division to find safe harbor among us. We must call out hate & reject those who champion ideologies of exclusion and demonization,” added the Illinois Democrat.

Piker, a vehement critic of Israel, shared Schneider’s post and wrote, “lotsa aipac dogs barking today.”

Centrist Democratic think tank Third Way also tore into El-Sayed for teaming up with Piker. In a statement to Playbook’s Adam Wren, the group said, “It is morally repugnant and strategically self-defeating for Democrats like Abdul El-Sayed and Members of Congress like Summer Lee to cozy up to antisemitic extremists like Hasan Piker.”

“Anyone eager to campaign with Hasan Piker is, at best, comfortable overlooking his antisemitic and anti-American extremism and, at worst, endorsing it,” Third Way President Jonathan Cowan said in a statement, adding:

After voters in critical battlegrounds like Michigan believed in 2024 that Democrats were the more radical party, embracing extreme bigots like Piker, who, for starters, has called religious Jews ‘inbred’ and said ‘America deserved 9/11,’ is not only dangerous and wrong, but antithetical to the urgent work of winning over the middle and defeating Trumpism.”

Piker replied to Playbook, saying, “Third Way has lost the argument in the eyes of a lot of the Democratic Party’s base. We can have a debate on how much influence they already had amongst the base in general. But they’re losing their institutional relevance as well.”

Piker has also come under fire for his positive takes on Hezbollah and the Houthis, both labeled terrorist organizations by the U.S. Piker was critical of Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election and has said he will not support Gavin Newsom in 2028 if he were to run.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!