The name Hasan Piker continues to surface in regard to the midterm elections, even though he's not a candidate. Instead, Piker is a provocative Twitch streamer whose name is brought up most frequently as a backer of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who faces Republican Mike Rogers in a high-stakes race. On Friday's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough repeatedly pressed El-Sayed about his ties to Piker, reports Mediaite. "You have said, though, 'Oh, he's just a California streamer,'" said Scarborough. "Don't you think it's disingenuous just to call him like a California streamer when you know the guy, you campaign with the guy, he was a big part of your campaign?"
El-Sayed pushed back, saying Piker "wasn't a big part" of his campaign and that candidates routinely engage with a range of voices to reach voters. "The problem in our democracy too often is we say who we cannot talk to, rather than asking, how do we bring these folks back into an electoral fold?" He insisted that voters, as opposed to pundits, care far more about "groceries," "gas," and "rent" than figures like Piker. Still, a New York Times story notes that the Piker association continues to create political headaches for the Democrat. This week, for example, Piker told Axios in an interview that the US is worse than al-Qaeda on terror, citing the bombing of an Iranian school earlier this year.
"If you're killing 140 schoolgirls, that is an act of terror," Piker said. "This doesn't mean that all Americans are terrorists. But the reality of the matter is we have to create an environment of accountability to ensure things like that never happen again." After the interview, Rogers called on El-Sayed to "condemn Piker once and for all." El-Sayed stopped short of that, but made clear he disagreed with the al-Qaeda comparison. He also complained that Rogers is getting a free pass from the media compared to him, and the liberal outlet the Nation agrees, accusing the Republican of "war-mongering lies" in regard to Iran.
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