WATCH: AOC Refuses to Condemn Hasan Piker’s Claim that “America Deserved 9/11” and Defends Him in Word Salad Answer

Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appeared on ABC’s This Week on Sunday with host Jonathan Karl, where she defended Hasan Piker’s shameful claim that “America deserved 9/11.”

The 2028 Presidential hopeful came loaded with the same talking points as Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El Sayed, who, on NBC’s Meet the Press, defended Hasan Piker’s comments, blaming cancel culture and “gocha politics” for the controversy stemming from them.

[snip]

She shrugged off Piker’s comments, saying, “Yes. Yes. He’s apologized,” slamming critics for “Monday morning quarterbacking.”

“We need to be not, not so, you know, willing to engage in cancel culture,” she said, arguing that Democrats need to embrace right-wing mediums like Joe Rogan and Fox News, as well as Communist Hasan Piker, to appeal to young people.

WATCH: (This video is from YouTube)

Transcript:

[snip]

Ocasio-Cortez: Yes. Yes. He’s apologized.

Karl: But he said a lot of, he said a lot of controversial things. Is he somebody that should have a role in the progressive movement going forward?

Ocasio-Cortez: You know, I think when we look at our elections that have happened, we have lost young people. Much hay was made about the fact that we lost young men in the last election, and many of the same consultants that are wringing their hands today were the same ones talking about how we need to go on Joe Rogan, and we need to be not, not so, you know, willing to engage in cancel culture, and I think that the flip-flopping on this is a tactical debate that they may be having. I think the fact of the matter is, is that Democrats can go on Joe Rogan, Democrats can go on FOX News, Democrats have a responsibility to build a winning coalition.

[snip]

Karl: I mean, you see it in the polling. It is insignificant.

Ocasio-Cortez: And millennials are not, you know, punk kids anymore. We’re grown adults with mortgages and kids. And we — that generation is starting to be decisive at the polls. And there is anger at being ignored, sidelined, having our economic futures mortgaged by the generations that came before us on everything from the economy to climate. And we’re taking the reins.

(*) Full article: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/08/watch-aoc-refuses-condemn-hasan-pikers-claim-that/