Kulturkampf

[HaughtyFrank]

When our waiter arrives, Piker turns to the 20-something hipster. “Can I ask you a question? Who is the most likely person that killed Charlie Kirk?” he asks. “I think it was Israel. It seems like an inside job,” the server replies hesitantly before heading back to the kitchen for Piker’s cold brew.

[...]

With our waiter out of earshot, Piker drops his voice discreetly. “Israel did not kill Charlie Kirk. That is insane!” he says. “I did that for you because you were shocked.” When the waiter returns with our order, he tells Piker that he is comping the cold brew. “Wait, why?” Piker asks. “I just like your vibe,” the server says.

“I make it a point not to have bodyguards when I’m around the people,” he says. “I think it was, was it Fidel Castro or Che Guevara who said, ‘I have a moral vest’?”

It was Castro.

So brave 

I'm starting to like these Hasan profile pieces. Rolling Stone should be next.  A few more like that and people might realize it's always the exact conversation, i.e. him shitting on a dozen or so people and not saying anything of substance. Oh and basketball, working out and being the left Joe Rogan.

“These last two years, I’ve been called antisemitic. I abhor antisemitism, and I’ve spent my entire professional media career combating it. I just happen to be anti-Israel, and that makes me a far greater threat than the likes of Nick Fuentes because they know he’s a Nazi,” he says, referring to yet another polarizing figure in the ongoing schism within the far right. “I don’t find kinship with the right because I think there are some on the right that just use Israel as a new opportunity to cut through the noise.”

So brave to say that he doesn't find kinship with "some" of the right because he thinks their Israel hate isn't in good faith.

Variety also gave Taylor Lorenz a ring which gives us this banger

Journalist Taylor Lorenz, a friend of Piker’s who has covered the subject of internet harassment for 15 years, says that he is unique in the breadth of his haters, from Vice President JD Vance to Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres.

“Hasan has a very particular strain of politics, which is leftism that is attacked by both mainstream centrist Democrats, bad-faith left-wing actors, the right.
 wing and just internet trolls,” Lorenz says. “And he’s on the most dramatic platform possible, Twitch, which has the most parasocial fan base of any platform. He gets the entire internet weaponized against him. He is the only straight man I’ve ever seen that has been Gamergated.”

Edit:

truly just a beautiful interview

Apropos of something, Piker then gives a thumbs-up to the actor who suited up as the latest Man of Steel. “David Corenswet, from what I understand, is Jewish, and he’s very cool. He’s not like pro-Israel or anything like that either, as far as I’ve seen,” he notes.