Horseshoe theory in action: Why both parties are struggling with radical online personalities

Less than six months after Republicans reckoned with the popularity of white nationalist personality Nick Fuentes, Democrats find themselves divided over the influence of another online streamer, Hasan Piker, a self-described Marxist and anti-Israel provocateur.

The 34-year-old commentator has built a following of 3.1 million on the live-video platform Twitch, where he records a seven-hour show every day. Like Fuentes, his ability to draw disaffected young voters with aggressive satire and profanity-filled rants has become hard to ignore.

But unlike Fuentes, Piker has not been cut out of the political coalition by a consensus of lawmakers. Instead, he has become a campaign ally for some Democratic candidates despite his history of bigoted and violent stances that some say rival those of Fuentes.

Who is Nick Fuentes?

Over the past decade, Fuentes, age 27, has grown a group of internet followers called “Groypers,” in reference to a social media meme, who believe that the United States should endorse white, male, Christian identity to the exclusion of other ethnic and religious identities.

Fuentes’ daily video stream, which often reaches half a million viewers, is characterized by statements questioning the Holocaust, praising Hitler, trivializing rape, declaring the need to remove all Jews from government, to force women to “shut up” and to incarcerate most black people.

In a viral encounter last year that significantly raised his profile among conservatives, Fuentes told podcast host Tucker Carlson that “organized Jewry in America” is the “main challenge” to keeping the country together, and that “Jewishness” is the “common denominator” pulling it apart.

Who is Hasan Piker?

Piker positions himself on the opposite end of the political spectrum as Fuentes’ far-right takes, avoiding such blatant forms of antisemitism. But the left-wing agitator‘s vitriol toward the Israeli people, paired with consistent celebration of terrorist groups, has raised similar concerns.

“Piker doesn’t need to be an exact equivalent to Nick Fuentes to be just as morally bankrupt and politically toxic,” Lily Cohen of Third Way, a center left think tank, told the Deseret News in a statement.

“Anybody who espouses views as illiberal, anti-American, anti-Democratic, anti-women, and antisemitic as Hasan Piker is undoubtedly wrong for the Democratic Party and its values,” the statement said.

Following Hamas’ attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Piker defended the atrocities committed by Hamas as “acts of resistance,” saying, “it doesn’t matter if rape happened.” On top of that, he has said “Hamas is a thousand times better” than Israel, and praised Hezbollah and the Houthis for their attacks.

Piker has referred to ultra-Orthodox Jews as “inbred,” compared liberals who support an Israeli state to “liberal Nazis” and claimed “America deserved 9/11.” He has also called — he says rhetorically — for the killings of Florida Sen. Rick Scott and land owners to redress disparities.

Piker gains political clout

None of this has stopped Piker from becoming a destination for progressive figures hoping to tap into his audience.

In recent weeks, he has hosted on his show California Rep. Ro Khanna, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Saikat Chakrabarti, a candidate running to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi. On Tuesday, Piker ditched his studio to stump for Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.

“For the last two and a half years they smeared people like myself and people like yourselves,” Piker said about his views on the war in Gaza. “They claimed we were radical, said that we were wrong, and yet we persevered because we understood the violence that was taking place.”

The crowd of around 400 people cheered as Piker lambasted the Democratic establishment and criticized media organizations for focusing critically on his involvement in the Michigan race as opposed to the Trump administration’s bombing campaign in Iran, according to multiple reports.

When El-Sayed was asked whether he would disavow any of Piker’s views, the candidate said he would not engage in what he called a “gotcha game” of “platform policing” and “cancel culture.” The Democratic Party, El-Sayed said, must leave this behind if it’s “serious about winning elections.”

But the electoral impact of allying the party with voices like Piker’s is exactly what has motivated some voices on the left, including El-Sayed’s Democratic primary opponents, to try and draw a firm line in the sand, saying that the Democrat’s big tent should not extend so far to include Piker.

Overlap between left and right?

This is the same debate occurring among commentators and elected officials on the Republican side of the aisle as well, according to Sharon Ceresnie Sorkin, the director of community engagement for the North American Values Institute, who is Jewish and lives in Michigan.

Republican politicians have largely held Fuentes at arms length, or denounced him, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. However, some commentators like Carlson and candidates like Florida gubernatorial hopeful James Fishback have been eager to compliment Fuentes and his supporters.

The acceptance of Fuentes and Piker is evidence of political extremes meeting in the middle, Sorkin said in a statement.

“In this alarming political era, extremism is currency,” she said. “Political hopefuls on the right and the left — from candidates embracing Nick Fuentes, to Abdul El-Sayed campaigning with Hasan Piker — chase reach and clicks by platforming the most extreme voices.”

“They rely on ‘plausible deniability’ regarding the influencers’ vile views, yet eagerly reap the benefit of their followers. This convergence of far-right and far-left opportunism perfectly embodies the ‘horseshoe theory,’ who ultimately converge on demonizing the Jews.”

Some young Utah activists disagree with this characterization.

Kai Schwemmer, the political director of College Republicans of America, credits Fuentes with shifting his own thinking on restricting immigration and pornography. He told the Deseret News in November that Fuentes “obviously is a rising figure on the right,” regardless of whether the mainstream approves.

Samantha Reagan, a representative of the MEChA student group at the University of Utah, told the Deseret News that Piker’s ability to bring left-wing progressive views to young men is impressive, and that the current “smear campaign” against him is an attempt to distract from Democratic failures.

While the two streamers come from opposite ideological poles, they are engaged in the same project, according to author James Lindsay, who has criticized identity politics on the left and the right. And it could quickly transform both parties — especially if politicians are in on it.

“What the two have in common is that they’re at the edge of where the radical fringe meets the popular,” Lindsay told the Deseret News. “Their purpose is to move the needle towards more radical views, especially with younger people. Democrats who are flirting with (Piker) probably understand this and are playing a dangerous game.”