Even before a disastrous interview on Jesse Watters’ Fox News show at night — in which he compared sex changes on minors to circumcision, among other faux pas — the first day of the working week had given Michigan Democratic senatorial nominee Abdul El-Sayed more reasons than Garfield to hate Mondays.
The problem is, of course, that El-Sayed’s embrace of controversialist and Twitch streamer Hasan “America Deserved 9/11” Piker as the campaign’s top surrogate was all eventually going to come back to haunt his campaign one way or another.
And while Monday was indeed the day when he had to finally acknowledge that Piker’s rhetoric was inflammatory and inappropriate, he could have known this from the first day he began campaigning with him, yet repeatedly refused to do so.
Why should we believe him now?
The reason he’s apologizing now is because Piker’s particular brand of hate is actually hitting home in Michigan, with the popular socialist streamer telling his listenership that they needed to “take action” against supporters of Israel like Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Democrat.
From Politico:
During a Thursday livestream, Piker called “the idea that Jews are monolithic” in their support of Israel “a very dangerous mode of propaganda.”“If Jews in America keep putting this — this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” he continued.
“We’re teaching people the wrong lesson. At the end of the day, American Jews do not prioritize Israel, but they do prioritize antisemitism.” During Piker’s remarks, the stream displayed a social media post showing Michigan Democratic congressional nominee and state Sen. Jeremy Moss, who is Jewish and a supporter of Israel.
The post originated from the group Track AIPAC, and featured an image from Moss’ Instagram account of him in Tel Aviv next to the group’s signature red graphic noting contributions from “pro-Israel donors” to Moss’ campaign.
These comments also came before Piker, doing his Chairman Mao cosplay bit, led a crowd in a chant over the weekend mocking Charlie Kirk’s death:
🇺🇸 Hasan Piker led a live crowd to sing “We Are Charlie Kirk.”
Full stage, with lyrics on the screen for a full on Socialist karaoke night.
The man spent years calling conservatives the enemy… then belted out a Christian memorial ballad about one who got assassinated.…
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 23, 2026
Moss issued a statement that he was “in continual dialogue” with El-Sayed about “Jewish and Arab safety and security,” but did not spare words about Piker.
“I will not be lectured by a California podcaster about what Oakland County, Michigan’s Jewish community should and shouldn’t believe,” he said.
El-Sayed, meanwhile, also decided that Monday was time to stop having a millionaire California podcaster lecturing anyone in Michigan about anything. Or at least, he decided Piker shouldn’t be lecturing Michiganders for the moment and announced that decision in terms vague enough that you could understand he was scrambling away from Piker, but foggy enough that he wasn’t necessarily condemning him, either.
“I believe all Americans deserve the right to advocate for what they believe without fear of violence,” El-Sayed’s statement began — indicating he’s never actually listened to Piker’s show, where Piker constantly advocates for violence against people for what they believe, and for a list of beliefs so long it would exhaust a Dostoyevsky novel if I were to here list the people he’s targeted.
“My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters. Antisemitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all its forms. And I stand against any rhetoric that puts the community at risk,” he continued.
“But I want to be crystal clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople. And while politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we’re going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools, and healthcare.”
My statement on Hasan Piker’s comments regarding Jeremy Moss: pic.twitter.com/bUm96ANJXT
— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) August 24, 2026
First off: If this is all indeed true, Michigan Children’s Protective Services needs to check on El-Sayed’s daughters, stat.
Second, if this campaign weren’t about a Twitch streamer, it’s questionable — I’d go as far as to say highly unlikely — that El-Sayed would even be the nominee in the first place. There has never been a politician in this country who has run on a platform of higher inflation, worse schools, and more expensive health care. Every single politician in the Michigan Senate primary was running on that.
Most of them had more legislative experience than El-Sayed, to boot! What did AES have? The support of the radical podcaster class, particularly its anti-Semites, which is what rocketed him to the front of the field and carried him over the finish line.
Finally, El-Sayed has been given too many off-ramps to count regarding Piker and his rhetoric, including when he first started campaigning with the Twitch streamer, and he’s not only availed himself of none of them but blown past them like a stolen Mustang on a freeway chase being driven by the ghost of Steve McQueen.
Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed says there is NOTHING that Hasan Piker has said that he disagrees with.
JOURNALIST: “Are there any views that Hasan holds that you disavow?”
EL-SAYED: “I’m not here to disavow people’s views…”
Reminder: Piker said “America deserved 9/11.” pic.twitter.com/8U2IzctPZR
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 7, 2026
NBC: Hasan Piker has said “America deserved 9/11,” do you plan to continue to campaign with him?
EL-SAYED: “I’m less concerned now with who I’m campaigning with…”
NBC: “Would you welcome him though?”
EL-SAYED: “I’m a lot more focused on who I’m campaigning to.” pic.twitter.com/2kyYIyNic7
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 9, 2026
And now, the only reason people following the El-Sayed campaign won’t focus on the fact that he was campaigning with this bloodthirsty hooligan is that … the Watters interview later in the day was arguably worse for him.
You gotta hand it to the guy: Abdul El-Sayed managed to get himself out of the headlines by having his top surrogate physically threaten the safety of a Democrat in his home state simply for being Jewish by out-horribling it. Respect is due.
However, don’t be fooled. Piker has been saying this stuff for years, and El-Sayed still campaigned with him. It’s just when it started to really hit home that this might cost him and the Democrats a safe Senate seat did he hit the panic button, and several months too late.
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