During a Twitch livestream on Tuesday night, “The Young Turks” commentator Hasan Piker, who is the nephew of “Young Turks” co-creator Cenk Uygur, mocked U.S. Military veteran Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) for losing an eye in combat.
“This guy has the understanding of foreign policy of, like, a 12-year-old. What the f***. What the f*** is wrong with this dude? Didn’t he go to war and like literally lose his eye because some mujahideen — a brave f***ing soldier — f***ed his eye hole with their d***?” Piker rambled, adding, “Isn’t that how he f***ing lost his dumba** eye, because he got his f***ing eye hole f***ed, by a brave soldier?”
Crenshaw responded to the vile remarks made by Piker on Wednesday. “[Hasan Piker] seems to confuse ‘Improvised Explosive Device’ with some weird terrorist fantasy,” he wrote via Twitter. “Lol sorry for triggering you Hasan.”
“You’re no Pete Davidson, stop trying so hard,” the Texas representative added, referencing a “Saturday Night Live” comedian who made a much-maligned joke about Crenshaw’s wartime injury last year. Unlike Piker, Davidson apologized for the (in comparative terms, mild) joke about Crenshaw, who, in turn, graciously appeared alongside the comedian for a powerful SNL segment.
Crenshaw lost his eye during his third deployment from an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast.
“Dan was hit by an IED blast during a mission in Helmand province, Afghanistan,” the Republican’s campaign website explains. “He was evacuated and awoke from his medically induced coma learning that his right eye had been destroyed in the blast and his left eye was still present, but badly damaged. Dan was completely blind and the doctors did not believe he would ever see again. Tara stood by him every day and night, keeping faith and praying he would see again. After several difficult surgeries, he eventually regained sight in his left eye, a miracle according to the head surgeon.”
Crenshaw served two more deployments following the serious injury and has received recognitions including two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.
Along with his mockery of the war vet, Piker said during the same livestream that “America deserved 9/11,” a terrorist attack that left 3,000 innocents dead. The left-wing politico defended such remarks on Twitter, writing, “Americas foreign policy decisions has lead to 911. This would’ve been a controversial thing to say in 2001. Stop being a f***ing idiot.”
Piker added, “We supplied arms to and trained Bin Laden. We destabilized the region long before 911. And now we’re stuck in perpetual war, which Dan Crenshaw was trying to justify in that clip. It’s exactly this kind of attitude that has sent thousands of young men and women overseas to die.”