After a clip was released from an upcoming Axios interview with far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, in which the terrorist sympathizer claimed America was “pound for pound” worse than al-Qaeda, Thursday’s Inside Politics on CNN discussed Republicans tying Piker to Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and tried to minimize the prevalence of views like Piker’s in the Democratic Party. Later in the segment, host Dana Bash and reporter Aaron Blake decried Republican tactics against El-Sayed in the election campaign, which included showing his ties to Piker.
Bash first introduced the new interview with Alex Thompson on The Axios Show and said, “A lot of Democrats are hoping far-left streamer Hasan Piker will just stay quiet. Much to the delight of Republicans, he's not. And he's giving those Republicans, especially in Michigan, a lot to work with.”
She then shared a now-widely shared clip where Thompson asked Piker, “Do you think America then is worse than al-Qaeda?” Piker responded, “Pound for pound, as far as the number of deaths, yes. We have caused tremendous terror all around the world.”
Here is CNN’s Inside Politics’ reaction to Hasan Piker's Axios interview to Axios where the far-left Twitch streamer said America is “pound for pound” worse than al-Qaeda
Host Dana Bash turned to Semafor’s Dave Weigel, who has interviewed Hasan before. He said the Piker… pic.twitter.com/W1uQNuF99v— Nick (@nspin310) September 17, 2026
Bash turned ot Semafor’s Dave Weigel, who had interviewed Piker before. She first mentioned El-Sayed has already distanced himself from the comments in a new statement, before she hit on Piker's comments, noting, obviously, that America is a democracy and al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization:
“I should just say that - El-Sayed's campaign did put out a statement saying that he doesn't agree with this sentiment on Al Qaeda, probably because he's running in a democracy to be part of a democratically elected government as opposed to al-Qaeda, which is an actual terrorist organization.”
Weigel, correctly, declared, “And this is a landmine that El-Sayed has set for himself because he decided to bring Piker to Michigan.”
But then said Piker views “come from a different place” and said, “Piker's views are that America is an evil empire that does a lot of damage around the world, especially when it's in concert with Israel.”
Weigel then declared, “That is not something that really any Democrat is running on. It's not something that El-Sayed wants to run on.”
Some Democrats have run on similar platforms to Piker, as seen with positions from representatives like Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who has talked to the streamer at a DSA conference, along with other DSA candidates in places like New York and Colorado who focus heavily on Israel and US military actions and have also appeared on Piker's streams.
Even before he was a notable figure featured in the media, far-left Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders appeared on Piker’s streams and would, seemingly, hold at least similar views.
Near the end of the segment, Bash used polls to suggest that Michigan voters who vote against El-Sayed are just discriminatory against Muslims and called the polling numbers “gross.” Bash then declared Roger’s tactics versus El-Sayed were not subtle.
Near the end of the segment, Bash talked about Republican Mike Rogers "not so subtly" using Hasan Piker's comments, like his when the streamer said America deserved 9/11, to go after Abdul El-Sayed.
CNN’s Aaron Blake then said, “I mean, right after the primary ended, you saw a… https://t.co/jtrEJSX3Wr pic.twitter.com/uQHpchYC7F— Nick (@nspin310) September 17, 2026
Blake built off Bash making the race about religion:
I mean, right after the primary ended, you saw a whole bunch of Republicans come out and basically, you know, say, ‘Muslim, Muslim,’ pointing the finger at him. They were using his full first name, Abdulrahman. Senator Tommy Tuberville called him a terrorist on X. It's not very subtle.
Blake added, “How many more people could this maybe not be a complete deal breaker with, but it's kind of in the back of their heads? And I think that's where the Piker thing comes in, because they're basically saying, look at the people he associates with. Maybe that's who he really is.”
One would think a candidate, like El-Sayed, inviting a terrorist-sympathizing streamer, like Piker, does show “who he really is.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand": j
CNN's Inside Politics
September 17, 2026
12:17:37 PM Eastern
DANA BASH: A lot of Democrats are hoping far-left streamer Hasan Piker will just stay quiet. Much to the delight of Republicans, he's not. And he's giving those Republicans, especially in Michigan, a lot to work with.
The latest example, what he said in an interview with Alex Thompson at Axios.
[Cuts to video from The Axios Show]
ALEX THOMPSON: Do you think America then is worse than al-Qaeda?
HASAN PIKER: Pound for pound, as far as the number of deaths, yes. We have caused tremendous terror all around the world.
One clear example of this is what we did in Minab, right? There's no distinction between blowing up a school, triple-tapping it with Tomahawk missiles. If you're killing 140 schoolgirls, that is an act of terror. This doesn't mean that all Americans are terrorists, but the reality of the matter is we have to create an environment of accountability to ensure things like that never happen again.
[Cuts back to live]
BASH: Dave Weigel, I know you've spoken to Hasan Piker as well. I should just say that - El-Sayed's campaign did put out a statement saying that he doesn't agree with this sentiment on Al Qaeda, probably because he's running in a democracy to be part of a democratically elected government as opposed to Al Qaeda, which is an actual terrorist organization.
DAVID WEIGEL: And this is a landmine that El-Sayed has set for himself because he decided to bring Piker to Michigan. I mean, that's one thing I talked to Piker about. A lot of candidates have been invited in. Those candidates have mostly been in plus-30 Democratic seats, plus-40 Democratic seats.
El-Sayed, and you can go back and watch the clips of their tour, said, “I'm not interested in denouncing people.” He kind of bundled it together with cancel culture. I'm not going to denounce everything somebody says, just the way that Republicans don't denounce everything Trump says. And these are – these come from a different place. Piker's views are that America is an evil empire that does a lot of damage around the world, especially when it's in concert with Israel. That is not something that really any Democrat is running on. It's not something that El-Sayed wants to run on.
And he does talk in the way a lot of young left-wing people talk. Look at polls and look at what people think of American foreign policy and Israel. If they're under 30. That's not where most voters are, though. Look at the same polls of people over 60. That is the risk that El-Sayed created for himself.
You've seen he's tried to dismiss him as a Twitch streamer, and Republicans just keep going back to that clip when he was much more confident of his ability to say, I'm willing to campaign with controversial people, what's wrong with that?
(...)
12:22:25 PM Eastern
NIA MALIKA HENDERSON: I mean, listen, Barack Obama had to deal with this, right? I mean, he had to deal with the reality that some people in 2008 were not comfortable voting for a black man for president, a black man that people thought was Muslim and all, you know, all that, all that kind of stuff.
So, you know, if you listen to Abdul El-Sayed, he says, “Oh, there are many Abduls in Michigan and take my name out your mouth if you can't say it correctly.” But the reality is there are biases out there. And he's got to figure out a way to address them. It doesn't help that he is essentially campaigning with Piker.
BASH: Well - yeah, I mean, he did at one time. Now he's trying to distance himself-ish.
It's one thing to, um, sort of suggest that it's another thing to say or to have respondents from this poll, 45 percent say they would not consider voting for a Muslim. First of all, it's just gross.
HENDERSON: Right.
BASH: Let’s just say what it is. It’s just gross
HENDERSON: And the Jewish factor too - the Jewish number.
BASH: It’s 20 percent. I mean, it's gross. But that is what he's contending with. And let's also say that a lot of what Mike Rogers is campaigning on, yes. Is the economy, but he's also not so subtly talking about issues that Hasan Piker talked about. About 9/11 and so forth.
AARON BLAKE: I mean, right after the primary ended, you saw a whole bunch of Republicans come out and basically, you know, say, ‘Muslim, Muslim,’ pointing the finger at him. They were using his full first name, Abdulrahman. Senator Tommy Tuberville called him a terrorist on X. It's not very subtle.
And I would add on that poll, by the way, you make a very good point, which is that 45 percent is the number of people, the percentage of people, who are willing to tell a pollster a problem for them.
BASH: To say it! Exactly right.
HENDERSON: Right, right.
BLAKE: How many more people could this maybe not be a complete deal breaker with, but it's kind of in the back of their heads? And I think that's where the Piker thing comes in, because they're basically saying, look at the people he associates with. Maybe that's who he really is.
(...)
