Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) advised Democrats against ditching left-wing extremist Hasan Piker, saying it would convey “weakness.”
The congressman expressed his thoughts on the issue of Hasan Piker, who previously said that America “deserved 9/11,” during an appearance on The Left Hook podcast with Wajahat Ali on Wednesday. When asked if Democrats should abandon Piker, Khanna called it “absurd,” citing his appearances on Joe Rogan’s podcast and his appearance on the Ben Shapiro Show.
“Should I not go on Ben Shapiro’s podcast because I disagree with him?” Khanna asked. “We had an oral argument on the minimum wage. Just because someone is engaging with Hasan Piker who has strong viewpoints on these issues doesn’t mean that you’re endorsing every single one of Hasan Piker’s positions.”
“And if you’re going to argue that we should exclude left-wing commentators and, frankly, some of these people were arguing that we should be cancelling and excluding right-wing commentators, you’re left with a party that is basically a status quo party,” he added.
Khanna even said that Democrats lost “two elections” for those stances, adding that Democrats should be willing to go into “uncomfortable spaces.”
“I think one of the biggest reasons the Democrats are seen as weak is because we’re a party that has been too afraid to be bold, to be consistent, to be willing to be criticized, to be willing to go into uncomfortable spaces, to be willing to take the fire,” he said. “That’s the point of democracy!”
As Hasan Piker enters into the mainstream by working with candidates like Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, he has attempted to distance himself from his incendiary rhetoric. In an email to Reuters recently, Piker said he used “imprecise language” when he uttered that the U.S. “deserved” 9/11.
“I used imprecise language in 2019 and immediately apologized for using the word ‘deserved’ when talking about the concept of blowback. No one deserves to be a victim to a terror attack. My stance on this has been clear since 2019,” he reportedly wrote.
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