El-Sayed Called Piker's 9/11 Take 'Dumb' on National TV. AOC Said Hold On. The Internet Has Not Calmed Down.

Darlings, it has been quite a Sunday morning. Abdul El-Sayed sat down with NBC's Kristen Welker on Meet the Press and, per multiple outlets including Politico and NOTUS, was asked point-blank whether he disavows Hasan Piker's old claim that America deserved 9/11. El-Sayed's answer, according to those reports: yes, and he called the comment "dumb." Not a full bonfire, not a bear hug. "Dumb."

That word is doing so much work right now.

Piker's response to the broader press pile-on, per Fox News, is that his Hamas-related remarks were "intentionally provocative" and he is standing by them. Growth, allegedly. Whether calling something provocative-on-purpose is a defense or a confession is a philosophical question Fox News did not appear to think needed answering.

AOC, per Yahoo News UK, went in the opposite direction entirely. She reportedly defended Democratic figures appearing on Piker's stream, framing it as a matter of responsibility to young voters. The argument: the audience is real, the reach is real, and pretending the platform doesn't exist helps nobody win anything. Whether this lands as principled or awkward given the current week's news cycle is, shall we say, contested.

Rolling Stone published a piece headlined "Why Is Everyone Scared of Hasan Piker?" which is either the most credentialing headline he has ever received or the most credentialing headline he has ever received. The magazine did not appear to think the answer was "they shouldn't be."

James Carville, per Yahoo News Singapore, has been taunting Piker. Of course he has. And if this feels familiar, it is because these two have been doing this particular dance since before El-Sayed won a single precinct.

The Mediaite detail that absolutely cannot be buried: apparently Piker's own mother, per their reporting, cannot stand his vocal enthusiasm for China. Family, you love to see it. His mom is not doing a cable news hit about it. She is just, reportedly, tired. Relatable.

Meanwhile El-Sayed told NBC he had a "warm and inspiring" phone call with Barack Obama and hopes to campaign with him. Which is one way to signal that you are moving to a different section of the map, politically speaking. Keep receipts, my loves, because the gap between "Hasan Piker stumped for me" and "I hope Barack Obama stumps for me" is not a small one.

Nobody is pulling punches right now, the right is furious, the left is fractured, and Piker himself is, per available evidence, completely unbothered. We wish everyone involved strength in this trying week of their own making.