Who's Afraid of Hasan Piker? - Slate

[justaprogressive]

It is Jan. 19—the last day of Joe Biden’s presidency, and the eve of a new one no one can quite fathom yet—and Hasan Piker is preparing for the end of the world.

As he almost always is, Piker is live on Twitch. He is at home in West Hollywood, in a secondary bedroom he has turned into a broadcasting booth. The boiling overhead studio lights illuminate the scene. Piker is in the center of the frame, his peripheral vision swallowed up by three chunky computer monitors. Behind him is a clutter of socialist potpourri: Cuban and Gazan flags draped over a minifridge packed with Dr Pepper Zero Sugar, a cardboard cutout of Bernie Sanders blocking sunlight from a window, and a plastic purple skull capped with a furry Soviet ushanka.

There is not much left to be said at the dawn of the second Trump administration, so Piker ends his stream in relative silence, watching highlights from the weekend’s Saturday Night Live. The thousands of viewers in his chat, off to the screen on his right, pump out more messages than anyone could possibly read. A few moments later, Piker bids them good night.

“I’ll be suited up and booted up to cover the Trump inauguration, the first day of the apocalypse,” Piker says. “I love you all. And I’ll see you tomorrow.

For nearly a decade now, Piker, who streams under the name HasanAbi, has been one of the most famous political commentators in America. If you’re a certain type of mainstream liberal—or a not-very-online moderate or conservative, for that matter—you may not have heard of him. His precise class of celebrity is difficult to describe, but in some respects, he has inherited the role of the agenda-setting television pundit for a generation that ditched the traditional medium long ago, if it ever knew it at all. Piker streams every day, weekends and holidays included. Outside of a few bathroom breaks, he’s typically on-camera, by himself, for eight hours uninterrupted. Tens of thousands, sometimes many more, follow along.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/hasan-piker-donald-trump-news-elon-musk-jd-vance.html

[Happy Hoosier]

1. Hasanabi is a pro-terrorist ass. NT

[justaprogressive]

2. Ad hominem attacks

are frowned upon here. If you disagree with a particular position, then out yourself.
Smears are a Republican or troll thing. Have a nice day.

[Happy Hoosier]

3. He literally had a Houthi on his stream....

... and was lauding them as heroes for attacking shipping. If that's "outing" myself, so be it. I don't particularly care if you "frown upon" my opinion. I didn't break any rules.

[justaprogressive]

4. Fine. You found something concrete to disagree with

and no you were just being rude...and poisoning the dialog.

[Happy Hoosier]

6. I have followed his antics for some time.

This is not the only issue I disagree with Piker on. He refused to support Biden or Harris. He is part of the problem. If calling asses like Piker out is "rude," then so be it. I'm done playing nice with the idiots like him that helped get us here.

[mr715]

5. I watch him sometimes

Honestly I don't particularly care for him. There is a lot of puffery and he clearly has a very opinion of himself. He also tends to rely on tropes that aren't really helpful. He strikes me as a future Matt Taiibi.


For Clarity -- his audience did not turn out to vote at the levels we needed to win, and so Trump is President. I thus question his strategic value as a messaging manager.