Democrats Just Handed Hasan Piker a Megaphone and Called It a Strategy

The man who said America deserved 9/11 just got a standing ovation at the University of Texas.

That happened tonight – and the University Democrats who put him on that stage are calling it a political victory.

Now the same party pretending to distance itself from Hasan Piker just helped him recruit the next generation of radicals in the heart of Texas.

Abbott, Cruz and Cuellar Warned Them. UT Austin Sold Out the Hall Anyway

Greg Abbott called it disgusting rhetoric. Ted Cruz called Piker an "America-hating Marxist." Even Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar warned Jewish students at UT Austin would feel unsafe.

None of it mattered.

The University Democrats not only kept the event – they packed the house.

Piker took the stage Wednesday night to thunderous cheers, opened with "Hook 'Em Horns," and spent the evening blasting Republicans, ICE, and Israel.

His opening line set the tone: "I always tell people that if I hated America, I'd be a Republican."

The crowd loved it.

This is the same man who told Axios just days before this event that the United States has committed more terrorism than al-Qaeda "pound for pound" – and who has never seriously walked back saying America deserved 9/11.

He didn't walk any of it back at UT Austin.

He got cheered for it.

Piker Carried El-Sayed to the Michigan Nomination. Then the Party Called Him Disgusting

Don't let anybody tell you the national Democratic Party didn't see this coming.

Hasan Piker carried Abdul El-Sayed – arguably the most radical major-party Senate candidate in recent memory – to the Democratic nomination in Michigan.

El-Sayed didn't just invite Piker into his campaign.

He invited Piker in repeatedly, toured Michigan university towns with him, and used his platform to energize young socialist voters.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin eventually called Piker's views "disgusting and deplorable."

But Martin said that only after El-Sayed had already won the primary – after Piker's job was done.

That's not a party rejecting radicalism.

That's a party using radicalism and then pretending to be embarrassed about it when the cameras turn on.

Greg Gutfeld put it best: "Piker is like your colorful uncle that you find amusing until your wedding comes up and you just don't want him at the reception."

The Democrats tolerated every word Piker said for years – the 9/11 comments, the praise for Hezbollah, the calls for Hamas, the antisemitic warnings to American Jews that their pro-Israel advocacy was going to get them attacked.

They only started complaining when voters started paying attention five weeks before a midterm election.

Hamas, Hezbollah and a Dead Senator Joke: the Record UT Austin Cheered For

This isn't a free speech story.

It's a radicalization story.

Piker has said Hamas is "a thousand times better" than Israel.

He has said he has "not a single issue" with Hezbollah as a militant organization.

He has praised Hezbollah's founder Hassan Nasrallah.

He told viewers that "if you cared about Medicare fraud, you would kill Rick Scott" – an open invitation to violence against a sitting U.S. Senator.

He has called Jews "inbred" and warned American Jews that their advocacy for Israel will provoke someone to "take action against American Jews."

A UT Austin student writing in the Daily Wire put it simply: University Democrats knew every one of those positions and booked him anyway.

That is not a booking error.

That is a value statement.

Washington Canceled Him. Cornell and Austin Rolled Out the Red Carpet

The theory inside the Democratic Party's progressive wing is simple: Piker reaches millions of young men Democrats have lost, so whatever he says is the price of admission.

They're gambling that his online reach matters more than his actual record.

In Michigan, a handful of establishment Democrats have already crossed party lines to endorse Republican Mike Rogers over El-Sayed – specifically because of the Piker association.

Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell admitted it created a "crisis."

But here's the part that should alarm every conservative watching tonight's spectacle in Austin: Piker isn't slowing down.

He got shut down at the University of Washington – and turned the cancellation into more headlines, more sympathy, more recruits.

He spoke at Cornell last week.

Tonight he filled a hall in Texas.

Ted Cruz said it plainly: "It says everything about the state of their party."

He's right.

Think about what actually happened in Austin tonight.

College kids – the next generation of American voters – packed a hall to cheer a man who praised the people who massacred Israelis on October 7, who said the country their grandfathers bled for deserved to burn on 9/11, and who joked about assassinating a sitting U.S. Senator.

They didn't walk out.

They cheered louder.

The Democrats aren't reluctantly tolerating Hasan Piker.

They built him, they used him, and tonight they handed him a stage in one of the reddest states in America – and cheered while he called Republicans the real America-haters.

That's not a coalition party.

That's a radicalized one.

Sources:

• Rachel Wolf, "Hasan Piker speaks to UT Austin students after backlash from Texas lawmakers," Fox News, September 30, 2026.
• Daily Wire Staff, "I'm A Student At UT Austin. What Inviting Hasan Piker Reveals About Campus Values," Daily Wire, September 28, 2026.
• Hugh Hewitt, "MORNING GLORY: Hasan Piker's radical rhetoric is becoming Democrats' 2026 brand," Fox News, August 27, 2026.
• Matt Margolis, "This Is the Perfect Metaphor for the Democrats' Hasan Piker Problem," PJ Media, September 27, 2026.
• Ted Cruz statement provided to Fox News Digital, September 16, 2026.