When the Candidate Denounced the 9/11 Extremist

In the news this past week were controversial statements made about 9/11. 

The statements included offensive language about that infamous day. They implied that the United States deserved to be attacked because of its foreign policy and actions. The speaker in question even went so far as to use the phrase "America's chickens are coming home to roost." Since this speaker is so closely associated with the current candidate of the moment, it's clear that this issue isn't going away. We're already seeing additional controversial statements being unearthed by this same speaker. Republicans are chomping at the bit to tie the candidate to all this inflammatory language. While the candidate and this speaker may have a documented history, now it's time to sever that tie if the candidate truly wants to move past all this and get to the kind of campaign he should be running. 

I, for one, am glad Barack Obama decided to do exactly that in March of 2008. 

Because unlike what we're seeing from Abdul El-Sayed, Barack Obama is nobody's fool. He knew that the GOP would like nothing better than to portray him as the scary Black man. The radical. The extremist. Tying him to Reverend Jeremiah Wright was the GOP's attempt at "othering" the presidential candidate who was suddenly going toe-to-toe with the Clinton Machine. Obama was still largely unknown at this point, so the GOP was desperate to have something, anything that could potentially derail his campaign. His message of hope and change during the 2008 Great Recession was a threat to a Republican Party that knew voters were ready to punish them for the horrific economic conditions of the time. Before they had the Birther Movement, Republicans had Jeremiah Wright. They were convinced that he would be the canary in the coal mine that could derail Obama's campaign and set them up nicely with what they thought would be a more favorable general election matchup with Hillary Clinton. 

But Obama deftly defied them. By mid-March, he was denouncing Reverend Wright's statements. Within a few days, Obama gave one of the most dynamic speeches of his career titled "A More Perfect Union," in which he described Wright's views and his anger in the larger historical context. Despite the speech being universally well-received, the seed of Obama being anti-American had been planted. Wright was now making the rounds on television, continuing to express outrageous views. It got to the point where Obama was done giving the man the benefit of the doubt. By late April, he had forcefully denounced Wright's statements, saying that they did not stand for what he believed in. The relationship with Wright officially terminated in May when both Barack and Michelle Obama officially withdrew from Wright's church, and Wright himself retired shortly thereafter. While there remained a small segment of Republicans who continued to attempt to link Obama to Wright, the window had passed. Barack Obama was now going toe-to-toe with the Clinton juggernaut to earn the Democratic nomination. The media was now transfixed on what the election of the country's first Black president could mean. Reverend Jeremiah Wright became nothing more than a footnote during the historic campaign. 

Abdul El-Sayed is clearly no Barack Obama. His inability to denounce Hasan Piker is the clearest indication yet that he either agrees with Piker's extreme rhetoric or is too scared to lose his support and those like him. Because unlike Obama, El-Sayed doesn't truly care about his general election campaign. He's a useful idiot for DSA and the far-left. Less than 24 hours after El-Sayed clinched the nomination, the GOP had released its first general election ad, tying him to none other than Piker himself. We all know that Piker has to rage-bait to be successful, and now that he has publicly allied himself with a candidate for the United States Senate, you can expect his inflammatory statements to be ratcheted up to 11 as we approach November. As we've seen throughout the primary as well as this past week, that doesn't seem to affect El-Sayed in the way that it affected Obama. More than simple political instincts, El-Sayed's refusal to distance himself from Piker speaks to the larger question of whether he is even serious about winning come November. 

Sadly, we knew El-Sayed was problematic. We knew this because of his not-so-hidden support of DSA. We knew this because of his raging antisemitism and racism throughout the campaign trail. And we knew this because of the people his campaign attracted, from Bernie Sanders to Susan Sarandon to Hasan Piker and beyond. There's a reason he consistently lost head-to-head matchups with Republican Mike Rogers. While we saw a massive polling error in the primary, there can be no doubt now that a Senate seat that would have likely stayed blue with Haley Stevens is now very much in doubt come November. Because Michigan is not fertile DSA territory. It's working-class and blue-collar. Roughly 20% of the Democratic base is Black voters. Nearly 2% identify as Jewish. These are people who were shat on by El-Sayed and his supporters throughout the primary. And with his BFF Hasan Piker having called over 700,000 Michigan voters "Islamophobic pieces of shit," we can already see that any attempt to mend fences will be forever tainted by Cenk Uygur's nephew and his efforts to continuously stir the pot between now and November. 

Politics is complex. It's confusing. It can be soul-crushing. But it can also be absurdly easy. Cutting ties with Hasan Piker is the easiest thing Abdul El-Sayed will ever do. He doesn't need to give a 37-minute banger of a speech like Obama did. He doesn't have to leave his place of worship. He simply has to say, "Hasan Piker does not speak for me or my campaign." But he won't. He can't. He needs Piker and Piker needs him. This sinister symbiotic relationship only helps Republicans. But that was always the goal. Qatari-backed El-Sayed is an unserious candidate who is now in a position to potentially cost the Democratic Party a shot at taking the United States Senate. Hasan Piker gets to carry on Uncle Cenk's work and chip away at the Democratic Party. When you bring together two individuals such as them via a Faustian bargain, the results speak for themselves. And the result of Abdul El-Sayed winning the primary ensures that he and Hasan Piker will intentionally blow up the Democrats' chances to win in Michigan in November.

Hasan Piker is nothing more than a fifth columnist. The same can be said for Abdul El-Sayed. If you refuse to cut ties with someone who intentionally alienates those who should be your supporters, then you aren't a serious candidate. So why run at all? El-Sayed doesn't want to make amends with the Stevens voters, particularly Jewish and Black voters, whom he needs to win in November. And if you're not going to broaden your coalition after winning a mere 48% of the vote in the primary, then you have no shot at winning the general election. The only logical conclusion that can be reached is that El-Sayed wants to lose. He wants to hand Republicans a key Senate seat from a swing state. And he wants to continue to elevate Hasan Piker so that Republicans, and by proxy our media, can continue to use him as an extreme representation for the modern-day Democratic Party. 

"Hasan Piker doesn't speak for me." This simple six-word mantra needs to be the universal response from Democrats between now and November. Because, lord knows, our media will continue to make it a thing. Piker is already buddy-buddy with Francesca Hong, who appears likely to win the Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor tomorrow. But beyond Hong, every single Democratic nominee for November needs to distance themselves from this parasite immediately. We need more institutions like the University of Washington to cancel upcoming appearances by him. When the perpetually out-of-touch James Carville and John Fetterman of all people recognize how dangerous Hasan Piker is for the Democratic Party, then everyone needs to stand up and take notice. Abdul El-Sayed has multiple chances and has failed to do so. We can't afford others to do the same. 

Barack Obama gave us all the exact blueprint of just how easy it can be.