On Wednesday, September 30, University Democrats at the University of Texas at Austin will host Hasan Piker for a discussion of topics “ranging from immigration to genocide, to the future of the Democratic Party.” Piker has an extensive record of expressing support for terrorist organizations, glorifying authoritarian regimes, and treating political violence as entertainment. University Democrats invited him anyway. For them, his history of reprehensible statements is not a bug. It’s a feature.
The demand tells its own story. When University Democrats announced the event, tickets for the roughly 460-seat auditorium sold out within 20 minutes, and more than 2,500 people registered. This is not a fringe booking nobody noticed. Thousands of my peers lined up to attend.
Ask the organizers why, and the answer is candid. University Democrats’ president says the “vast majority” of students are “very supportive” and dismisses critics as “a few online trolls who thrive off of hate,” casting Piker as the voice of students “who believe the status quo of American and Texas politics is simply not good enough.” The theory, on campus and in the radical wing of the Democratic Party, is that Piker ...