Links - 24th June 2026 (2 - Hasan Piker)

Meme - "r/libsofreddit
Hasan Piker - Caviar Communist
*Hasan Piker reading* *Cartier Juste Un Clou Ring, Classic Model. C$4,350*"

Melissa Chen on X - "Actual Chinese leftists are mad at Hasan Piker for strongly defending and praising China, calling out the clear contradictions in his position.  Labor activist Kevin Lin says the Chinese economy combines state, private, and foreign capital in ways that exploit workers, with zero independent trade unions and workers having minimal influence on their workplaces.  Lin sees this as fundamentally "exploitative" and therefore, capitalist. He can't fathom why Piker would object to this kind of "capitalistic exploitation" in the US but condones it in China, all in the name of anti-imperialism.  Taiwan-based progressive Brian Hioe calls it Orientalism at its finest because to Piker, the Chinese people are just props in his personal anti-West crusade.   Piker is quite honestly the worst kind of leftist because he's a total hypocrite. He doesn't champion the values he claims, all the while, he enjoys the freedom and privileges of the West."
Left wingers just hate the West

The Problem With Hasan Piker’s Einstein Story - The Atlantic - "While discussing his personal opposition to Israel’s founding, Piker marshals an unexpected ally: Albert Einstein. “My assessment on Zionism as an ideology is not that different from Albert Einstein’s assessment of Zionism,” he tells the co-host Jon Favreau. The Jewish physicist, Piker said, “was actually asked to be the first president of Israel.” But Einstein, in Piker’s account, assailed the Israeli project from the start: He saw “the violence that the early Zionist brigades were engaging in” before “the IDF existed, before Israel existed,” and “wrote about what Zionism was turning into, and he warned that what he was seeing was exactly what the Nazis were doing.”  Most listeners probably took little notice of this historical riff. Favreau does not remark on it. But for me, it was a flashing-neon sign. I wrote my undergraduate thesis about Einstein’s relationship to Judaism and Zionism, poring over the relevant documents in three languages on two continents. And just about every bit of Piker’s potted portrayal is either misleading or false. Far from an opponent of the Zionist endeavor, Einstein assisted it for decades. In 1921, he raised money across America for the Hebrew University alongside Chaim Weizmann, the head of the World Zionist Organization. In 1923, he delivered a guest lecture at the school’s campus in Jerusalem. Weizmann, meanwhile, was tapped to be the first president of Israel, in 1948; Einstein, who had not been in the running, congratulated him. “Long before the emergency of Hitler, I made the cause of Zionism mine because through it I saw a means of correcting a flagrant wrong,” Einstein wrote to Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947, in an attempt to persuade him to support the movement. In 1951, the physicist hosted David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding prime minister, at his home in Princeton, New Jersey. When Weizmann died the next year, Ben-Gurion offered his position to Einstein, who declined, writing that he was “deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel, and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it.” (The notoriously absent-minded professor explained, “I lack both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people and to exercise official functions.”) Shortly before his death, Einstein told an interviewer that he had “great hopes for the future of the Jewish state.” He even planned to deliver a speech marking the seventh anniversary of Israel’s founding in 1955—but died days before he could deliver it. He bequeathed his valuable papers and the rights to his name and likeness to Hebrew University... Before Israel was founded, Einstein advocated for a shared state for Jews and Arabs, writing in 1946 that “what we can and should ask” is for “secured bi-national status in Palestine with free immigration.” But once Israel was established, Einstein strongly supported its continued existence, while insisting that its ultimate success depended on the pursuit of peace and fair treatment of the land’s Arab inhabitants. “International policies for the Middle East should be dominated by efforts to secure peace for Israel and its neighbors,” he wrote in the draft of his deathbed speech. In other words, Einstein wasn’t an unapologetic Israel-right-or-wrong advocate or an ardent anti-Zionist, but something more interesting: a left-wing supporter of Jewish statehood who believed in Israel’s necessity but also in the fundamental rights of the region’s Palestinian citizens. This complex combination of commitments puts him in accord with many, if not most, Americans and American Jews today, according to survey data. In contemporary terms, one might call Einstein a liberal Zionist—the same category of people Piker has previously called “liberal Nazis.” But listeners to Piker on Pod Save America will have learned none of this. The streamer’s cavalier characterization of the views of American Jews, living and dead, and his failure to genuinely reckon with what they think, help explain why some feel that Piker fosters anti-Jewish animus. But one need not reach a conclusion on the anti-Semitism question to arrive at the simpler determination that he speaks confidently about things that he does not know much about. And this phenomenon is not unique to Piker. It’s characteristic of the new-media landscape, which now includes smashmouth streamers and podcasters of all political persuasions who talk about everything but are experts in nothing, and whose incentives run toward incendiary virality rather than accuracy. Often, this means that these talkers leave listeners less informed than when they came in, as is the case here... The question is not whether such people should be engaged, but how. Interviewers should educate themselves about an influencer’s past arguments and be prepared to dig into the details... Hosts could also bring on experts to complicate the simplistic narratives marketed by the streaming set: One imagines a medical researcher might have some thoughts about Piker’s recent claim that Cuba has come up with a treatment for Alzheimer’s that he alleges has been suppressed. Other interviewers might have someone else in the studio who is tasked with interrogating the claims of guests in real time. After all, even Joe Rogan has his producer serve as an on-air fact-checker; the people interviewing Rogan should too... Piker has repeatedly exhibited a soft spot for left-coded expansionist authoritarian regimes... Talking with Piker about a political coalition to save American democracy without discussing his affinity for China’s rulers is like teaming up... with Donald Trump without examining his outlook toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And yet, only the debate over the latter tends to happen, such that Israel crowds out all other considerations, including extremely consequential beliefs that can end up going unchallenged... Carlson isn’t the only one whose Israel rhetoric attracts outsize attention that conveniently enables the rest of his ideology to evade scrutiny."
Left wingers just keep on lying to try to manifest reality
Too bad it's racist to question a "minority"

Hot Takes Nobody Asked For | Facebook - "hasan piker, aka cenk uygur's nephew, complained about being detained and questioned at the airport last month. he has recently said that he didn't see an email sent before the incident that informed him that his global entry membership was revoked. so he may have been detained because he went into pre-check while no longer being eligible."

Eyal Yakoby on X - "Hassan Piker urges his audience to assassinate senators, stating: “If you cared about Medicare fraud, you would kill Rick Scott.” In what world is it acceptable for Democrats to campaign with him?"
Councilwoman Vickie Paladino on X - "The guy telling his followers to ‘kill’ a US Senator is currently a top Democrat influencer and spokesman, firmly welcomed into the mainstream of the party by its most prominent figures.  He also said that America deserved 9/11, hosted Houthi terrorists on his show, and said he feels ‘no patriotism towards America’ whatsoever.  This is quite literally the Democrat poster boy."
Proof that we need to stop right wing violence by jailing all of the "far right"

Meme - hasanabi @hasanthehun: "the us doesn't want peaceful reunification. but they're maybe too busy rm."
Domino Theory @DominoTheoryMag: "BREAKING: Taiwan's main opposition the KMT said on Monday that its chairwoman, Cheng Li-wun, has accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party's Central Committee to lead a party delegation to China. fad"
Readers added context they thought people might want to know: "2025 National Chengchi University polls show 63% of Taiwanese identify solely as Taiwanese and only 2.4% support unification."

hasanabi on X - "the va supreme court denied the results of the redistricting referendum. scotus gutted the voting rights act and tennessee carved up the last dem district destroying black voter power in the state. those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable"
Noah Rothman on X - ""An SDS radical once wrote, 'The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.'" – David Horowitz"
Comment: "Hasan is basically arguing that if elections and court rulings don’t go his way, violence becomes justified. That’s not “saving democracy” — that’s political intimidation dressed up as activism.  Tennessee lawmakers redrew districts through a legal legislative process, and the courts ruled on the case. You can disagree with the outcome without hinting at “violent revolution.” That rhetoric is reckless, especially in a country already dealing with political tension and assassination attempts.  Also, reducing voters to race and claiming Black Americans can only have political power through heavily engineered districts is insulting. People are more than demographic statistics, and elections are supposed to be decided by voters — not by racial gerrymandering designed to guarantee outcomes.  Democracy means accepting results you don’t like, not threatening unrest when your side loses."

M.A. Rothman on X - "𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐀𝐋𝐄: “𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝟐𝟎𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐘”
This is who Democrats are now platforming. Twitch streamer turned far-left political commentator Hasan Piker just stood up at 𝐘𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 and mourned the collapse of the Soviet Union.  “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘚𝘚𝘙 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 20𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺”  His reasoning? It wasn’t about the people who suffered under communism. It was about 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫:  “𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘜𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥”  “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳”
Let’s review the “catastrophe” of the USSR’s fall: the Soviet regime was responsible for an estimated 𝟐𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝∗𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 through purges, forced labor, and engineered famine (The Black Book of Communism). The Holodomor alone starved 𝟑.𝟗 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐔𝐤𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 (Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation). East Germans were so desperate to escape they risked being 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐥.  Piker mentioned “child prostitution” and “skyrocketing suicide rates” after the fall — conveniently ignoring that the Soviet system 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 that made the transition so devastating after 𝟕𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.  This man has 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟐 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 and Democrats campaign with him.  𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐬. 𝐀𝐭 𝐘𝐚𝐥𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞."
We're still told that left wingers don't hate their countries.

Shannon Watts on X - "Jon Favreau: "When you say Hamas is a thousand times better, do you mean that?"
Hasan Piker: "I do mean it … I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.”"
Batya Ungar-Sargon on X - "I could not love this more. The Obama Bro tries so freaking hard to sanitize Piker's love of terrorists, only to have it revealed that Piker is exactly who the Right says he is. The absolute state of the Democratic Party in one glorious 20-second clip."

RNC Research on X - "Democrat spokesperson Hasan Piker goes off on a Vietnamese refugee who escaped communism: "Shut the fuck up you stupid fucking idiotic old lady." "Suck my dick old lady." "Fuck this south Vietnamese motherfucking...psychotic fucking refugee!" This is the Democrat Party."
Robby Starbuck on X - "*psst* I have a secret: The reason leftists get so mad at survivors of communism is because they want to carry out the same atrocities past communist regimes did. Survivors infuriate them because they're afraid they might wake people up before they get the chance."

It's politics on X - "Someone needs to study how personal vendettas against Hasan Piker turn liberals into literal right wing dipshits"
hasanabi on X - "its easy, i have fairly modest leftist views across the board and im stubborn, so if they want to oppose everything i do - they inevitably find themselves aligning with right wing forces"
Dispropaganda on X - ""modest leftist views" like
-justifying Chinese imperialism.
-simping for murderous dictators like Assad.
-defending Russian imperialism.
-promoting a totalitarian ideology.
-supporting terrorist massacres like 9/11.
-venerating Mao, one of the greatest mass murderers in history.
-urges followers to kill a US senator."
Ugly Hate Machine on X - ""Fairly modest leftist views" = murder the landlords, America is fundamentally evil and deserved 9/11, preach Marxist ideology while wearing $1200 glasses and a $500 t-shirt from your Beverly Hills mansion while electroshocking your dog for standing up after 4 hours. idiot"
This just tells you how extreme left wingers are

Melissa Chen on X - "Why do podcast bros and worse, the Dem Party itself, keep legitimizing Piker?  Hasan Piker is not just some streamer who spouts hot takes from his million-dollar LA setup. He's someone who has done campaign events with Abdul El-Sayed, Summer Lee, and Bernie Sanders.   El-Sayed made excuses for a Hezbollah-inspired terrorist attack on a synagogue and refused to say anything negative about Ayatollah Khamenei. Meanwhile, his preferred candidate for the Michigan Board of Regents, Amir Makled, has been frantically deleting pro-Hezbollah and pro-Nasrallah social media posts.   Piker himself has said his favorite flag is Hezbollah's. Recently, he visited Tiananmen Square for the flag-raising ceremony (in front of Mao's portrait), held up Chinese flags, and said on stream "I have no patriotism in my heart for America."  Needless to say, you can guess what his position is on the ongoing repression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. He also loves the Cuban dictatorship and Putin.   So when he says he supports Hamas, he is literally saying that FFS. All these pod bros and abundance democrats need to stop pretending he's just some anti-war dem. He's not.   Piker is just serving up a TikTok-ified version of Maoist Third Worldism, an ideology which upholds the "global south" as the pure revolutionary vanguard against the evil imperialist West.   Forget actual class analysis or workers' rights. Forget that Hamas and Hezbollah are Islamist fascists who hang gays, stone women, and execute dissidents. In this worldview, any brown or Muslim group pointing a gun at Israel (or America) gets a free pass as "anti-imperialist." It's the same brain rot that had Western leftists simping for the Khmer Rouge for no other reason than their status as Third World resistance fighters.   There are a million ways to support Palestinians without supporting Hamas and Hezbollah - indeed, actually supporting Palestinians *requires* rejecting Hamas and Hezbollah.  In reality Piker is holding up a death cult's flag feeling morally righteous about it since it serves "decolonization." Every person espousing this in the free world should be forced to live in the totalitarian states they simp so hard for.   Conservatives are also now minting their own Third Worldists; in this case they're all masquerading as "multipolarists." Say whatever you want about the right but at least they don't legitimize them the way the Dems do with their Third Worldists."

Adam Mossoff on X - "The intellectual and moral collapse of the NY Times as "the paper of record." A play in two acts:
Act 1: In 2020, more than 800 reporters, editors, and staff at NY Times revolt and protest the publication of op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton arguing that troops should be deployed, like they were in the 1960s, to quell nationwide riots that summer. The newspaper apologizes to the world for publishing the op-ed and the editor of the op-ed page is forced to resign (James Bennett).
Act 2: In 2026, NY Times publishes a massive puff piece *news article* (not op-ed) about "progressive" Hasan Piker, who has called for assassination of a U.S. Senator, says Hamas is "1,000 times better than Israel," says "America deserved 9/11," supports Islamic regime of Iran, and mourns the collapse of the Soviet Union.
When elites at the NY Times bemoan the loss of trust and respect for institutions like the media, they should take a long look in the mirror to discover the real reasons for this loss of trust."

Hasan Piker says he's 'pro-stealing' from big corporations on NYT podcast - "Far-left commentator Hasan Piker explained to The New York Times on Wednesday how he was "pro-stealing" and "pro-piracy" when it came to corporations.  "I’m pro-stealing from big corporations, because they steal quite a bit more from their own workers," Piker said on "The Opinions" podcast. "However, one thing that might even help your ethical dilemma is the fact that the automated process that they design, these companies know will increase shrink, right?"  He continued, "So it’s actually factored in. The lemons that you stole are factored into the bottom line of these mega-corporations regardless. And they still end up having increased profit margins, because they no longer have to pay the cashiers that they used to hire, as opposed to this automated system, knowing full well that people are still going to be able to steal a lot more efficiently, as a matter of fact, through the automated process." Piker was part of a discussion with The Opinions culture editor Nadja Spiegelman and The New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino on the subject Spiegelman dubbed "microlooting," or people robbing stores out of protest of major corporations.  Though Piker stopped short of endorsing all forms of theft, he was largely dismissive of concerns over stealing if a person was in need or if the act was simple.  "Yeah, I’m pro-piracy all the way, like, across the board. Would you pirate a car? Yes. You know, if you could," Piker said... He added that he would personally not take part in "microlooting" and would not support stealing from places that would be taxpayer-funded, like libraries or a government-run grocery store. He also agreed that the idea of private schools should be "illegal."... Piker's comments come on the heels of several controversial statements he's made over the years against American capitalism and in favor of communism as he becomes more influential within the Democratic Party. Last month, he traveled with several left-wing activists to Cuba in support of the communist regime while ignoring or downplaying rolling blackouts in the nation.  Last year, Piker referred to communism as the "honorable end goal" of socialism."

Theft Is Now Progressive Chic - The Atlantic - "“But what about the argument that if everyone just starts stealing wantonly,” Spiegelman replies, “Whole Foods will eventually raise the prices?”  “Yeah, chaos,” Piker says. “Full chaos. Let’s go.”  “I kind of am inclined toward this,” Tolentino adds. “Everyone, try it. See what happens.” It is difficult to know where to begin with such moral reasoning, if it can be called reasoning. At a time of kleptocratic governance and corporate oligarchy, Tolentino and Piker resort to a game of jaded whataboutism. For them, theft is a kind of perverse virtue signaling. Societal problems do not just excuse personal wrongdoing; they ennoble it.  Both Tolentino and Piker seem to justify stealing from large companies such as Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon, because those corporations exploit workers and already budget for theft. Why wring our hands about shoplifting when it’s been accounted for? Such an attempt to normalize petty crime makes Vicky Osterweil’s 2020 manifesto, In Defense of Looting, look high-minded.  As with Osterweil, who argued that white supremacy can render even violent looting a legitimate act, Piker and Tolentino suggest that certain crimes become not just morally justifiable but even admirable when coupled with a claim against structural injustice. Spiegelman uses the term micro-looting, dressing up petty theft in political pretensions... Tolentino encourages readers to skirt The New Yorker’s paywalls and read her articles for free. “I say, go off, use the Wayback Machine.”  “Would you steal from the Louvre?” Spiegelman asks.  “Yes,” Piker says... “I think it’s cool,” Piker says. “We’ve got to get back to cool crimes like that: bank robberies, stealing priceless artifacts, things of that nature.” These remarks are manifestly silly, but the conversation ranges into darker territory. Toward the end of the discussion, Spiegelman asks for an example of something that is not considered acceptable to do but should be. Tolentino responds, “Maybe things like blowing up a pipeline.”  “I can relate to what you were saying, Jia,” Spiegelman replies. “It is so hard to live ethically in an unethical society.” She’s right. Rather than lead a discussion about the difficulties of maintaining personal integrity in an immoral age, however, she wound up convening a celebration of vice. Tolentino’s treatment of sabotage is emblematic of the discussion’s overall irresponsibility. She continues, “Some sort of fire could hypothetically be framed within a collective action that is tactically useful.” Piker concurs: “Sabotage has played a formative role in labor unions.”  During the Kenosha, Wisconsin, uprising in the summer of 2020, as fires raged nearby, a masked rioter screamed into a camera, “It’s Black Lives Matter, not building lives matter!” The implication, which was widely accepted at that time on the left, was that property destruction is trivial but human life is sacrosanct. Yet both Piker and Tolentino move from discussing nonlethal crimes of nuisance and destruction to making excuses for murder. When the conversation turns to Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Piker asserts that the executive had been engaged in “a tremendous amount of social murder.” Both he and Tolentino frame the at-times-gleeful public reaction to the killing as understandable because the health-care industry is structurally oppressive.  Watching the video, and not merely reading the transcript, is worthwhile here. Asked whether one should murder a health-care executive, all three dutifully say no, even as they refuse to treat the extrajudicial killing of a man with anything approaching gravity. In fact, the way they exchange smirks about it, you could be forgiven for thinking they were still on the subject of shoplifting produce. And so a very silly conversation leads to a series of positions that are far from frivolous. Its overarching premise is that the law loses its legitimacy when political and economic elites violate—or are merely perceived to violate—the social contract. In such a world, ordinary people become entitled to ignore rules as they see fit. Neither Piker nor Tolentino explicitly endorses violence. But it is a short conceptual bridge from where they sit behind microphones to political murder."
When left wingers are explicitly pro-crime