Jeremiah Johnson is back at The Dispatch! Another good read worth discussing for sure, this time about Hasan Piker.
He writes how Democrats risk creating a mirror of the GOP’s extremism problem by embracing figures like Hasan Piker, whom he describes as “an authoritarian socialist who openly disdains liberal democracy.”
He writes that Piker “promotes violence and repression whenever that violence and repression have a socialist lean,” pointing to his support for authoritarian governments like China and Cuba.
What seems like the main takeaway: The Democratic Party must avoid the temptation to fight extremism with extremism, and that while the Democratic Party needs a “big tent,” there’s a difference between coalition-building and “letting the extremists choose the direction of the party.”
Do you think including figures like Hasan Piker in the Democratic “big tent” strengthens or weakens the party?
Jolly-Star-9897 on
The most pathetic thing about Piker’s Chinese cheerleading is that they’re not even leftist. The entire system of tying your access to social services to where you were born is basically a caste system meant to keep the rural poor as an underclass.
Hannig4n on
The problem with Hasan mainly isn’t that he’s too extreme, it’s that his fundamental objective is to be a saboteur of the Democrat party. He is one of the biggest sources of political misinformation against Democrat candidates and politicians.
If his favorite far left option doesn’t win whatever primary, he will use his platform to sabotage the actual candidate. So big name democrats juicing up his platform is actively hazardous to Dems trying to win elections in purple states/districts.
WifeGuy-Menelaus on
Hey its the dickhead trying to get Richard Hanania back in the tent
affnn on
Recently I saw a survey of opinions on Piker and it was like “5% approve 10% disapprove 85% don’t know/no opinion”. I don’t understand why a guy like this – who is not in a position of power and who does not really have that big of an audience – is such an object of discussion.
Beyond that, every time I see a discussion of him the headline reads to me like “CURTAINS FOR ZOOSHA?” I cannot be the only old person that feels like this.
Even-Promotion-4024 on
Hasan Piker is a scumbag tankie who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near politics (or polite society in general imo)
I do believe we need a big tent, but I think at minimum you should genuinely love your country and want to see it become a better place in order to be platformed as a part of it, and Hasan pretty clearly satisfies neither of those conditions
Say what you will about other lefties like Mamdani, AOC, etc., but it seems pretty clear that they genuinely are interested in politics because they care about their constituents and our broader community in a way that Piker absolutely doesn’t
6 Comments
Jeremiah Johnson is back at The Dispatch! Another good read worth discussing for sure, this time about Hasan Piker.
He writes how Democrats risk creating a mirror of the GOP’s extremism problem by embracing figures like Hasan Piker, whom he describes as “an authoritarian socialist who openly disdains liberal democracy.”
He writes that Piker “promotes violence and repression whenever that violence and repression have a socialist lean,” pointing to his support for authoritarian governments like China and Cuba.
What seems like the main takeaway: The Democratic Party must avoid the temptation to fight extremism with extremism, and that while the Democratic Party needs a “big tent,” there’s a difference between coalition-building and “letting the extremists choose the direction of the party.”
Do you think including figures like Hasan Piker in the Democratic “big tent” strengthens or weakens the party?
The most pathetic thing about Piker’s Chinese cheerleading is that they’re not even leftist. The entire system of tying your access to social services to where you were born is basically a caste system meant to keep the rural poor as an underclass.
The problem with Hasan mainly isn’t that he’s too extreme, it’s that his fundamental objective is to be a saboteur of the Democrat party. He is one of the biggest sources of political misinformation against Democrat candidates and politicians.
If his favorite far left option doesn’t win whatever primary, he will use his platform to sabotage the actual candidate. So big name democrats juicing up his platform is actively hazardous to Dems trying to win elections in purple states/districts.
Hey its the dickhead trying to get Richard Hanania back in the tent
Recently I saw a survey of opinions on Piker and it was like “5% approve 10% disapprove 85% don’t know/no opinion”. I don’t understand why a guy like this – who is not in a position of power and who does not really have that big of an audience – is such an object of discussion.
Beyond that, every time I see a discussion of him the headline reads to me like “CURTAINS FOR ZOOSHA?” I cannot be the only old person that feels like this.
Hasan Piker is a scumbag tankie who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near politics (or polite society in general imo)
I do believe we need a big tent, but I think at minimum you should genuinely love your country and want to see it become a better place in order to be platformed as a part of it, and Hasan pretty clearly satisfies neither of those conditions
Say what you will about other lefties like Mamdani, AOC, etc., but it seems pretty clear that they genuinely are interested in politics because they care about their constituents and our broader community in a way that Piker absolutely doesn’t