Media still *really* wants to make "Joe Rogan of the Left" happen with Hasan. A couple of videos caught my attention.
Hasan had a short interview video segment on The Daily Show (without Jon Stewart). It briefly mentions the airport incident, but the segment recording in Hasan's broadcasting room was most certainly prior to that. In relation to the showdown with Ethan Klein a couple of weeks ago? Probably after is my guess. In any case, the segment is totally glazing, just futzing around and posturing Hasan as the good-looking "manosphere" whisperer/alternative.
Then Hasan had an interview with Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau for his Pod Save America podcast, a repeat guest appearance on that network since a bit before the 2024 election (again, as the "manosphere" whisperer). Much more substantial in content and specifically about the about incident in very much a glazing "oh my God, how terrible that this happened to you" kind of way.
A couple of things that stood out to me as I listened:
And he kept repeating over and over again, like he's like, uh, do you think Hamas is a resistance group or do you think they're terrorists? Do you think Houthis are a resistance group or do you think they're terrorists? And I kept repeating two different points over and over again. The first point was whenever they asked me about, like, Israel Palestine, I was like "I'm on the side of civilians. I want to end the bloodshed." And I kept saying that over and over again. And whenever they asked me about any militancy against Israel I just kept repeating the position over and over again that, like, "the US State Department has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization," not like giving him any additional points beyond that. There were there were definitely moments where I revealed my position. Like with Donald Trump, I said I don't like him, and that, you know, it's constitutionally protected speech to have this sort of opinion as an American citizen. But beyond that, in terms of like foreign policy, I didn't like dive too deeply into it...
That's fine legal talk and all, but this kind of phrasing makes it incredibly obvious that Hasan is "hiding his power level" in being a supporter of Hamas & Friends, and I find it completely shocking how incurious his interviewer Favreau is when told this story as such. As a regular listener in recent months (mainly because I enjoy the post-election schadenfreude), I've heard the Pod Save America network lambast Israel's part in the war constantly, but they blame Netanyahu at every opportunity. It seems like they pretty much have the same view on the war as Ethan, so I assume that despite their criticisms of Israel, they'd still openly call themselves anti-Hamas. In light of this, I now have to wonder whether Favreau, in having so little questions, is genuinely clueless or knowingly covering for Hasan's radicalism that has been further brought to light in recent months.
(Have you talked to a lawyer since?)
I called my lawyer buddy, who he's not like an immigration attorney, he's a public defender in New York, after but he was more shaken up about the process happening than really offering me any sort of like legal advice, and lawyers have reached out, like the ACLU's reached out, a bunch of First Amendment defense lawyers have have reached out as well. I have yet to talk to them
Telling that the airport incident is such a non-issue that Hasan didn't even contact his lawyer afterward, never mind during. Just informally called a friend who is a lawyer to vent instead.
Jon Favreau:
There's a couple options here, right? Like there's one is that they did this because they know you're a public figure and that you would talk about it and their whole intention is to send a message that people should be afraid that this might happen to them if they speak out. You mentioned the Tik Tocker. There was a another US citizen who was on TikTok who has like spoken out against the Trump administration and I think something similar happened to her as well. So there's that. There's also... I had been worried about this because I heard Seb Gorka, who's the White House counterterrorism chief now, and a few others, have sort of been like, well ... They've been making the leap from, well, there's an invasion and there's you know terrorist groups that now we're designating everyone a terrorist group, and the people who support them and the people, who you, know basically criticize the deportations and criticize the detentions and the disappearances. There's laws about providing material support for terrorism, and I'm like, oh, is this how they're going to try to ensnare American citizens by being, like, you actually were supporting terrorism?
With theorizing like this, maybe Favreau really is a clueless idiot, trying to fit Hasan into his pre-exisitng "Republicans Bad" narrative from his podcast rather than recognizing that Hasan
does support terrorism.
I was planning on going to Cuba, so now I don't know. I don't know what they'll do to me after I go to Cuba as a "state sponsor of terror" according to this administration. Well I have plans to go to Cuba, and plans to go to Ireland this year, plans to go back to France as well, and also plans to go to China, and I'm probably going to continue... I'm going to do all of those things, but we shall see what happens when I come back. But it is really interesting that I get a warmer reception upon entering a foreign nation than I do coming back to my own.
Oh, I'd love to hear about what kind of glazing he gives to Cuba and China. Can't help but also suspect that his time in Ireland will be hanging with the local radicals. And I hope customs continue to have a chat with him for each trip back, especially from China.
