Khanna: Those saying ‘don’t engage’ with personalities like Hasan Piker ‘will cost us future elections’

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on Sunday said that those who push to not “engage” with popular Twitch streamer and left-wing political commentator Hasan Piker “will cost us future elections.”

“The lesson of the last election is we’ve got to be out there. We’ve got to engage. It’s a complex, messy, multiracial democracy. I will defend my views, but the people who are saying, ‘Don’t engage,’ will cost us future elections,” Khanna told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”

Piker, who has a history of making controversial statements, is often critical of both Democrats and Republicans in his streams. He is also a notable critic of Israel and Zionism.

According to a Politico report from last month, multiple notable Democrats, including Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), rejected the idea of joining Piker on his stream when asked by the outlet.

Khanna has been on Piker’s stream before, where he talked about files linked to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In response to a clip of Khanna’s “Meet the Press” comments, Piker posted on the social platform X that “trump just threatened to do terrorism to iran again in a war that the american ppl didn’t want but israel did.”

“its’ costs are well over 50$Bn so far, & the right wing dems are too busy to countermsg cus they’re slandering twitch streamers who are anti zionist & anti war instead!!” he added.

Amid Israel’s war in Gaza and the mass death and destruction that Palestinians have faced in the conflict, there has been pressure from the left on Democrats to reconsider America’s historical support for Israel.

Polling released in late February found more Americans saying they sympathized with Palestinians than they did with Israelis.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment on Piker’s posts.