Democrats try to divorce themselves from a toxic Hasan Piker
El-Sayed condemned antisemitism but said his campaign should focus on issues beyond the controversy over Piker.

SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYThe Washington Examiner is rated 67 by the site across 172 stories, which is the strongest available guide to its institutional credibility. The page identifies its author, but this is an openly argumentative column rather than neutral original reporting.
- Track record — The site's publisher rating is 67, based on 172 stories.
- Source type — The publisher is categorized as national news, but the piece itself is opinionated commentary.
- Author attribution — The page names Joe Concha as the author.
The column includes attributed quotations and a specific FBI statistic, but its central judgments are strongly asserted, its language is loaded, and it offers little consideration of counterarguments or independent perspectives.
HOW WE SCORE ↗The piece quotes Khanna and El-Sayed, but uses their remarks mainly as targets for criticism and provides little independent counterargument or context for their positions. The column is substantially one-sided.
- Counterarguments presented — Khanna's rationale for engaging with different audiences is quoted but dismissed rather than examined.
- Loaded language — Repeatedly uses evaluative and condemnatory wording.
- Opinion vs reporting — The piece is an argumentative column rather than a balanced report.
- Source diversity — Relies mostly on quoted political figures and the author's own assessments.
The column frames Democratic engagement with Piker as a political and moral failure, using strongly critical language about Democratic figures while largely accepting the criticism directed at them. Its argument and source selection favor a right-leaning critique of Democrats.
- Language tone — Uses loaded judgments such as calling Piker toxic and Khanna's comparison laughable.
- Framing — Presents Democrats' engagement with Piker as evidence of a party problem.
- Source selection — Includes Democratic statements but does not develop a substantive defense of the choices being criticized.
Joe Concha argues that Democrats’ engagement with Hasan Piker is becoming a political liability, focusing on Ro Khanna’s defense of appearing on Piker’s show and Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign association with him. The column also cites Democratic concerns about antisemitism and FBI hate-crime data.
Concha criticizes Ro Khanna for defending his decision to appear on Hasan Piker’s program and for urging Democrats to engage with Piker’s audience. The column describes Piker’s statements as antisemitic and toxic, and says Democrats are distancing themselves from him.
The column focuses on Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign relationship with Piker and quotes El-Sayed condemning antisemitism while saying his campaign should focus on other issues. It also cites FBI data reporting 1,528 anti-Jewish hate-crime incidents in 2025, or 63% of religion-based hate crimes.
Community verdict
2 VOTESPeople in this story
SWIPE →Michigan Senate candidate criticized for campaigning with Hasan Piker and responding to criticism of the association.
Defends his decision to appear on Hasan Piker’s show and argues Democrats should engage with Piker’s audience.
Khanna's version of this story ↗Senator identified as the target of a call for assassination attributed to Piker.
Representative and former primary opponent of El-Sayed.
Representative quoted objecting to reporters’ questions about Piker.
Senator mentioned for appearing on Piker’s show, campaigning with him, and being defended by Khanna.
Republican Michigan Senate candidate described as El-Sayed’s opponent in polling.
Former presidential candidate named in the author’s criticism of Democrats’ past election losses.
Representative mentioned as having appeared on Piker’s show.
Democratic representative mentioned for appearing on Piker’s show and campaigning with him.
Part of a bigger story
9 OUTLETSCenter outlets and right-leaning outlets agree that Hasan Piker's comments drew criticism and made El-Sayed's association with him a focus of his Michigan Senate campaign. Center outlets mostly recount El-Sayed's response and statements about future campaigning with Piker, alongside reactions from other Democrats. Right-leaning outlets emphasize the association's possible political costs and, in some columns, use it to question El-Sayed's broader political positioning.
- ARTICLES
- 11
- OUTLETS
- 9
- AVG CRED
- 58
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