I wrote about how the Hasan Piker drama serves as a proxy fight between centrists and the left, and how it exposes the real priorities of Democrats like Cory Booker.
105
114
2377
Hasan’s actual issues:

1) cultivates a community of dem party tankies who use lib as an insult (even though much of his party criticism is valid)

2) not great on yimby housing issues despite that movement notching wins for progressives all over the nation & across traditional ideological lines
9
0
19
What do you think "tankie" means? Define it for me
0
0
5
He literally supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and defends the Chinese ethnic cleansing of Tibet because they were “savages who need civilization”
0
0
0
Tankies in this instance meaning people who do not want to send American tanks into Iran
3
0
67
Yeah like, I don't really care for Corey Booker but Hasan Piker actually does suck, and it doesn't really do much for anyone (particularly the left) to just point that other figures like Maher sucks.

Maher does suck. So does Piker. The left isn't immune from liking people who suck.
1
1
25
"Dem party tankies" genuinely fuck off and don't come back until you've read a book
1
0
7
What do you think “tankie” means?
1
0
19
“Dem party tankies” lmao
0
0
10
Tankie is wrong word but you little twitch chat shits know what I mean. Just be a partisan democrat it’s fine you’ll still be cool
2
0
1
subscribe to String in a Maze, the consensus number #1 newsletter named after a line in a Cormac McCarthy novel
3
0
181
The only order is the string
0
0
0
Let it stand for Truth🤣
0
0
0
and no, i don't know why the subhead for my post is showing up as simply the letter "t"
27
0
407
the important thing is that the same people who screech in fury over Hasan saying "America deserved 9/11 dude" have absolutely no problems excusing the deaths of civilians and children in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon...
0
0
7
hasan looks so ugly in that pic omg
0
0
1
Did anyone make Piker say he doesn’t give a Fuck about Black issues and that Black people can suck his dick?

Still waiting for that apology
0
0
28
This would have been stronger if you were more honest about what Piker's said over the years. I think "marginally offensive comments" doesn't really capture this stuff or what it means for politicians to talk to him. Hand-waving all this and saying it's about Israel alone sucks
8
1
20
do you take issue with the “old” or “lady” part?
1
0
1
"Hmmm you clam to support women, yet you called Pam Bondi a 'bitch'. Interesting"
1
0
30
Old Vietnamese MAGA woman was on a BBC show which included "Latinos for Trump" etc and others who encouraged people to voted for Trump yet somehow imagined his round-ups would not include them. A series of nutcase fringes who are all completely detached from anything faintly approaching reality.
0
0
3
i think when a woman is saying we need to massacre children with white phosphorous it's actually cool and good to say fuck that old lady
1
0
18
MAGA defender, gtfoh
0
0
6
you got anything backing any of this up, because i've seen these people just openly make up shit before
0
0
9
actually the old lady saying we needed to burn more civilians alive to preserve her parents' position of power over the Buddhist majority she hates, and thats why she supports Donald Trump, is bad
1
0
65
Centrists are at best a hindrance to real progress and at worst collaborators
0
0
16
Hasan is not an antisemite and is far more in line with the dem base than Corey booker. I

The worst has happened. No more...we need purity tests. We we can have a big tent but we must have a center pole. Univ healthcare, wealth tax, and expanded soc sec. Also the most popular policies in america
0
0
0
They act like Hasan cast a magic spell to get a ton of youths to follow him and they want to know what it is, while also insisting that they definitely don't need the magic spell Hasan holds.
1
1
168
These people are center-right capitalists who, with the MSM’s support, have been calling themselves “center left”, their centrist colleagues “left wing”, their handful of center left politicians “far left”, and everyone left of that a terrorist.
0
0
94
I am a big fan of the letter T. Great work, would read again
0
0
5
Thanks for the info. It was a gripping read, especially the “t”.
I also don’t know this Piker fellow, but I’m still saddened by the Mallory McMorrow quote.
0
0
1
"Cowan implicitly concedes as much, saying that '[l]eft-wing antisemites are savvier than the Nazi-endorsers on the right…the antisemites of the left cloak their attacks in critiques of the present Israeli leadership.'"

Gives it away right there, really
1
0
30
"Cowan goes on to explain that he considers the use of the terms “apartheid” and “genocide” in the context of Israeli politics to be antisemitism, which gives you a sense of his angle here."
0
0
31
every ratchet is a one way ratchet
0
0
1
If you’re not interested in discussing what hasan says this piece is not very interesting, sorry
0
0
3
Booker is such a fake asshole
1
0
8
But he’s also a real asshole, too.
0
0
11
Am I meant to believe that Hasan Piker is a Marxist-Leninist pretending to be a progressive liberal as Democratic entryism, or a progressive liberal pretending to be a Marxist-Leninist for internet subscriptions?
1
0
12
What if I told you he was really the product of a sort of PPV Truman show where he's playing a role - in Pikers case a seemingly communist gymbro - that is all guided to him directly via a sort of median line on his viewership?
1
0
4
Naw.

He’s just a trash person.
1
0
11
Next year, we get to watch the Republicans show Dems how to opposition party. 🍿🍿🍿
0
0
6
Thank you, this is really thought-provoking
0
0
10
While I agree with @booker.senate.gov that Dems should reevaluate leadership, I wouldn’t support anyone who won’t acknowledge a Genocide in Gaza or who still treats Netanyahu as a friend or ally.🤦🏿‍♂️
0
0
1
It's weird seeing centrists say Democrats shouldn't go on Hasan yet they constantly go on Fox news

Also Gavin Newsom literally had Steve Bannon on his fucking podcast
0
0
27
Democrats hate Hasan because they think he's "communist" and because they support the colonial state of Israel. Pro'lly because they're racist overall.

I hate Hasan because he supported the Crimea annexation and probably would say Chávez was good ackchually. And because he shocked his dog.
0
0
1
Thank you Peter this is really making the correct people angry
1
0
56
I think that may well be the man’s raison d'être
0
0
0
The clearly coordinated attack on Piker (who was invited to the 2024 DNC convention as an influencer!) tells me that the corporate wing is terrified they ate losing control. Good. Fuck 'em!
0
0
6
Man I like really want to like Booker and he keeps being so disappointing
1
0
2
Fucking why do you want to?
2
0
3
His ass isn't a proxy for anything except edgelord cred and his bank account. And fuck you for trying to sanitize him with this shit. And NO. Not subscribing. Your lede in was enough.

Our party would be way better off without individuals like this pos.
2
0
20
please keep in mind that the biggest organizational push against him is third way, an organization that sincerely believes democrats should roll back minority rights to win over imaginary moderate republicans. like the article says, purity testing only works against the left, never the right.
1
0
2
He's not even in our party anyway. He's a leftwing propagandist, likely paid by our foreign enemies.
2
0
8
He looks rly sikly in that foto
1
0
1
Thank you! Thirsty ass Jennifer Welch is constantly going on about how hot he is & it drives me nuts. It’s a war is peace level distortion.
0
0
2
Really well written. I’d go a step further and say that attacks against Piker come almost exclusively from dem pols whose careers rely on corporate/wealthy donors, and see his brand of leftist economic populism as an existential threat. The root core of the bad faith attacks is pure corruption.
5
0
230
LOL are they unaware he sure as hell didn’t invent it and it won’t go away if he’s gone? We definitely don’t even NEED him for it!
0
0
4
Idk if it's an attack, but I'm skeptical of anyone under 30 being looked to as An Authority when they talk off the cuff all day every day for a living. The anti-semite label isn't fair, but there's a lot of cringe-y clips of him talking about women/rape in ways that make me really uncomfortable.
1
0
4
Let me guess - you're a white male
1
0
8
I’m not a dem pol and I attack Piker just fine
2
0
7
Hasan’s an online celebrity. Enjoy the show but don’t take him seriously
5
0
23
✊🇺🇸♥️🇺🇸✊
0
0
0
The discourse on this on Bluesky is often so out there that it leads me back to the idea that this website really is a hell of a bubble in ways. As a guy who works in a grocery store I gotta wonder how many people here even know anyone living in the trenches of the economy and real life discourse.
1
0
6
What are some real-life discourses you'd like people to acknowledge?
1
0
3
I used to be a big fan of Booker. He was who I was hoping would get nominated in 2020. Boy was I wrong about that.
0
0
0
This guy seems to be a dick (about women in particular which is just another reminder that the online left clique is never going to be fully safe for women because deep down the guys are desperate to bring us to heel, etc) but still probably not half as bad as Bill Maher, so.
1
0
9
It's so weird how many people believe this for seemingly no reason
2
0
17
He's been an edgy campist POS years before 10-7, the man supports the Russian occupation of Crimea ffs.
1
0
16
Says the european edgelord with the Imperium of Man Aquila.
1
0
9
Peter, you are one of my favorite Blueski followers, so I take no pleasure in giving this a 'swing and a miss'.

Piker is just a rank misogynist, dog torturer. His rhetoric certainly rhymes with anti- Semitism.

I would skip any Democrat who appears on his show.
0
0
6
Curious how Graham Platner figures into the proxy war described in the article.
0
0
1
I’m gonna be honest I’m sort of just sick seeing Hasan Piker’s name in the news
7
0
146
Never heard of him until today. What's his deal?
1
0
0
I agree. The media should just leave him alone.
0
0
0
Sucks to be you bro
0
0
1
Game whore turned fame whore, and this is yet another inflection point for Democrats.

Between Piker and Platner, how much transgression do we tolerate?
0
0
2
He should not be news nor should his advocacy be controversial.
2
0
59
Me too, and I like Hasan Piker.
0
0
0
Well maybe log off because he’s not going anywhere especially if centrists keep pumping his name into the news by trying to slander him
4
0
73
Rahm Emmanuel said he would go on Piker’s show. Cory Booker is to the right of Rahm Emmanuel.
0
0
6
I like your podcast but this is a bad take.
0
0
2
hasan is a loathsome piece of shit

full stop

so he isn't a proxy fight between centrists ad the left; he is a proxy fight between centrists and antisemitic shits on the left
0
0
1
Really simple solution to this whole thing: everyone just moves to the left of Hassan
1
0
30
Agreed. I was promised Communists.
0
0
6
Thankfully, Corey Booker has JD Vance levels of likeability. He will drop out after polling at 1%
0
0
0
Fun little game, search the accounts of people calling Piker an anti semite for "Graham Platner," and then realize that it isnt about anti semitism in the party.
1
0
19
Antisemites like Piker are bad. It's not a difficult proposition to accept. We can look at him for what he is. A terrible person. A horrible influence on politics.
19
1
47
Ok bud. I suspect you are getting all your news from genocidal pedophiles.
0
0
0
Okay and what has he done thats antisemitic
1
0
28
zionist detected - opinion rejected
0
0
1
He's not remotely antisemitic. That's just a lie.
0
0
8
give me $1500
0
0
0
Of course you think that, little buddy, you’re 12.
0
0
9
There is a difference between opposing an apartheid state and antisemitism. People have intentionally blurred line between the two. I would suggest watching Molly's interview.
www.youtube.com/live/uOW2EPuIHt4?si=lUXBm4x8F--6nu63
1
0
10
You should know that people like you conflating any criticism of Israel as antisemitism is a major reason why the rise of the Nazi has been so smooth. Saying genocide is bad isn't antisemitic and thinking that every Jewish person has to support Israel is actually really racist
1
0
6
Hahahaha thats funny.

Honestly who cares about this guy. You can win in the open market place of ideas, and try to make arguments for your accusations.

Anyway, im going to go back to watching Tel Avivs get karma induced destruction

Here its fun

youtu.be/VV1f0UMn7wg?si=5-5f_dMsGb7JWx2h
0
0
0
Hey, Im a Jew. Hasan isn't an antisemite

(Related note: Palestinians are semites, too)
3
0
50
Electro's power can not be contained.
0
0
0
I’m sorry Team Nazi STILL can’t handle that “doesn’t support genocide” isn’t antisemitic
0
0
0
Piker is the opposite of an antisemite
0
0
2
where's the antisemitism? 🤔
2
0
139
Umm, dude? I gotta tell you this stuff doesn’t work anymore, and if anything it’s harmful to Jewish people.
1
0
55
He is not antisemitic. He's antizionist. It's antisemitic of YOU to associate zionism with all Jewish people.
2
0
28
This is it in a nutshell:

“Booker’s calculus seems to change when he’s asked to include people to his left in that coalition.”

This is not the mindset we need to save our country rn.
3
0
182
He’s just taking up space like a lot of them in the Senate. But he’s too insulated to truly care that he’s useless and that the country is in crisis. There are quite a few others that this description fits as well.
0
0
3
The Dems don't need magic. They're gonna do it the honest old fashioned way. By adopting the GOP's stance from 10 years ago on every issue!
3
1
117
What convinced you Democrats *ever* cared about that?
0
0
0
oh boy, time to read the comments- *opens the gates of hell, closes it quickly* -yep, that's the per usual standard, roflmao.

Every Time, Like Clockwork.
0
0
1
Good one. I don’t get the latest iteration of MI Dems with ambition, including Slotkin.
Milquetoast messaging.
0
0
0
The Berniebros and Stein voters helped to elect a NAZI.
0
0
3
Hasan Piker is in the uniparty as well.

mortality and principals are good.

they should all be ditched and replaced.
0
0
0
I love your pod, and you make great points here. I do think it’s fair to point out that Piker is a huge loser, however.
1
0
23
By what definition of "loser"?
1
0
9
Brilliantly written.
0
0
0
Greatly appreciating the continued IBCK and Aftermath *synergy*
0
0
1
Look, I'm willing to hold Hasan Piker to a higher standard as long as we hold Bill Maher to that same level.
0
0
15
His real priority is not to be associated with an antisemite who cheers for Hizbullah
0
0
1
Hasan sent me “piking” once I learned he feels that Russia deserved to take Crimea.
0
0
2
Uh huh, ask Hasan about Ukraine, Peter. I dare you
0
0
5
"[the left] is so evil that collaboration is impossible, and second that it is so feeble that it can safely be ignored."

huh, i wonder where ive heard a theorum like this before labelling an undesirable group as both strong and weak at the same time....
0
0
32
This is hot garbage, hoss
0
0
2
Hasan Piker is an embarrassment
1
0
15
And an anti Dem wrecker pos
0
0
6
Online Leftists, from a millionaire streamer like Piker to his rando Stans on the thread, define themselves by trashing Dems. At the end of the day, that mostly helps MAGA.
0
0
1
Also, Piker is not like Rogan, actually. That's a trope people use to suck Piker's dick.
0
0
0
If I were Cory Booker sure I would show up to vote sometimes but Rosario Dawson be my only priority
2
0
4
i believe they terminated whatever bearding arrangement they had and he married someone else, presumably because he plans to run for president in 2028 and thinks the "perennially single" schtick might be a problem.
0
0
0
Why would Booker make Dawson a priority after he married Alexis Lewis?
0
0
2
It's also a sign of these people's political savviness that they think the best way to undermine an influencer is by talking about him on national platforms using exactly the same rhetoric that said influencer's audience already scoffs at.
0
0
10
Their roster is dangerously thin, you think idiots like Olivia Juliana is going to rile up the base and bring in new voters? Absolutely not, probably the opposite. Trump made it a big point to bring in every grifting streamer before the election and dems are once again saying “nah we’re good”
0
0
0
The priority is to protect the right from the left.
0
0
0
Curious to see if some of the folks dunking on Piker here come from the H3 schism.
0
0
1
Hassan & Minority report were always dominant in my YouTube feed… this week I have to go searching for them🙄 YT is throttling him and I 💯% guarantee it’s sponsored by AIPAC,Chuck n Hakeem…
0
0
0
they think Rogan is in the tank for Republicans because he’s a savvy, duplicitous media genius, not understanding that Rogan came by his conservatism honestly: via repeated head trauma and massive unearned wealth
0
0
41
Every accusation is a confession. Third Way are fascists hellbent on destroying the left.
0
0
3
I'm split on Mr. Piker. He's young and, being young, sometimes our words get out in front of the editor part of our brains. Been there. Plenty.

I just haven't found anything yet (watching his vids b/c it's a thing now) that, for me, justifies all the fuss - other than his ginormous following.
1
0
0
however, if he were to find himself running against Mr. Booker in a primary, I'd vote for Piker.

i find Booker even less compelling than Piker.
0
0
0
Didn't Piker claim that a terrorist attack on an American Jewish synagogue was a false flag operation?

That seems like it goes go way, way, way beyond standard-issue anti-Zionism on the left to me. That's some Alex Jones shit
3
0
4
No. He didn't do that. That's something that never happened.
0
0
3
youtu.be/MD_rtZ7gXC4

i don't expect you to sit through a 12 min vid (i prob wouldn't in your shoes) so, relevant portions of the transcript:

@ 5:48
During my coverage, there were a lot of people [saying] perhaps the embassy shooter was ... a false flag operation. **I do not believe that.** ... /1
1
0
0
Except Jones was lying.
1
0
0
Peter, are you sure Booker's remarks are related to Israel? How do you know they're not related to specific things Piker has said, like this?
1
0
10
America deserved 9/11 though. But a basic understanding of what the US has done is needed.
1
0
3
Hassan is a rapist dirtbag who abuses animals.
0
0
1
This is just Greenblat and Barri Wise trying to make “fetch” a thing. It’s shit-coating. It’s the same, sleazy thing they did to Corbyn, Omar and Talib. You repeat a lie enough, and the media writes stories asking questions, then references those questions as evidence, “because so many are asking!”
1
0
130
Trans people too.
1
0
61
Never gonna support anyone who encourages us to ignore and speaks disparagingly about the 92%.
0
0
1
Wow this fucking sucks
0
0
3
does anyone have synopsis of hasans controversies?

i don't want to read through all the "criticizing israel= antisemitism" stuff

being related to cenk is the most damning charge i've read but i also don't follow all that closely
1
0
7
He once called a group of right wing ultra Orthodox Israeli Jews “inbred”. Which is bad, but he also says that about literally every far right group and most Republican senators. He is often called a terrorist supporter because he says that the IDF is worse than Hamas. Those are the two main reasons
1
0
18
To be honest, I also think Piker sucks, but I have always felt the critique of "purity politics" is inherently dishonest. There should be people you won't associate with or elevate because you think they are reprehensible or should not be legitimized. Make a real case for why he's one of them.
0
0
28
“Every accusation is a confession” applies to liberal purity testing but they don’t want to admit it
0
0
56
Many of his fans may be too stupid to know better or too sadistic to care but you shouldn't be. You are more than smart enough to see this psychopath nepo baby for what he is, & you may be shameless enough not to care but it sure isn't doing the world any favors.
0
0
4
Has Hasan ever expressed how he feels about all the centrist wine moms who want to hate fuck him? I imagine he must find it pretty disturbing.
0
0
1
I'ts not centrists vs. the left. It's liberals vs. tankie burnouts.
2
0
2
Check out this guy’s pinned post you will thank me
5
0
14
It’s tankie this, tankie that. Why don’t you tank our lord and savior for dying for our sins on Good Friday?
1
0
1
and centrists are proxies of the right
0
0
30
that part about Cory Booker just affirms what i've been saying for a while now, purity scolding has only ever gone one way.
2
0
228
we're getting more and more people who are NOT the so-called "dirtbag left" pointing this stuff out - a very good thing, i think.
0
0
1
Dems have their 2024 post-mortem. They know why they lost.

I'm a late-GenX lefty. I voted for Nader. Held my nose for Gore and Kerry. Obama took our hope and give us centrist despair. Clinton, Biden, Harris, more centrist decline. I am disgusted by them, but young people aggressively despise them.
1
0
8
Legit curious what to make of people like Kevin Kruse and Kleinman who are well-accepted by the bsky left but have been doing plenty of anti-Hasan RTing.
0
0
2
they invited him to the DNC in 2024 until he dared speak on behalf of the Palestinian people. now he's *suddenly* an anti-semite??

the Democratic Party has an albatross around its neck in the form of AIPAC donations

Zionism is anathema to "liberty and justice for all"
6
0
288
It’s not even centrists vs left. It’s center right vs center left.
0
0
4
The real priority of horseshoe left wreckers like Piker is to tell people not to vote for Democrats and elect Republicans.

Congrats on the election tho. You really stuck it to Kamala, bitches.
1
0
21
kamala stuck it to herself

people keep acting like the democratic party can never fail an election, it can only be failed by the voters. this is a fundamentally backwards approach: everything is downstream of her campaign and her terrible decision making.
6
1
5
I genuinely don’t understand why Democrats have to care what Hasan thinks. Someone who uses his live-streaming to constantly berate elected Democrats should not be a barometer on how we judge elected Democrats. Man was just in Cuba using electricity when Cubans are without power! What are we doing!?
17
1
67
The US government has blockaded oil to the island unless the business is privately owned, such as the only 4 hotels on the island that Americans can legally stay at.
1
0
63
Is this how you used to talk to your mom about not listening to people who criticize you when she caught you doing something bad?
0
0
14
He brought humanitarian aid to Cuba. They brought $450,000 in solar panels. Your condemnation is based on him organizing and delivering humanitarian aid.

The US government regulates which hotels US citizens are allowed to stay at when in Cuba.
0
0
46
He was at a hotel lol and hes extremely popular among young people. You think the wildly unpopular zionist position Democrats are taking up is smart?
3
0
81
They have to care about what he thinks because a lot of young people care what he thinks. Is it really that hard to figure that out?

More people should be yelling at elected Democrats. Why not address his criticisms instead of pretending like it is bad to expect things from elected officials?
1
0
16
He should have bottled that electricity and given it to a needy Cuban.
1
0
61
>constantly berate elected Democrats

who fucking deserve EVERY BIT of it.
0
0
92
I’ll be honest, I’m just sick and tired of democrats trying to suck up to men who clearly don’t see women as fully people.
0
0
2
elected democrats should live up to their oaths imo
0
0
23
Jesus dude, you'd cheer for Gingrich if he had a D next to his name. Have some standards.
0
0
15
because democrats feel more threatened by him than by another 4+ years of republican rule.
0
0
1
why is Cuba without power and what are Democrats doing about it?
0
0
119
You’re wholly ignorant of the truth. He brought resources with him to assist the Cuban people. He’s also restricted as an American where he’s allowed to stay in Cuba. www.state.gov/cuba-sanctions/cuba-prohibited-accommodations-list/
0
0
5
Do you understand what’s happening in Cuba?
0
0
49
part of him being there was delivering solar panels you fucking idiot
0
0
18
this is exactly the sort of pathetically bad faith critique that this blog post is talking about lol
0
0
234
The centrists in the Dem coalition do this for a reason. It's politically advantageous. Pointing it out is fine and all, but what we really need is a strategic answer to it. You need the votes.
3
0
2
the center in america only exists in consulting firms and academia, and the median democrat is adjacent to liz warren now. there is nothing of value left.
0
0
0
centrism doesn't get you votes, it loses them. as evidenced by the dems withering over the years
0
0
1
Show me any evidence it’s politically advantageous. Mallory McMorrow just quietly added a pledge not to take money from AIPAC. Rahm Immanuel is now saying no taxpayer funding for weapons to Israel. Democratic voters are 85% with Hasan.
1
0
12
It's funny because I feel like there are plenty of legitimate things you could attack Hasan Piker for, but antisemitism is like one of the LEAST convincing ones.
0
0
12
Cory Booker fumbled Rosario Dawson
0
0
2
I love how people are competing to be the person who has heard of him the least. Oh, you follow politics and have never heard of HP? Then you must not be very good at your job.
0
0
1
bunch of fake accounts in the replies with the usual fake antisemitism accusations slop
0
0
3
I’m reading it now and Cory Booker did this same nonsense with Zohran Mamdani. He’s very pro-Israel as a state. Honestly, the issue isn’t leftists being “antisemitic”. Israel hasn’t bothered to hide their erasure of Palestine. Their politicians are wearing noose lapel pins.
1
0
86
They passed a law allowing for them to hang Palestinians in the last few days. The issue, I would argue, is the rampant Islamophobia from the center and establishment dems that they won’t check or try to fix.
1
0
61