This Socialist Candidate Tried to Distance Herself From Hasan Piker

Angie Nixon wants it both ways, and that's the tell. Take the DSA money, take the DSA endorsement, take the activist infrastructure that comes with it, and then when someone asks about Hasan Piker, suddenly there's distance. You don't get to run on a movement's energy and then act surprised when people ask about the company that movement keeps.

Piker isn't some obscure figure nobody's heard of. He's got millions of followers and a long track record of saying things that would end most people's careers, from cheering on regimes hostile to America to the kind of rhetoric that makes even sympathetic outlets wince. If a candidate's coalition includes him, voters deserve to know whether that's a bug or a feature. Nixon apparently decided it was a bug worth papering over once the cameras showed up.

This is the pattern with a lot of DSA-aligned candidates lately. They build with the far left because that's where the volunteers and small-dollar donors are, then scrub the resume for a general election audience that isn't as forgiving. Voters aren't stupid. They can look at who funded a campaign, who showed up to knock doors, who cut the viral clips, and draw their own conclusions regardless of what the press release says this week.

If Nixon actually disagreed with Piker's politics, the honest move would've been to say so months ago, not after a reporter asked. Distancing yourself from an ally only when it's politically convenient isn't a principle. It's just timing.