Surprised? At this point ... naaah. Hasan Piker has declared that America deserved 9/11, and now he's arguing that responding to Islamist terror is itself terrorism. It's as intellectually dishonest as one might expect, but refreshingly honest in another way.
And not everyone appreciates that manner of honesty.
Axios interviewed Piker for the third-season premiere of its television show, and Piker certainly delivered on publicity for the episode. Piker tells Alex Thompson that America is worse than al-Qaeda and that we conduct more terrorism "pound for pound" than any terror network. Abdul El-Sayed's most prominent campaign surrogate went on to call the U.S. the "top dog in terrorism":
đź‘€ NEW: @hasanthehun joins @alexthomp on the Season 3 premiere of The Axios Show in what Piker called "the most contentious interview" he's done.
— Axios (@axios) September 17, 2026
Piker claims that "pound for pound," America conducts more terror around the world than al-Qaeda. pic.twitter.com/c8xFVvbixl
Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker tells Axios he believes America conducts more terrorism in the world than al-Qaeda, the terror network that carried out the 9/11 attacks.
- "Pound for pound as far as the number of deaths, yes," Piker said in an exclusive interview for a new episode of "The Axios Show." Piker added: "We have caused tremendous terror all around the world."
Why it matters: Piker is one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, and his history of incendiary statements has become central to Republicans' attacks in the critical Senate race in Michigan since Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed had Piker campaign for him in the primary.
Driving the news: Piker's comments to Axios came in response to a question about his previous statement that "America is the top dog in terrorism."
Ahem. The death toll from al-Qaeda of American civilians is nearly 3,000 from one operation on 9/11, which Piker has explicitly endorsed. Unlike previous AQ operations against American military and diplomatic targets – the USS Cole and embassies in Africa – AQ deliberately hijacked civilian airliners, turned them into guided missiles, and slaughtered more than 2,700 in the World Trade Center in a deliberate and successful attempt to destroy part of the civilian US financial infrastructure.
The difference between the US and AQ, as though it even needed to be expressed, is that the US does not deliberately target civilians in conflicts with terrorists. Terrorists use civilians as human shields so that outrageous demagogues like Piker can claim moral equivalence between nations defending themselves and the terrorists that plot and target us. The case Piker cites of the girls' school, where US forces had tried to attack a nearby IRGC facility and missed, demonstrates the difference. The US is investigating what went wrong in that attack. AQ celebrated their successful slaughter of American civilians after 9/11, just as Hamas did after massacring 1200 people on October 7, including more than 260 young people at a music festival that Islamist terrorists cowardly targeted.
The big consideration here is not Piker's absurd argument, but the electoral context in which he insists on conducting it. Piker and his supporters seem to believe that their anti-American and pro-terrorist sympathies are widely shared among the electorate. Rather than dial it down for the midterm general election, Piker and others have instead chosen to ramp up this radical hatred for America and the West, just in time for Republicans to present this radical shift by Democrats as the true issue for the election.
Not everyone on the Left is thrilled by Piker's 'honesty,' however. M-SNOW invited Piker on their podcast in an attempt to convince him to shut the hell up, at least for a while. That went as well as you might imagine:
MSNOW had Hasan Piker on their podcast with Symone Sander and Eugene Daniels.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 17, 2026
Fascinating exchange here.
The legacy media hosts simply can't wrap their heads around why Piker won't shut up and/or moderate for election season.
Daniels: "You've said you want to be helpful. So… pic.twitter.com/3gvz0myVR0
Daniels: "You've said you want to be helpful. So why do things that you know are going to be harmful?
Piker: "Because if it's not me, it's something else regardless."
Daniels: "You don't know that."
They're talking about comments Piker made over the 9/11 anniversary. (While he still has the photo of the flaming towers on his wall here).
Look at the hosts' expressions and reactions during the clip.
They know he's an election liability so they are absolutely perplexed as to why Piker is going to do Piker things.
The Democrat playbook demands you moderate for an election then go back to being a leftist extremist.
Sanders is former campaign operative, so she especially is confounded here as someone who knows how to execute that playbook.
Piker hasn't been "clipped out of context." Neither has Abdul El-Sayed. Piker still has the picture of the World Trade Center attack behind him as this conversation takes place. Piker just doubled down on these points with Axios. No one's taking him out of context; Piker is championing terror and declaring his hatred for America, and El-Sayed still won't contradict him in public.
Why? Both Piker and El-Sayed are who their rhetoric reveals them to be: radical revolutionaries who support violent action to achieve their goals. Notice that the M-SNOW podcast hosts never actually address that issue, but only the timing of the rhetoric. They are not concerned about radical Marxist/Islamist revolutionaries taking over the Democrat Party; they are only concerned about the timing.
Piker is doing Republicans a favor. Let's hope they recognize the opportunity to quash the revolution before it really picks up any more steam. The clock is ticking.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
Help HotAir continue to report on the Democrats’ radicalism and inform voters as our nation faces a crossroads. Join HotAir VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member