This past weekend, one of the most terrifying episodes of the Trump regime's war on dissent played out in a Chicago airport, and unless you're big into Twitch streams or YouTube culture, there's a pretty good chance you didn't even hear about it. On Sunday, the most popular left wing political streamer on Twitch, Hasan Piker, was stopped at the airport after returning from a speaking engagement in France, detained, and questioned in what was far as I can tell was an exercise in attempted entrapment, for a little over two hours by Customs and Border Protection. Piker is a prominent critic of the Trump regime and Israel's ongoing, US-backed genocide in Gaza and even if you haven't heard of him, I guarantee you that your kids have; he's "a whole big deal" in the political streaming scene.

According to Piker, who I have no reason to disbelieve, the CBP interrogator directly asked him about his political positions, his support for Palestine, and his opinions on Trump himself; none of which is any of the government's goddamn business. The agent also seemed very determined to directly link Piker to organizations the US government has labelled as terrorist (Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis) for the purposes of extending his detention. At one point Piker reports that he was grilled about whether or not he had ever interviewed a member of these organizations; despite the fact that Hasan is effectively a member of the media, interviewing people we're bombing or helping to bomb the shit out of is journalism, and American journalists seek out interviews with "our enemies" all the time. Piker had not actually interviewed any members of those organizations, but objectively it doesn't matter if he had and the government once again has no business asking that question.

All of which brings us to the *really* weird part of this story; the fact that a large number of the CPB agent's questions seemed to be formulated directly from accusations made by a Zionist streamer going through a protracted public mental health episode, or a pro-Trump fascist streamer who hasn't washed his body in years; both of whom do not like Hasan and have based a lot of their content around trying to paint him as a terrorist sympathizer and an enemy of the United States. In other words, the fascist government of the United States has someone watching right wing fucking Twitch streams and YouTube personalities to find targets for state repression and accusations to prosecute against them; no, really, that does appear to be what's happening here.

As absurd as all that is however, I agree very much with Piker when he theorizes that the purpose of stopping him for the regime is to send a message to other small (by industry standards) content creators affecting the discourse and criticizing the Trump regime. These nazis want you to know that the eye is always watching, dissent is at least vaguely criminal, and they can get anyone, anywhere, at any time, for anything they like whether it's actually illegal or not. Piker's high profile in the streaming/Youtuber communities, and the fact that he perpetually lives on camera, likely made him the ideal target to send that message to the rest of his community. Factually speaking, I don't think Trump has the power to march into the head offices of say MSNBC and just start arresting journalists, yet. But the regime certainly can start going after independent creators in the media environment without too much trouble, and as such I think it would be foolish to believe the regime's attempts to suppress the media and quash dissent aren't more likely to start with the "little guys" like Hasan. I can't predict the future, but I'm absolutely certain that the threat is real, and Piker won't be the last independent critic of the regime, or Israel's US-backed genocide in Gaza, to be targeted this way.

Finally, I'm not sure this video offers up anything I didn't talk about here, but I like to source my claims out here as you know, so here's Mike Figeuredo of The Humanist Report discussing the situation, with clips from Hasan Piker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUUQQ2NIgYI

The Humanist Report: Leftist Twitch Streamer Hasan Piker Detained & Questioned Over His Anti-Trump Views

"Twitch streamer Hasan Piker announced on Sunday that he was detained and questioned by CBP for approximately two hours at an airport after returning home from an international flight. He explains that a federal agent knew a lot about him and questioned him about his views on Trump and Israel/Palestine. Hasan says he thinks he was detained so the Trump administration could send a message to other content creators like him."