Since Donald Trump’s return to power, perhaps no outsider voice on the political left has attracted as much attention as Hasan Piker, my guest this week on Opinion’s “Interesting Times” podcast. The Twitch star is a new-media sensation, talking politics while streaming live on video for hours every day; he’s a radical critic of U.S. foreign policy and a champion of the Palestinian cause — and he has a “bro” persona (even a “MAGA body,” to quote a profile in this newspaper) in a progressive coalition that feels starved for young-male votes and energy. But the most notable thing about Piker at this particular moment is that he likes to play with fire. He’s been temporarily suspended from Twitch for saying that America deserved the Sept. 11 attacks and for telling his audience, “If you cared about Medicare fraud, or Medicaid fraud, you would kill Rick Scott” (a reference to the Republican senator from Florida), among other provocations. He deploys the rhetoric of left-wing revolution in an ironic-or-is-it style. He also has a special fascination with Luigi Mangione, who achieved a dark form of celebrity after being charged in the murder of the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare in Midtown Manhattan. All of this has made him a natural target in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination for conservatives looking to blame left-wing voices for inciting violence. (Though Kirk himself was happy to argue with Piker directly: They were scheduled to debate at Dartmouth College last week.) In our conversation, Piker argues that he’s just engaging in hyperbole when he seems to flirt with incitement, or is just calling out the coercive brutality inherent in the American order when he seems to be toying with revolutionary measures. Whether this is a stable position for a left-wing radical to occupy, or one that tips inevitably toward justifying violence, I leave to the listener to judge. Listen, watch or read here: Here’s what we’re focusing on today:
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