In my last article, I took a deep dive into Donald Trump’s treasonous story fromJan. 6 and how he’s undeniably a threat to American democracy. This time, I’ll be traveling all the way from the far-right side of the political spectrum, where Trump is, to the opposite end: the far-left.
Most of the time when we picture the political spectrum, we envision a straight line connecting the far-left to the far-right, where they’re as far apart as can be. Yet, a recent political development has shown traveling from one extreme to the other leaves us right where we began.
This is called the horseshoe theory, where the far-right and the far-left are empirically observed to closely resemble each other. And these ideologies are just as dangerous as they are closely aligned.
Look no further than Hasan Piker, a political livestreamer with nearly 3 million followers on Twitch. And with Piker introducing that large audience of young voters to the world of politics, one would assume he would use the power for good.
Instead, the media bias chart from Ad Fontes Media finds that Piker spreads equally as much disinformation and biases as Infowars — the company hosted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was sued to liquidation for lying about the Sandy Hook massacre.
Piker describes himself as a socialist. As such, he’s been appropriately criticized as a “champagne socialist” — someone whose socialist beliefs don’t align with their actions. From tangible evidence like buying a $3 million house to more abstract offenses like bad faith arguments, Piker drinks that champagne.
What kind of bad faith does Piker spread? Well, feel free to take your pick.
There’s the time Piker, while discussing China’s invasion and occupation of Tibet, equated Tibet to the South in the Civil War. Or that time he argued Iran has better rights for transgender people than the United States. Or maybe saying that Americans deserved 9/11 and then doubling down on it. How about that time he argued Russia’s annexation of Crimea was “justifiable”?
Piker alone isn’t the problem. While he does spread hateful, anti-American, pro-terrorist rhetoric and pro-enemy state propaganda to his followers, his reach doesn’t extend to all of the far-left. In fact, Piker’s thoughts and actions are merely emblematic of this group.
We’ve seen a disturbing rise in support by far-leftists for terrorists — most notably jihadists like the Houthis, Hezbollah or Hamas.
Just like how Piker plays Houthi propaganda to his viewers and his real-life friends, far-leftists are waving Hezbollah flags at pro-Palestine rallies. Just like how Piker chats with a Houthi terrorist on livestream, far-leftists spray “death to Israel” graffiti on the White House walls. And just like how Piker equates that Houthi terrorist to Anne Frank, Oct. 7, 2023 denialism runs rampant.
The punch line of this story? Naturally, it’s to ask what any of this may have to do with us.
Some sentiments of the far-left are entirely inexcusable. Just like Trump committing treason should be inexcusable, supporting terrorists who have “death to the U.S.” in their motto is unjustifiable.
And given that the 2024 Presidential Election has stakes never seen before — like the possible destruction of American democracy, restrictive abortion laws or the implementation of Project 2025 — to abstain from voting against that agenda is in direct support of it.
Piker’s declaration that Democrats’ attempt to activate voters “pushes a lot of people away from the party” might logically hold some weight. But that weight amounts to nothing if we won’t have another election to vote in.
The far-left’s stance against Kamala Harris in the argument of anti-genocide morally holds a lot of weight. But that morality holds no weight when Trump authorized the release of 20,650 bombs on the Middle East in the first six months of his presidency.
The horseshoe theory shows us who waves red flags. And in fact, they’re so close to each other, they might be waving the same red flag.
After writing so many articles about this upcoming election, I’ve hopefully hammered the point on how pivotal this election is to Americans. Go to the polls and vote, because our lives depend on it.
Great read, really insightful breakdown! I’m puzzled about this horseshoe theory. How exactly do the far-left and far-right end up mirroring each other when their core ideologies are so different? It’s interesting but a bit hard to wrap my head around. Any examples that show this in action would be helpful. Thanks for shedding light on this theory!
We need to fight to retain our free education, our free healthcare, all the homes we’ve built for the homeless, our abortion rights, etc. after all were the wealthiest nation on the planet and we take care of our citizens!!!
Oh wait, we have none of these things, and the party in power isn’t doing anything to enact meaningful change. Meanwhile: “I SWEAR THE NEXT TIME ITTL BE DIFFERENT PLEASE VOTE FOR ME, “DEMOCRACY IS AT STAKE”. ”
What does the path to reinstating roe v Wade even look like?! Frank Yang you couldn’t even explain it clearly to us without googling, and spoiler alert: It’s nearly impossible in this current state of gridlock ( even with majorities post election).
False promises, non-existent policies, and they want my vote? You think your life and the lives around you will be any better on Nov 6 after Kamala is in?
Mark my words, with a Kamala victory secured, we will have no movement on roe v Wade in her entire 4 year term. We will ramp up deportations (her words not mine), increase border spending that they so desperately need (her words not mine), and dangle more false promises like student debt relief and cannabis reform, but not act on any of it.
That’s what we’re all voting for in a week. Its disgusting and sad. And I’m going to hold my nose and vote. I’m not however, going to pretend that this moves the need in any direction other than toward corporate profits, greed, and xenophobia.