The left has been desperately seeking its own Joe Rogan and has increasingly tuned in to streamer Hasan Piker, who has now added the seeming justification of murder to his bomb-throwing repertoire.
Piker, the nephew of “Young Turks” founder Cenk Uygur, has opined that the GOP are the “biggest terrorists” in the world and that the real terrorists of Hamas are “a thousand times better than Israel,” and he offered up his thoughts on Luigi Mangione, who is accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024.
In a recent New York Times podcast that also featured writer Jia Tolentino of the New Yorker, Piker was asked about the shocking murder of Thompson by Mangione, who has been idolized like a rock star by many on the left.
Hasan Piker says that many “understand” Luigi Mangione killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson because Thompson himself was guilty of “social murder”
NYT Reporter: “40% of Gen-Z felt that murder was morally justified. It’s scary to be in a society where people feel murder… pic.twitter.com/M0UHLqmKWl
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) April 23, 2026
“I think 41 percent of Gen Z-ers felt that murder was morally justified,” host Nadja Spiegelman asked on the latest episode of “The Opinions” podcast. “But it’s scary to be in a society where people feel that murder is morally justified. And I’m curious how we thread that line?”
“Friedrich Engels wrote about the concept of social murder, and Brian Thompson, as the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was engaging in a tremendous amount of social murder,” Piker responded, suggesting that killing a husband and father in cold blood on a city street is somehow ok.
“And that was a fascinating story for me, because Americans are very Draconian about crime and punishment. They’re very black and white on this issue. And yet, because of the pervasive pain that the private health care system had created for the average American, I saw so many people immediately understand why this death had taken place,” he continued.
The “left’s Joe Rogan” condemned private healthcare costs, which have become “universalized” to the point that “virtually every American had a similar experience” with people witnessing their loved ones on the phone with providers pleading to avoid passing on the debt to family members.
“That’s a harrowing process for a lot of people. And for them, that is murder; for them, that is torture. And that is the reason why, I think, the reaction to Luigi Mangione, especially by younger generations, was not so negative,” Piker told Spiegelman.
The shockingly casual comments about the murder of Thompson offer a glimpse into the depraved minds of leftists who have only become more radicalized since the 2024 election, at least in part due to provocateurs like Piker, who is so popular that he’s campaigning for Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
Piker also sparked outrage with his incisive remarks about another senator, suggesting that Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) should be killed.
Democrat spokesperson Hasan Piker urged his audience to kill Republican lawmakers.
PIKER: “If you cared about Medicare fraud…you would kill Rick Scott.”
This is the SICK LUNATIC who Democrats are campaigning with. pic.twitter.com/vgccGZSbem
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 7, 2026
“He wants me killed. He wants every capitalist murdered,” Scott told Fox News. “He said that we deserve 9/11. He’s clearly antisemitic. Democrats are campaigning with this guy.”
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