Hasan Piker is the face of GOP midterm attack ads. He told NPR they won’t work

Hasan Piker is starring in Republican midterm attack ads, and he says they won’t work. In an NPR Newsmakers interview published Oct 15, the Twitch streamer said that “guilt-by-association politics is not as successful as people think they are.”

The ads are running in Michigan, where they link Piker to Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is in a tight race with Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, according to NPR.

What the ads say

According to NPR, the ads replay Piker’s most incendiary comments, including “America deserved 9/11.” One spot, played in NPR’s report, says: “Unhinged podcaster Hasan Piker said America deserved 9/11.” It continues: “Campaigning right beside him is Michigan socialist Abdul El-Sayed.”

Context matters here: that 9/11 line is from a 2019 livestream, NPR reports, and Piker has repeatedly apologized for it, saying he used imprecise language. Separately, The National reports that in a stream last year, he said: “What the Houthis are doing, on the other hand, is resistance.”

Piker campaigned with El-Sayed during the Democratic primary. NPR says El-Sayed has since distanced himself from the streamer; The National reports El-Sayed called the 9/11 remark “a dumb statement” but has not disavowed Piker. The National also notes El-Sayed would be the first Muslim U.S. senator if elected.

President Trump has also weighed in, calling Piker a “terrible liability” and a “communist,” per NPR and The National.

Both sides, quickly

What he said

At the end of the day, I’m a Twitch streamer. I hold no political office. I have no real political power.— Hasan Piker, on NPR’s Newsmakers, Oct 15

He told NPR the strategy is a way for Republicans to distract from Trump policies that he says have made life less affordable. He described himself as “a socialist” and “an anti-imperialist,” and pushed back on how he’s portrayed in the media.

Asked why he keeps making incendiary comments, he pointed to the format: “It is virtually impossible to be perfect in this medium. It’s Twitch.” NPR notes Twitch has banned him at least seven times. He also told NPR that “a big part of the problem is that, yes, my name is Hasan,” arguing his words land differently than the same talk from a white, Christian American.

Meanwhile, on X

On Oct 16, JTA’s New York Jewish Week reported on a separate Piker post reacting to a poll showing lower Democratic support among Jewish voters in New York. He wrote that it’s “wild that this many jewish voters are leaving the democratic party over israel.” Pro-Israel activist and former Columbia professor Shai Davidai replied: “It’s not ‘over Israel.’ It’s over people like you.”

What happens next

The midterms are this November. Michigan’s Senate race between El-Sayed and Rogers will be a real-world test of whether a Twitch streamer can actually be a liability, or whether, as Piker argues, guilt-by-association politics just isn’t that effective.