Twitch Streamer Hasan Piker Claims America Worse Than al-Qaeda 'Pound-for-Pound'

Leftist streamer Hasan Piker is doubling down on his inflammatory rhetoric about the United States, telling Axios he believes the country is worse than al-Qaeda when it comes to causing deaths around the world.

Piker, one of Twitch's biggest political streamers, made the stunning claim during a teaser clip for an interview with Axios Show host Alex Thompson, released Thursday. The comments came after Thompson pressed him on his earlier declaration that "America is the top dog in terrorism."

When asked directly whether he believed the United States was worse than al-Qaeda, the terror group responsible for the September 11 attacks in 2001, Piker did not hesitate. "Pound-for-pound as far as the number of deaths, yes," he said. "We have caused tremendous terror all around the world."

Piker went further, arguing the consequences of American actions extend beyond foreign soil. "I think that that is not only terror that we are waging on regular civilians in nations in the periphery, but it's also having consequences on ourselves. It's having dramatic consequences on the home front," he said.

To back up his claim, Piker pointed to the deadly strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, Iran, earlier this year. An Associated Press investigation found evidence that at least one U.S. missile struck the school, and a United Nations-backed fact-finding mission said Thursday it had reasonable grounds to believe U.S. forces were responsible. The final death toll from the strike has not yet been established.

"That is an act of terror," Piker said. "This doesn't mean that all Americans are terrorists, but the reality of the matter is we have to create an environment of accountability to ensure things like that never happen."

The controversial streamer's comments are likely to reignite scrutiny of his ties to Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, whom he campaigned with during the primary. Republicans have repeatedly sought to tie the two together, running political ads highlighting Piker's notorious 2019 remark that "America deserved 9/11," a statement he later apologized for.

El-Sayed moved quickly to distance himself from Piker's latest comments in a statement to Axios. "I do not agree with this statement, nor do I give much weight to the statements made by a social media streamer," El-Sayed said. "I am more concerned with the dangerous policies of Donald Trump and Mike Rogers that are raising the prices of gas, groceries and healthcare for Michiganders."

In an article accompanying the teaser, Thompson wrote that Piker described his comments as an analysis of what he considers "blowback" from decades of U.S. policy in the Middle East. "This doesn't justify the action, mind you," Piker said. "This is more so analysis to stop further violence from taking place, both violence in the region, but also violence in the home front as well."

Piker later pushed back against how Axios framed the interview, criticizing the outlet on X for "farming the interview" and accusing it of turning his "nuanced answer" to Thompson's question into "clickbait."