Why Nobody Can Be Normal About Hasan Piker

Remember earlier this week when Donald Trump, whose brain is clearly as rotten as his soul, threatened to annihilate an entire civilization in a single night? You would’ve expected Democratic politicians and media institutions—and maybe even a few Republicans—to do something, but many of them had stronger words for a Twitch streamer who does not hold any sort of elected office than for the president of the United States. Why have so many alleged adults lost their minds over Hasan Piker, to the extent that they had not already? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we get to the bottom of a mystery that—let’s face it—isn’t all that difficult to solve.

This time around, we’re joined by journalist-turned-politician Kat Abughazaleh, who recently managed to almost win a Democratic congressional primary in Illinois despite odds being stacked against her. We discuss what she learned from her narrow defeat, both in terms of politics and an unexpected tool in her fundraising arsenal: livestreaming on Twitch. We also talk about her plans for the future now that she’s at least for the moment out of the political limelight and, of course, her great idea for a video game (it’s kinda like Pikmin or maybe Untitled Goose Game, except with cats).

Then we move on to a subject near and debatably dear to Kat’s heart: politicians and mainstream media can’t be normal about Hasan Piker, just as they refused to be normal about her. The Democrats and hating their own increasingly prominent left flank—name a more iconic duo. Finally, we talk about our favorite ways to prepare the humble potato.

You can find this week's episode below and on Spotify, Apple, or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that we can turn Kat’s game idea(s) into an entire series.

Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity):

Nathan: Speaking of people not being able to be normal about you, the other subject I wanted to get to today is the way people treated you during the campaign and the way politicians and mainstream media are now reacting to other prominent leftists, like Hasan Piker. It’s truly wild that, the week Donald Trump threatened a nuclear holocaust, mainstream media was like “This Hasan guy, he said some stuff that we think is pretty objectionable. We should probably spend hours and hours talking about that.”

Kat: The way that liberal centrist media has asked people if they condemn Hasan Piker is almost the same way that Palestinians were asked by random people “Do you condemn Hamas” as we were actively mourning our families a week after October 7. It’s crazy.

Nathan: Right. Do you condemn Hamas Piker?

Kat: He’s just a guy!

Gita: He streams, his head is tiny, and he’s nice. My dad literally watches Hasan Piker every single fucking day. I feel like if you actually sat down and watched the content, you’d understand what it is, which is trying to meet people—especially young men—where they are and talk to them about politics. On top of that, to act like the main source of bigotry on Twitch comes from Hasan Piker just drives me absolutely bonkers. Didn’t Asmongold get banned for a week once again?

Nathan: For saying that he doesn’t “give a fuck about the opinion of illiterate third worlders,” yeah. Which is not even close to the worst thing he’s said this year. But now Twitch is like “One week. That’ll show him.”

Kat: [Hasan and I] literally spent, like, 30 minutes talking specifically about how Jewish and Palestinian lives are inextricable from each other and how the use of antisemitism is a way to punish free speech when you’re identifying with and cooperating with people who are pushing the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. That’s actually more dangerous to both Jewish and Palestinian people than anything else.

Gita: It’s undeniably true that Israel’s actions have made the world less safe for Jews in the diaspora.

Kat: So, so many Jewish people lose friends and family standing up for basic human rights, saying “Not in my fucking name.” The same goes for us: Not in my fucking name.

Somebody in chat said “Piker’s getting primaried and he’s not even running.”

Gita: He’s literally just hanging out most of the time. Today Laura Loomer posted a creep shot of him sleeping on a plane, and it’s like, yep, that guy had too many fajitas. What are you doing?

Kat: I also love how much conservative men are always posting about him. Like, oh, you want to post about a famously hot leftist guy?

Nathan: It’s also funny to watch everyone engage with that element of things. Because again, you’ll have all these people who are in media or in politics, and they will on their own, unprompted, bring up the fact that he’s hot. Because it’s hard to ignore. Out of nowhere, they’ll be like “You’ve gotta hand it to him: He is very good looking.”

Kat: This used to be my thing, too. We would have [people] be like “The cute White House intern”—trying to talk about how my posts were approved by Joe Biden, someone who I definitely famously loved. But like, you didn’t have to put in “cute.” You didn’t have to add that in there.

Gita: Every time a man talks about penis envy, they are talking about something that cis, straight, white men only really experience. They all have penis envy of Hasan Piker. They all wish they were in Hasan Piker’s body. They think he is wasting his attractiveness because he seems to be in a monogamous relationship happily and believes the things he believes.

Nathan: Well yeah, he’s not out there looksmaxxing every day. He’s not in the looksmaxxing mines, beating himself in the head with a hammer. Why’s he not doing that? Doesn’t make any sense.

For real, though, there was a really good piece written by Peter “One Half Of If Books Could Kill” Shamshiri about what’s been happening around Hasan. In it, he pointed to the fact that these days the centrist machine—especially if you look at, for example, the far-right figures Gavin Newsom podcasts with—is all about reaching across the aisle and collaborating with the right. But then those same politicians and media figures consider someone like Hasan, someone who’s further to the left, a pariah. Here’s a good paragraph from the piece:

“The theme running through [Cory] Booker’s apparent hypocrisy is pretty clear. His concern is not expanding the coalition, nor is it having conversations with controversial figures. His actual concern is disciplining the left flank of the party by keeping them in a perpetual state of weakness. This is how the center of the Democratic Party keeps the left at bay. They forge alliances to their right and leave the left isolated from power. Convening with the right is practical politics; convening with the left is beyond the pale.”