I was the last one to incite a debate about Hasan on this site, and this was the comment that reframed my thinking positively.
this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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Reposting from another thread: Hasan has a place in the pipeline for the growing disenchantment liberals are feeling.
Maybe he is, like me, a sophist, who doesn't let beliefs get in the way of getting the job done. He's many times noted how with some hogs, certain arguments that might not be the best (e.g. we shouldn't bomb Iran because it is in the service of Israel might be more effective than we shouldn't be doing imperialism full stop). That ability to shapeshift is valuable as long as it's broadly done in the service of left principles without compromising on things like genocide.
The most policing he does is on leftists who are so detached they've lost the ability to communicate/pipeline liberals. Which, in a space like his, is acceptable. Once you're on hexbear, go fucking ham with the esoteric left critiques and struggle sessions, but when trying to pipeline liberals in your org a softer and more contingent touch is required.
Why is Hasan not promoting zoomer climate Posadism to his audience?!?!?
I also think, to maybe be more charitable to Hasan than he deserves, there's something to "some arguments should be had in left-only spaces." I love the struggle sessions here (I'm a
), but part of why they're good is they happen in our space with (minimal) interaction from outsiders. He's mentioned the thing about how PSL is superior to DSA because they don't air their grievances publicly before, and in some ways there's a similar vibe. He's in a public space, so airing some esoteric left critique is counter-productive.
BTW - if Hasan ever crosses red lines on genocide, M4A, war, etc. then I think it's open season. There's some things we shouldn't ever compromise on. However, to my knowledge, he's been remarkably consistent in his anti-imperialist bona fides.
He literally lies about Lenin to convince people to vote for democrats. That is not a pipeline to the left. That is diverting people who were heading left towards his friends in the democratic party. The fact he screams at anyone who tries to point out that he is misrepresenting Lenin makes it clear this is a deliberate strategy, I imagine this is because if he wasn't serving the democrats he would lose access to them.
He is an active, deliberate impediment to the left.
If that's all they will do (vote democrat), it's still better than them being chuds. If they, however, use the fact that he namedrops Lenin to go further, that's also a good thing. Also, I don't think his readings are "lies" they're just readings! It's like saying you are Martin Luther and have the correct interpretation of scripture. Lenin's works are a text, and while there's doctrinaire readings, perhaps he's flexing the truth to get people to approach the works.
I don't buy that they were "heading left" necessarily either - what's that even mean? Is it abstaining because accelerationism is the best principle? Unless "heading left" is joining a union, building the organization, and creating strike power, I literally don't know what you're talking about here (and that's not mutually exclusive with voting for democrats).
is obviously a very minor thing, and he's doing work to platform progressive candidates, but if "heading left" is just voting for the most communist candidate - most people who he gets in would have never done that anyway! Meanwhile, when he emphasizes unions, organizing, and building actual power, he's actually moving people left.
If you read Lenin telling people it can be productive to vote for a proletarian political party even in a bourgeois system and use that to tell people they should vote for the democrats then you are a fucking liar, full stop. That is explicitly the opposite of what the passage says. This is what makes it clear that while he could fill the role you're talking about, he is choosing not to. He is funneling people into being democrat voters and explicitly directing them away from the left. Like, he literally shouts down anyone who tries to suggest actual left wing ideas on favour of, once again, misrepresenting Lenin in order to convince people to vote democrat. That is not useful or productive unless the end goal you want is barbarism. Personally I am hoping for socialism.
Has Hasan ever supported "vote blue no matter who"? Generally he has supported DSA-aligned candidates like Zohran who in some capacity are trying to push democrats towards a proletarian party. It's also about pushing the entire left in America so the bare minimum is no genocide, anti-war, pro M4A. And he's uncompromising on these things! It's not like he's supporting freaks who support "medicare for all who want it."
I'm listening to him now, and he's literally arguing "more than half of the Democrats in the caucus are also on board with this initiative [to attack Iran]". How is this supporting "Democrats" in the abstract? Specific candidates with left policies within the party are worth supporting, but that's the extent of his support! He didn't even support Kamala as some sort of squishy harm reduction shit because he's uncompromising on the things that matter!
Supporting Zohran "homeless sweeps and bending the knee to Israel are good" Mamdani is effectively what I am talking about.
I hope you mean democratic voters because entryism is a dead end.
I didn't say he was blue no matter who, but pushing people to vote for "some democrats" is still channeling people away from the left. The other half of democrats who didn't "support attacking Iran" are still a part of the democrats, who funded genocide in Israel and promised to fund them even more. They will still go along with the war in Iran. They're still the problem. They are still a bourgeois party supporting the white supremacist, genocidal project that is the United states.
No the fuck they are not, because they are all literally on board with genocide. That's what joining the democratic party IS. These are people who are explicitly choosing to align themself with an organisation that has the explicit, stated goal of supporting and funding the genocide in Gaza, among many other unforgivable crimes.
Are you an accelerationist? If so that's fine but I really don't see what the "left" is at a statewide or national level in America. Should we all vote PSL even when they're polling at 1%? I'm not going to say that there's not a time and place to do this (there is), but if you're an electoralist or interested in something other than accelerationism then sometimes voting for a dem (who as a candidate refuses to support genocide or war and supports m4a) can ever so slightly remove the boot of fascism from ppl to help with organizing.
I think it's interesting you ignore the real material gains of zohran. Would a mayor that didn't bother to get their constituent freed from gestapo custody be better for "the left"? Seriously interested in what you think about this.
There are multiple levels here. The first level, and first conversion, is actually getting a Leftist foot in the Liberal door to listen to our pitch. To that end, Hasan is the door-to-door salesman that is canvassing for leads, the very top of the funnel. Only some of them will even give him the time of day, let alone listen to his pitch. But a few will, and some of them will move onto the next level where we can go deeper.
From my perspective I recommend Hasan to certain people at certain points so he can handle the right side of the meme, and I can meet people closer to the left side. saves me energy that way.
:this: and also
I like to see it as a sales funnel, with Hasan out there canvassing leads (the sales funnel) to at least hearing Socialism's sales pitch (the first conversion). From there the baton is passed to the next group (like us) to further convert those people. Rarely is a sales pitch a one-and-done thing, especially for huge projects like political change, so we need to stair-step. The biggest tool in our toolbox is The Burden Of Being Right. When we make predictions and explain how we got that conclusion it basically does all the real hard work for us.
I say all of this as a former Clintonite Liberal^[Yes, I used to say "Socially Liberal Fiscally Conservative" and "Socialism works in theory but not in practice" completely unironically. American brainworms go deep.] during the Bush years, arguing in good but naive faith with Leftists. I needed to get cooked on low heat as I got most historical events wrong time and time again while Leftists got most everything right.