GOP’s Plan To Shame Hasan Piker With A Big Screen Thirst Trap Backfires Spectacularly
People running the show at the Republican Party’s midterm convention should have thought twice before putting a risqué selfie of streamer Hasan Piker on the Jumbotron for all to see.
A photo of the progressive influencer wearing nothing but briefs and the results of his weight-lifting routine popped up in the middle of a video slamming socialism and Democrats with ties to the left, catching the eye of Semafor reporter David Weigel.
After sharing the bizarre moment in a pair of X posts, the (overwhelmingly NSFW) replies made it clear the GOP’s plan to embarrass Piker had backfired spectacularly.
Piker, a self-described democratic socialist who has faced relentless attacks from Republicans and moderate Democrats in recent months, embraced his RNC cameo, first reposting Weigel’s original with a quip and later referencing it to mock Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.)
When fellow influencer Harry Sisson shared a video of a very animated Scott on stage and asked, “What the FUCK is going on at the Republican midterm convention??? He’s just screaming incoherently,” Piker was armed with a snide answer.
“Bro saw my meat and lost complete control,” he joked in a repost.
Piker’s live stream-of-consciousness, all-day content schedule has left his foot in his mouth repeatedly over the years, controversies that were collected and resurfaced in an op-ed titled “Democrats Are Too Cozy With Hasan Piker,” which was written by moderate think tank president Jon Cowan and published by the Wall Street Journal back in March.
Piker responded to the stir he’s been causing in an interview with Vox earlier this month, saying, “At the end of the day, someone who is engaging in … agitative propaganda. The entire point I’m making there is to cause you to second-guess.”
Asked if the way backlash rubs off on his political allies makes him second-guess anything, he added, “I’ve already tripled down on it. … No, I’m about to quadruple down on it. … I think the quadrupling and tripling down on it is also part of the process.”