Third Way Calls on Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to Clarify Alignment With Hasan Piker's Controversial Anti-American and Antisemitic Views
Key keywords: Third Way, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Hasan Piker, anti-American views, antisemitic remarks, progressive Democratic politics, US congressional candidates, Anti-Defamation League, Michigan 12th Congressional District, political alignment disclosure
Centrist Democratic policy organization Third Way issued a formal public statement on Wednesday calling on prominent progressive figure Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to explicitly state whether he endorses the long record of anti-American and antisemitic comments made by left-wing political commentator Hasan Piker. The request comes amid widespread speculation that El-Sayed, a former Michigan gubernatorial candidate and close ally of Bernie Sanders, will launch a campaign for Michigan’s open 12th Congressional District seat in the 2024 election cycle.
Hasan Piker, a popular Twitch streamer and political content creator with more than 11 million followers across platforms, has faced repeated condemnation from bipartisan officials and civil rights groups for his extreme rhetoric. Past comments from Piker include describing the United States as “the single largest state sponsor of terrorism on the planet,” mocking the deaths of American soldiers deployed overseas, and claiming that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were a justified reaction to U.S. foreign policy. He has also been repeatedly flagged by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for antisemitic remarks, including promoting conspiracy theories about Jewish control of global media and governments, dismissing the deaths of Israeli civilians in terrorist attacks, and referring to Israel as a “Nazi apartheid state” that has no right to exist.
Third Way’s statement noted that El-Sayed has made multiple guest appearances on Piker’s streaming shows over the past two years, shared Piker’s content to his own 700,000+ social media followers, and publicly praised Piker as a “critical voice for progressive change” as recently as last month. The organization argued that voters in Michigan’s 12th District, which includes a large and diverse population of both Jewish and Arab American residents, have a right to know if El-Sayed shares the extreme views promoted by someone he has repeatedly aligned with publicly.
As of press time, El-Sayed and his political team have not issued a formal response to Third Way’s request. The call has already sparked fierce debate within Democratic Party circles, with centrist groups backing the request for transparency and progressive advocacy groups accusing Third Way of using bad-faith accusations of antisemitism to discredit left-wing candidates who challenge establishment policy priorities.
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I’m a lifelong Democratic voter in Michigan’s 12th District, and I couldn’t agree more with Third Way’s request. Dr. El-Sayed has spent months boosting Hasan Piker’s platform to hundreds of thousands of people, so he owes it to his constituents to say clearly whether he actually believes Piker’s unhinged attacks on America and his hateful comments about Jewish people. We can’t send someone to Congress who refuses to condemn hate speech, no matter how popular that speech is with online far-left audiences.
This is nothing more than a cynical bad-faith attack from Third Way, which has spent years trying to take down progressive candidates that challenge their corporate donors. Criticizing U.S. foreign policy failures and the Israeli government’s well-documented human rights abuses against Palestinians is not anti-American or antisemitic. Third Way is just scared that voters are fed up with their status quo, war-mongering policy agenda and are turning to progressive leaders like Dr. El-Sayed for change.
As a Jewish resident of the 12th District, I don’t think asking for clarification is unreasonable at all. Hasan Piker has a long, well-documented record of spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and dismissing the trauma of Jewish people who have survived terrorist attacks in Israel. If Dr. El-Sayed wants to earn the votes of the Jewish community here, he needs to clearly state that he does not endorse that kind of dangerous, dehumanizing rhetoric, full stop.
The timing of this statement is very clearly tied to Dr. El-Sayed’s expected run for Congress. Third Way knows he is a hugely popular progressive candidate who could unseat one of their preferred centrist incumbents, so they are throwing every lazy attack they can think of at him before he even announces his campaign. It’s a transparent tactic that voters will see right through.