The Republican Party has an unlikely new political target before the midterm elections: Hasan Piker, a Turkish-American socialist who has fiercely criticised Israel, praised the Houthis and is backing the Democratic candidate in a key Senate race.
Although most American voters remain unfamiliar with him, Piker's views on US foreign policy are attracting growing attention as President Donald Trump and the Republican Party amplify his commentary.
In interviews and during thousands of hours of live opining via the Twitch streaming platform, Piker has condemned Israel as a “fascist” state, described ultra-Orthodox Jews as “inbred” and spoken in support of the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas. He also said “America deserved 9/11" and has called the US the world's “top terrorist organisation”.
Piker later said he would be more careful about using the word “inbred” and has apologised for his comments about the September 11, 2001 attacks, saying the wording was inappropriate.
Broadcasting under the online moniker HasanAbi, Piker has amassed more than three million followers on Twitch and about two million subscribers on his YouTube channel.
Much of the 35-year-old broadcaster's audience is men under 30, and he has been described as a Joe Rogan or a Charlie Kirk for the Left.
“The way that I'm portrayed in the media is an America-hating communist Islamist fundamentalist who wants to secretly do jihad, and then also at the same time, very woke and gay,” he told NPR in an interview this week.
“So there's this weird inconsistency in their messaging. I don't fully understand it, but who I am is very simple: I'm a socialist. I'm an anti-imperialist. I want what's best for Americans and I want what's best for everyone all around the world.”
Piker's comments have drawn condemnation from some quarters for years, but criticism has recently reached a fever pitch, thanks partly to his enthusiastic support of Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat running for the US Senate in a key race in Michigan. If elected, Mr El-Sayed, who has faced overt Islamophobia from Mr Trump, would become the first Muslim senator.
Piker has praised Mr El-Sayed's long-standing support for universal health care, an idea known in the US as Medicare For All, and called him a “wonderful candidate”. The two have made appearances together at campaign events, and Mr El-Sayed has appeared on Piker's Twitch stream.
Mr El-Sayed has faced repeated questions about Piker's controversial statements. He condemned Piker’s “America deserved 9/11” remark, calling it “a dumb statement”, but he has resisted calls to disavow the polemicist altogether.
Facing a very tight Senate race in Michigan that will help decide whether the Democrats can reclaim the upper chamber, Republicans have sought to capitalise on Mr El-Sayed's relationship with Piker and tie him to his most controversial statements.
Mr Trump last month called Piker a “terrible liability” and a “communist”, while Republican-aligned advertising in Michigan has used clips of his most provocative remarks to attack Mr El-Sayed.
One ad accuses Mr El-Sayed of giving “comfort” to the hatred behind the September 11 attacks, splicing Piker’s claim that America “deserved 9/11” with footage of the two men campaigning together.
“Of course, I say incendiary things, but it's not reflected on in the same way when someone who's white, Christian, born and raised in America is saying incendiary things,” Piker told NPR.
He said he had never been formally involved in Mr El-Sayed's campaign and said the Republican effort to associate candidates with his most controversial remarks was an attempt to distract from the administration's economic record.
But Piker's foreign policy positions are only part of the reason he has become a target for Republicans. His growing influence among younger Americans has given him a prominent platform as the Democratic Party struggles to define its identity.
Since losing to Mr Trump in 2024, the Democrats have been unable to agree on whether they should skew further to the left or stick with the more cautious, centrist politics favoured by party elders.
Piker began his career in political commentary with The Young Turks, the progressive online news network founded by his uncle Cenk Uygur, before starting on Twitch.
He also supported New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist that Democrat doyens were initially nervous to endorse. His support provided more fodder for Republicans as they seek to portray Democrats as too radical for mainstream voters.
When it comes to the Middle East, Piker has drawn intense scrutiny over his criticism of Israel.
In January 2026, he described Hamas as “a thousand times better than a fascist settler colonial apartheid state”, referring to Israel.
In an appearance on the Pod Save America podcast in April, he was challenged about the comparison and whether he genuinely believed it.
“I stand by that,” he replied. He went on to say he would choose Hamas over Israel in such a comparison, describing himself as a “lesser evil voter”. He also acknowledged that the remark was intended to provoke.
Still, he told NPR that he did not necessarily regard all of his commentary as “perfect”.
“Think about what it means to speak for 21,000 [cumulative] hours about politics every single day, for eight hours a day,” he said. “I think it's shocking that there's only a handful of clips that people deploy.”
The 'resistance' Houthis
Recent commentary on Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis has also drawn scrutiny.
In a lengthy Twitch broadcast, Piker argued that the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, were not simply an Iranian proxy but a movement pursuing its own political interests and a degree of sovereignty within Yemen.
Piker has also defended Houthi missile and drone attacks as legitimate anti-imperialist resistance, despite the threat they pose to Gulf civilian infrastructure and international shipping.
He has praised the Houthis' ability to withstand US military pressure. In a stream last year, he said: “What the Houthis are doing, on the other hand, is resistance. And it’s not only moral, but it’s just.”
The US designated the Houthis a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in March 2025, but Washington has also sought to limit its military entanglements with the group.
Under a ceasefire brokered by Oman in May that year, the Trump administration agreed to halt its bombing campaign in return for a commitment by the Houthis not to attack US vessels.
But Mr Trump has suggested the relatively hands-off approach may change after the midterms.
“I’ll be there after the elections, and I will never forget!” he said this week.
