The Keith Edwards Show - Hasan Piker Is Going Mega Viral...

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

Keith Edwards reacts to the viral outrage at Hasan Piker over a stupid hypothetical question.Become a Member: https://www.youtube.com/@keithedwards/joinSubscribe to my Substack: http://keithedwards.substack.comBuy a Democracy Hat: https://keithsdebateclub.com/products/democracy-hatCall me and ask a question or leave a comment: ‪[phone]‬Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekeithedwardsshow/Follow me on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/keithedwards.bsky.socialFollow me on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@keithedwardsFollow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithedwards/Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@keithedwardsFollow me on X: http://twitter.com/keithedwardsListen to the show on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1chmgsT4aUJPmFlyGXIDGN

Hassan Piker is going viral and I think this is a good thing because it gives us an opportunity to talk about things within the Democratic Party and on the left that are obviously bubbling under the surface and have risen to the top after Hassan Piker made this statement. But I do think that it's worth talking about. It's worth exploring. It's worth saying who do we want to be? Where do we want to go? Who do we want to lead us? Who do we want to vote for? First, let's just go into this clip here.

and then I have some thoughts about it, but Hassan Piker was on Jennifer Welch's podcast. I've had it. And she raised the hypothetical question that if J.D. Vance and Gavin Newsom were running against each other in the general election, would you vote for Gavin Newsom? And here's what they'd say. We're disappointed in Gavin Newsom. Who'd have to vote for J.D. Vance or Gavin Newsompson? Well, I'd have to vote for Gavin Newsom, of course. I wouldn't blame. What about you, Hassam?

I'd probably vote third party. You would? Oh, yeah. I mean, at that point, it doesn't even matter. Like, because my policy on this is the same as, like, my refusal to endorse Kamala Harris. The reason why I did not endorse Kamala Harris was because she did things that were not only unproductive, but also unconscionable. But, and I still stand on that.

I still talk about it all the time because people constantly bring it up. They're like, you didn't sufficiently, like, promote Kamala Harris. You're the reason why she lost. And I'm like, I am incapable. There is no singular force in this country that is capable of making or breaking an election. And if that was real, then it is the most idiotic thing not to listen to my demands. But everybody knows that that's not real, right? That part right there went like wildfire, especially that part where he said he'd vote third party.

Now, this is what I had to say about this just on Twitter on my own. I said, it is stupid to get mad about a hypothetical election that won't happen for almost three years. I stand by that. I think for folks to get whipped up about a stupid fantasy football question is just pointless. I mean, I don't know. Push comes to shove. Who knows what things look like in three years? It frankly, doesn't matter. I think what Hassan is saying is things out of change if you want people on the left to be excited to vote for the Democratic Party's nominee. I think that's one way of looking at it. I think the wrong way to look at is what this fool does, says, This proves that Hassan doesn't care about any of the marginalized groups he pretends to support. All he cares about is taking money from them so he can buy outfits for his stream.

I have friends on all sides of the aisle, on the left flank of the country. I believe in an expansive party. I believe in a party that can fit in folks like Hassan Piker and Jennifer Welch. I think about a party that could include Scott Galloway and Tim Miller. I think there can be a nominee that speaks to all people. Now, perhaps for me, that's a little too naive. Maybe I'm being a little too precious. I do think that the party really messed up last time in 2024.

A couple of reasons how. Is one, Joe Biden was not a one. term president when he should have been. Joe Biden thought that 2022, when there was a massive blue wave at a time when typically in off cycle elections, the midterms are a check on the power to empower that didn't happen. I think Biden and his team got a little too arrogant with it, and they thought that, oh, because all these people voted for Democrats, it must be doing a good job. No, what happened was that, I don't know, women lost some of it. rights because of the Supreme Court and there was a huge reaction to that. But they took that,

they took that sign of it's like, oh, Joe Biden's doing a good job. We should nominate him to be president again, which was truly insane. Secondly, I think the fact that then the party didn't even have a primary and just said, here's your nominee, Kamala Harris, was a huge problem too. There were definitely some big issues on the left that weren't being. acknowledge or spoken to, whether it be Gaza, corporations and their influence in the party, money in the party from billionaires. The thing that's good about primaries, primaries are kind of like crowdsourcing, right? One person can only come up with so many ideas. But when you've got 100,000 people trying to solve the same problem, eventually you find someone that has the right

idea. And then ideally what happens is someone bubbles up who can speak to the widest group of people and finds the policies, the strategy, and the communications that speak to the largest group of people within the party. Now, that really didn't happen in 2020, but really the big problem in 2020 was COVID and Trump. And so everyone just said, okay, you know, what, we're just going to all suck it up. Biden's the guy. We're going to vote for Biden. And Biden even kind of, he didn't say it exactly, but he was a little like, all right, I'm a stepping stone for the next generation. And we all kind of assumed that Biden was just going to be a one-term president. And then we'd have the fight again in 2024. That fight never happened.

Primaries are a good thing. And what we didn't have in 2024, we'll have in 2028. And my hope is, is that we will have someone that speaks to the concerns of not only the moderate, but also speaks to the concerns of the left flank. And I think what Hassan is really just saying here is that as it stands today, he wouldn't vote for Gavin Newsom. Perhaps, though, perhaps though. Gavin Newsom could change. Perhaps Hassan saying his vote can still be won over. Vote blue no matter who is kind of a joke because that's not what to happen in the mayoral primary. Zoran Mamdani, which, who, by the way, wasn't my top pick. I kind of like Brad Lander, but after Zoran run, I'm like, okay, that's the guy. That's the guy. That's who we all are going to support. But Cuomo decided to run as an independent. So Blue, no matter who, doesn't really cut both ways. So I'm a little like, you know, I think you got to win our vote. It can't just be a thing that you automatically get. And I think especially during a primary, that should be the time when we are hardest to get. And we are trying, and we are trying.

as best we can to shape the party into the mold that we want. And so to have a hypothetical that goes viral and says that Hassan doesn't care about marginalized people is pretty insane. And it's people like this who are actually getting upset. Kai Von Schroff, who I don't actually know what he's ever done in politics, but he somehow is a political commentator, said, can we move on from these left-wing creators that have built a business on just hating Democrats? It helps nobody vote themselves. I mean, last I checked, AOC's a Democrat, Ilan Omar is a Democrat.

I don't think there's many people in the base that are happy with most Democrats. I think Democrats have largely failed us. I used to be much more moderate. Now I'm a little to like burn it all down because we have had 10 years of Democrats essentially running on Trump bad. Trump bad with some sprinklings of, oh, health care, some sprinklings of women should have the right to choose. But mostly, it's just Trump bad give us money so we can win. I'm kind of sick of that. I'm liking these Tala Ricos that are coming out. I'm liking folks that are naming the problem, which is that billionaires have all the power, have all the power, and we have none. I think we are truly in the middle of a class war, whether you realize or not, the billionaires certainly understand

that were in a class war, they're waging it, we're just not fighting it. I want fighters. I don't want people who are like Trump bad. I want people who are like workers good, billionaires, bad. That's how I am. Kai Von, interestingly, and many people are like this, tweeted this. He early voted in New York. He listed Andrew Cuomo as his top pick for New York City mayor, and then Adrian Adams, Bradlander, Whitney Tilson, and Zellner. He didn't even vote for his arm. And yet he's trying to tell us where the party's going. Now, I also want to point out, too, is normal Mamdani didn't even endorse Kamala Harris or Biden?

I pointed that out on Twitter after Hutch said the fact that there's even a debate about whether or not to consider Hassan Piker opposition is hilarious. He just flat out said that he would vote third party in advance or Newsom matchup. He's indifference to the consequences, whatever. But as I said, I was said here, Mom Donnie didn't endorse Kamala or Biden either, by the way, and then people got into their feelings about that. And I said, I think is actually really relevant, one of the most popular politicians of the Democratic Party never endorsed Biden or Harris. Perhaps we can learn something from that. And I think I want to just expand on that because really what I mean is that

there were absolutely zero electoral consequences for Mom Donnie, non endorsing Biden and Harris. Now, people are saying to me, well, Keith, Mom Donnie was an assembly member. Who cares? Well, okay, Well, that assembly member ran for New York City, and everyone was made well aware he did not endorse Biden or Harris, and yet he became mayor in the most powerful city in the world. I think to me the learning lesson from that is I don't think most people are that thrilled with Biden or Harris, especially within our party, especially in a Democratic stronghold like New York City. So I think if I'm a Democratic strategist, if I'm someone thinking about running in 2028, I would look at that and say, huh, maybe the party is going in a different direction. Maybe the party's really upset. Maybe the people who are in the base want something totally different than what's been offered in the past because the one person who's actually become a star in this party who's risen up in name ID, who is one of the most well, one of the most well-like politicians,

in the Democratic Party is someone who didn't even support our party's leaders. I do think there's a lesson in that. And I think what we should be doing is listening to people like Zoran and Hassan because they're speaking to something that not everyone can say out loud, certainly not everyone can say with his biggest platform, is that corporate, centrist Democrats have had their time. They have given us two terms of Trump. Trump is more powerful than ever, and people want something different.

And we got to do something different because what we're doing and what we have been doing hasn't been working.