It’s only 9am and the latest media shitstorm is well under way.
asserted
shitstorm → ’ → way
Hasan Piker scrolls through his social media feeds as he comes down the stairs of his home in West Hollywood.
asserted
he → scroll → Hollywood
An interview with Axios, in which Piker said the US had committed more atrocities than al-Qaida, is blowing up his phone.
asserted
US → say → phone
Requests from reporters are streaming in.
asserted
Requests → stream → reporters
Comments on the interview flood his replies.
asserted
Comments → flood → replies
Just another day, and just another news cycle, for a 35-year-old socialist streamer who has no elected or appointed power.
asserted
who → have → power
Never mind that many voters don’t know who Piker is – and haven’t heard of Twitch, his streaming platform of choice – despite months of concerted efforts by political opponents to elevate his profile, and tie Democratic candidates to his most incendiary comments.
asserted
Piker → mind → comments
Facing an uphill battle to retain control of Congress in November’s US midterm elections, and struggling to land on a coherent message to rally support, Republicans have fixated on Piker – and held him up as a representative of their political targets, from socialists and leftists to Muslims.
asserted
Republicans → face → Muslims
Voters, so far, don’t seem to care about Piker – at least not more than the cost of gas, or the war in Iran, or healthcare, or artificial intelligence, or immigration, or corruption.
asserted
Voters → seem → Iran
Around the country, many told the Guardian they hadn’t heard of Piker, or they knew who he was and sometimes had opinions, but those opinions didn’t factor into their voting decisions.
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opinions → tell → decisions
Still, Piker features in Republican campaign ads.
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Piker → feature → ads
A photo of him nearly nude, inexplicably, appeared on the jumbotron at the party’s midterm convention.
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photo → appear → convention
And Republicans have tried hard to tie Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in the critical swing state of Michigan, to Piker after El-Sayed campaigned with him in the primary.
asserted
Sayed → try → primary
(The candidate has since distanced himself from Piker.)
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candidate → distance → Piker
Fielding questions in quick pockets of time around his hours of streaming, podcasts and media appearances, Piker says he is not overly troubled by such attacks.
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he → field → attacks
“Republicans believe this is an incredible narrative, for the record,” he says.
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he → believe → record
“They truly believe that this is successful.
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this → believe → ?
I’m willing to bet it’s because they’re fucking brain-poisoned by the internet.
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they → ’m → internet
He was even called out from the stage of this week’s United Nations general assembly, as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, singled out one of Piker’s most controversial remarks.
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minister → call → remarks
Moderate Democrats have also used Piker as a proxy in their battle against their party’s ascendant left, which notched key upsets in primaries this year, challenging the centrist establishment.
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which → use → establishment
And Piker won’t shut up.
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Piker → shut → ?
He streams for seven hours nonstop each day, with hundreds of thousands of followers tuning in each hour.
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thousands → stream → followers
And even then, he’s not done.
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he → do → ?
Depicted on the right as an extremist, Piker is trying to be tame, he says.
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he → depict → extremist
“For the election season, I have tried to be as serious as possible,” he says in his signature suit and tie.
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he → try → suit
Unlike the Democratic primaries, where he appeared alongside his chosen candidates from El-Sayed in Michigan to Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania, Piker isn’t campaigning for anyone in the general election.
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Piker → appear → election
It has not escaped Piker’s notice that Republicans continue to target Democrats over their ties with him, and his more controversial statements.
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Republicans → escape → him
“It’s not necessarily my affiliation that’s so negative,” he suggests.
uncertain
he → ’ → ?
But more questions about him mean fewer questions about policy and their opponents.
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questions → mean → policy
It’s a missed opportunity when they constantly have to answer “What about Hasan Piker?” Piker says.
asserted
Piker → ’ → Piker
News cycles focused on Piker are driven by a push to attack progressive candidates, according to him, while news outlets carry negative stories about him in a bid to chase clicks and protect their own relevance in the media ecosystem.
uncertain
outlets → focus → ecosystem
But in the longer term, Piker also sees the focus on him as a wider test, for a potential 2028 presidential run from the left by candidate like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive congresswoman.
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Piker → see → Cortez
“Most people on the left are in some way, shape or form connected back to my community, or myself, or organizations that I work with,” he says.
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he → connect → that
“This is an active way to try and eliminate a political opponent before it becomes too big of a problem for them.
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it → try → them
Piker was born in New Jersey and grew up mostly in Turkey; his parents – his father a political scientist and his mother an architectural and art historian – are Turkish immigrants.
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parents → bear → Turkey
While a student at Rutgers University in New Jersey, he got his start as an intern at the progressive outlet The Young Turks, which was co-founded by his uncle, Cenk Uygur.
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which → get → uncle
He went on to host a show on the network and started streaming on Twitch in 2018, eventually leaving The Young Turks to focus on his own platform.
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He → go → platform
He now has more than 3 million followers on Twitch, nearly 2 million on YouTube and nearly 2 million on X.
From the start, he made controversial comments – comments that now appear in political ads attacking candidates that Piker has supported.
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Piker → have → that
Perhaps the most notable, when in 2019 he said “America deserved 9/11,” features prominently in an ad by Mike Rogers, the Republican contender for US Senate in Michigan, to attack El-Sayed.
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America → say → Sayed
(Piker has since said the comment was “inappropriate”.)
asserted
comment → say → ?
…and 95 more, not listed.
The Aporia
