“I would go [on Piker’s] show” again, proclaimed Khanna, despite this kind of antisemitism, arguing that it’s important to reach new kinds of voters, including those who are fans of Piker for one big, obvious reason.

Relatively unknown until this year, Piker has become one of the most talked-about political commentators as more Democrats have appeared on his show, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MI), and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Piker has also campaigned with Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and current Democratic Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed.

Khanna’s appearance on Piker’s program drew criticism, and rightly so. Piker has declared that America deserved 9/11, called Jews “inbreds”, laments the fall of the Soviet Union as the worst day of the 20th Century, believes Hamas is “1,000 times better” than Israel, dismissed rapes that occurred during the Oct. 7 attacks as being inconsequential, has called for the assassination of Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), and features a large newspaper cover in his studio of one of the Twin Towers being struck by a hijacked place on 9/11.

Piker is obviously antisemitic and toxic, yet, because of his popularity among younger liberal voters, Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, el Sayed, Khanna, and the rest are willing to look past that. 

“The lesson of the last election is we’ve got to be out there. We’ve got to engage,” Khanna told NBC’s Kristen Welker on Meet the Press in April. “It’s a complex, messy, multiracial democracy. I will defend my views, but the people who are saying, ‘Don’t engage,’ will cost us future elections.”

In recent days, Khanna doubled down on his analysis that fellow party members should be willing to engage with Piker by somehow comparing him to other podcasters, including conservative Ben Shapiro and Joe Rogan.

“Should I not go on Ben Shapiro’s podcast because I disagree with him? We had an oral argument on the minimum wage,” Khanna said. “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. That’s why we lost two elections,” he added.

Actually, no — that’s not why Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris lost to Trump. It’s because they were profoundly phony candidates with no clear message. And for Khanna to compare Piker to Shapiro and Rogan is patently laughable, because at last check, Shapiro and Rogan have not uttered anything as remotely reckless and hateful as Piker has.

“Too many demotivated Democrats stayed home in 2016 and 2024. We can’t repeat past mistakes,” Khanna posted on X. “Quit calling @BernieSanders an ‘antisemite.’ Stop wasting time attacking Hasan Piker instead of Trump’s robber baron corruption.”

But Democrats are correctly ignoring Khanna’s warnings and distancing themselves from Piker. El Sayed, who is going backward in the polls against Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan, even put out a limp statement condemning his campaign surrogate in Piker, but didn’t have the guts to name him directly. El Sayed was likely triggered by Piker’s most recent threat against Jews, which appears to be a call to violence against them.

“If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” Piker said.

It’s abundantly clear what Piker is implying here. And it’s disgusting. 

“My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters,” el Sayed said in a statement. “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. 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.”

But this race is largely about a Twitch streamer, thanks to el Sayed’s decision to campaign with Piker during the primary because of those precious votes in Dearborn, Michigan. El Sayed won Dearborn with about 80% of the vote, which proved to be the difference in his victory over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). Overall, the race was decided by less than one percentage point.

Democrats know they have a serious problem on their hands as Piker is being portrayed as the face of the party by Republicans. And some are already fed up with interviews that seem to focus on condemning his views, especially as it pertains to the Jewish community.

“I am done! Don’t any reporter ask me about Hasan Piker!” Rep. Debbie Dingle (D-MI) shouted at a recent rally in Michigan. “It’s not what November is about. Republicans are trying to divide us!”

Despite Dingell’s demands, the questions are going to continue to come. Overall, the Democratic Party has an antisemitism problem that isn’t going away anytime soon, especially from younger voters, if threats to Jewish students on college campuses are any indication.

According to FBI data, there were 1,528 anti‑Jewish hate crime incidents in 2025, making up 63% of all religion‑based hate crimes. This is a disturbing number when considering that Jews make up roughly 2% of the U.S. population. 

INSIDE THE LEFTIST NETWORK WORKING TO SABOTAGE TRUMP’S DC PROSECUTIONS

Khanna believes part of the path back to power goes through engaging with the likes of Piker and getting in front of his audience.

It may be having the opposite effect instead, as more Jews are leaving the Democratic Party. And without running up the score with the Jewish vote, the Blue Team is going to find it increasingly difficult to regain the majority.