OPINION:
Hasan Piker should not be silenced.
The radical leftist influencer, who regularly spews outlandishly offensive opinions, has burst onto the political scene as a self-styled Marxist kingmaker and viewpoint enforcer. Known to the rabid online left as a leading maniac for a few years now, Mr. Piker only recently came to the attention of the wider world.
And it ain’t pretty.
In fact, the things he says are so bad that the University of Washington — no conservative enclave — canceled an upcoming lecture of his, which had been set for January 2027. Of course, the university denied squelching Mr. Piker’s right to free speech and claimed that the “process for organizing this event did not meet the necessary level of rigor” for school-hosted events.
Sure.
More likely, the high-minded liberals at the University of Washington realized that Mr. Piker was making them all look bad by being a complete jackass all the time. But by canceling his appearance, they are indeed committing censorship as a publicly funded institution.
He should be allowed to speak.
Because it is his right to express himself, yes, but also because he discredits himself, his entire political philosophy and everyone he associates with whenever he does.
All this exploded over the past couple of weeks because of Mr. Piker’s public support for Abdul El-Sayed, now the Democratic nominee in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, facing Republican Mike Rogers.
As Messrs. Piker and El-Sayed campaigned together, some of the influencer’s “greatest hits” began to emerge.
“America deserved 9/11 dude, f—- it. I’m saying it,” Mr. Piker once blurted, while also hanging a picture of the smoking Twin Towers of the World Trade Center behind him on the wall in his streaming studio.
His opinions on the foundations of America are clear and graphic.
“I wipe my a— with the Constitution,” he said. “Mother—— the Constitution and mother—— this country.”
He has frequently wished gruesome death upon his political enemies and described the scenes in detail.
“Kill them. Kill those mother———-. Murder those motherf———- in the street,” he once said. “Let the streets soak in their f——— red capitalist blood, dude.”
In addition to expressing admiration for the greatest monsters in history, like Mao, he also spreads hate around like machine gun fire.
“We’re going to keep bringing immigrants into this country, on purpose. Just so they can [rape] your sister, and then maybe even your daughter,” he said on one stream. “We’re going to destroy the white race, b—— That’s what we’re here to do.”
Racial minorities are not spared his vitriol.
“I don’t give a f—- what Black people care about,” Mr. Piker declared at one point. “Oh, Black people care about this. Black people care about that. Shut the f—- up.”
And neither are Jews, to whom he said, “Go back to Auschwitz.”
Now, to be fair, it does not seem that Mr. Piker is terribly gifted as far as political instincts go. It’s true that he knows what his audience of extremists wants to hear—ironically, he’s become very rich as a communist heartthrob—but he doesn’t seem to understand where his appeal ends.
Take the reaction of prediction markets to Mr. El-Sayed’s primary victory in Michigan. As soon as he became the nominee, numerous betting platforms saw Democrats’ chances of winning that Senate seat fall from over 75% to less than 50%.
Voters are recoiling from the insanity and violent anger, and Democrat politicians who get too close had better beware.
Take Sen. Jon Ossoff, Democrat from Georgia, for example.
The squishy liberal trust fund kid wants to abandon his state to run for president in 2028, but will need the love of his party’s radical national base if he does. That’s why he endorsed Mr. El-Sayed just as soon as the man became the Senate nominee in Michigan.
Not so coincidentally, the Democratic Socialists of America then announced the establishment of an office in Atlanta, Georgia, where it will conduct “political education” among other election-related activities, according to CBS News.
This will effectively be an Ossoff field office, since before he runs for president, the Democrat must run for reelection to the Senate against Republican Rep. Mike Collins.
Now, you’d think the red clay of Georgia would not mix well with the red of communism, and you’d be right.
But Mr. Ossoff’s ambition caused him to associate with Mr. El-Sayed, and therefore Mr. Piker. Those associations have already been highlighted by Mr. Collins, who is a client of my public affairs firm, and will no doubt be a recurring theme.
Although it’s true that everyone has a right to express themselves, that does not come with immunity from consequences. And voters will know who has embraced the unembraceable.
• Tim Murtaugh is a Washington Times columnist and founder of Line Drive Public Affairs. He served as a senior advisor on the 2024 Trump campaign and as communications director on the 2020 Trump campaign.
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