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**SEPTEMBER 2, 2026**

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Conservatives have whipped up an Islamophobic hate mob [link removed] targeting Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, using comments from the Twitch streamer Hasan Piker taken out of context as an excuse, and some Democrats are joining in. It's allowing the Republican candidate Mike Rogers's much closer association with much worse people to fly under the radar.

**–Ryan Cooper, senior editor**

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Paul Sancya/AP Photo

Are Centrist Democrats Too Racist to Compete in Michigan? [link removed]

I have a question about the critical Michigan Senate race: Are centrist Democratic officials and pundits going to spend the next 60 days loudly making the Republican Party’s arguments for them?

The last week has seen a meltdown over Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee. The controversy involves the Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who is not an elected official, or a candidate for anything, or a member of El-Sayed’s campaign, but did appear with him during the primary at a few events. Piker made some comments on a Twitch stream (more on that in a moment) that provided a convenient pretext for Republicans to whip up a frenzy of anti-Muslim bigotry and smear El-Sayed by association. Most Democrats did not join in, but many did, including some in leadership positions.

It should come as no surprise that Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, has much worse associations, first and foremost his doglike attachment to Donald Trump, which affects actual policy like what Rogers would do about his deranged trade war with Canada in a state whose economy is more intertwined with Canada than any other. But this is going totally uncovered.

It’s not ideal.

To grasp what is going on here, it is useful to start by breaking down Piker’s relevant comments in detail (which can be heard starting at about 1:54 in this recording [link removed]). In response to a viewer who identified themselves as a Jewish member of a Reform synagogue and mentioned how hard it was to get his community to reconsider their position on Israel, Piker argued that dogmatic advocacy for Israel is dangerous for American Jews:

“For the anti-Zionist Jews in my community, you have a very tough job ahead of you. You have to go back to your communities and try to get your elderly relatives to understand that this connection between Israel and Zionism that is expressed over and over again through a lot of these Jewish institutions … is a very dangerous mode of propaganda … If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action. Not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews … Every single time you have prominent Zionist Jews come out and be like ‘No, this is antisemitic, to oppose Israel is antisemitic,’ you’re teaching people the trope of dual loyalty.”

Granting a little interpretive charity for a guy making somewhat muddled comments off the cuff, the argument is clear enough. Zionists who insist that criticizing Israel is antisemitic are themselves advancing an antisemitic trope, namely that of dual loyalty, and thereby helping erode the taboo against antisemitism. If American Jews are identified (wrongly) with the Israeli government, Piker contends, that raises the risk someone will come to believe that attacking them is a way to punish Israel for its many heinous crimes. This is a fairly common strain of argument. Ezra Klein, not exactly some fire-breathing radical, said almost the exact same thing [link removed] on his

**New York Times** podcast the other day.

Now, one might respond that this is an inaccurate or inappropriate thing for Piker to say, but his critics are not doing that. They are misconstruing his words [link removed] so they can accuse him of blaming

**all** Jews for antisemitic violence, and holding El-Sayed responsible for that caricature. “Claims that American Jews are responsible for the violence being committed against their communities are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated,” posted Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV). Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI), who still refuses to endorse El-Sayed at time of writing because of Piker [link removed], said that Piker is “a hack who thrives on hate.”

Continue reading this story [link removed]

****ON OUR SITE****

The nonprofits that enforce anti-discrimination laws for housing are being cut off from the federal funding [link removed] that makes their work possible.

In New Hampshire, two establishment candidates are playing with nearly $10 million in campaign cash, using it mainly to attack one another while progressives look on haplessly. There are dozens of districts like this across the country. [link removed]

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