Hasan Piker on his rise as a voice of the 'insurgent left' | NPR's Newsmakers

Hasan Piker (0:02)

The way that I'm portrayed in the media is an America-hating, communist, Islamist fundamentalist, and then also at the same time, very woke and gay. 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.

Leila Fadel (0:24)

Your world view has gotten you barred from travel. College campuses debate whether they should have you on their campuses. Is the price you pay for your ideas and your stances, has it gotten too high?

Hasan Piker (0:36)

I think that there is no price too high to pay as long as I'm allowed to say the truth.

Steve Inskeep (0:47)

Hi, it's Steve Inskeep with a special episode of Up First, a conversation from NPR's Newsmakers. In each episode, a guest takes tough questions about their place at the center of events and how things look from the inside. Today, Leila Fadel sits down with Hasan Piker.

For more Newsmakers, you can follow or subscribe to the show on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you watch or listen, and you can find us in the NPR app.

Leila Fadel (1:13)

Hasan Piker is one of the most important political forces among young people today. The 35-year-old commentator does daily live streams on Twitch. That's where he calls out the Democratic Party, and the Ambas Conservatives dissects the latest viral memes. His unfiltered and at times incendiary style has generated fans and fury. Piker has talked a lot recently about his political views, but we wanted to talk to him about the backlash against those views, as well as the midterms his audience reach and his role in the future of American politics.

Hasan Piker, welcome to Newsmakers, and thanks for being here.

Hasan Piker (1:52)

This is a real honor. This is very exciting.

I listen to MPR every morning.

Leila Fadel (1:56)

Oh, you do?

Hasan Piker (1:57)

Yeah. All the time, as a matter of fact.

Leila Fadel (1:59)

Are we on your stream?

Hasan Piker (2:01)

You're also on the stream all the time. You're probably on the stream right now. By the time this video comes out, I will definitely watch it on stream.

Leila Fadel (2:08)

I want to get to who you are and why it feels like everyone is talking about you. But before I get there, I want to start with a really important Senate race in Michigan.

You campaigned for Democrat, Donald J. Trump, and you're credited with really why he might have won his primary. But we've also seen him distancing himself from you lately because he's attacked for his association with you. Do you think that association could cost him the election?

Hasan Piker (2:36)

No, and I don't think the Republicans believe that any longer either. The Republicans have no idea what to do with themselves. Trump is historically unpopular. The economy is in shambles. He ran on being the peace president. He lied about that very clearly. And gas prices are far too high.

The energy prices have gone up as well because we're subsidizing data centers all around the country. People are overall very upset with how things have panned out, including Trump voters. So they can't really lean into Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a representative of chaos. And so they have to find a new target to attack. So I guess they wanted to position the Democrats as radical and communist, and I guess in some instances, Islamist fundamentalists.

And they thought that identifying a random Twitch streamer from California would be a really reliable way to do that and really successful way to do that. And they weren't shy about this either. There was plenty of reporting leading up to the unorthodox Republican midterm convention that took place, where this is what they openly said that this is what they would do.

Leila Fadel (3:57)

Well, you were mentioned at that convention, pretty prominently.

Hasan Piker (4:01)

The problem is, most people don't know who I am.

And even if they do know who I am, and even if they have a negative association with my world view, because they've seen these attack ads, or they've seen the media coverage, connecting me back to a campaign is very difficult. And that's precisely the reason why it's been a failure. And there's been polling on this.

Leila Fadel (4:31)

But what do you mean connecting me back to a campaign? Because you have campaigned for different candidates that you believe in.

Hasan Piker (4:37)

At the end of the day, I'm a Twitch streamer. I hold no political office. I have no real political power. So getting people to be upset at a Twitch streamer and their affiliation as, if you want to call it a surrogate in the primary, is going to be very difficult, especially when there are real crises going on in the country.