Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) was asked in a recent interview why he continues to defend left-wing political pundits like Hasan Piker, who is widely known for inflammatory rhetoric, in the aftermath of an attempted assassination targeting top Trump administration officials at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
Despite acknowledging some of the controversial remarks attributed to Piker, including comments defending the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO and praise for Hamas, Rep. Khanna argued that Piker is expressing a broader sense of frustration among Americans, one that he described as important to acknowledge.
UNREAL. Rep Ro Khanna defends Hasan Piker who called for the murder of Republicans pic.twitter.com/dbHzWCxd0N
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 28, 2026
"I have said that Hamas is a terrorist organization. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. I was one of the first people who condemned the shooting of the United Healthcare executive. But millions of people follow Hasan Piker. Why? Because he's speaking about some of the frustrations," Rep. Khanna said. "He's speaking about the fact that people don't have health care in America."
"There are a lot of people on the podcast world, etc., who say things that are outrageous or sensationalist," he continued. "And I push back when you do that. But we have to understand the anger in this country of people who feel they can't buy a house, they can't afford gas, they can't have health care."
"They're upset at the system. It's one of the reasons Trump won twice. And we have to engage while condemning the violence," he said. "I never engage in approving of violence, approving of the incitement of violence, and I'll condemn it when I hear it."
Unfortunately for both Khanna and Piker, murder, theft, and other illegal acts are not the ways in which real Americans choose to effect change in their country.
We effect change the way we learned after the American Revolution, through voting, and through persuading and changing the minds of our fellow Americans, not through violence. The moment that approach begins to falter, we risk watching our system of law and order fade, becoming a mere suggestion rather than a requirement.
Mainstreaming individuals who support or excuse violence, on either side, is reprehensible, and often indicative of an attempt to sow chaos and exploit it.
Now is the time to double down on the American system of governance, not to abandon it in pursuit of revolutionary change, which would not lead to positive reform but rather to an erosion of the American way of life.
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