Knowa De Baraso has sparked new discussion on Hasan Piker by claiming that the progressive streamer “needs to learn how to speak to Black people” and elderly Democratic supporters during a recent interview on Breakfast Club.The 14-year-old media personality made the comments while talking about Piker’s politics, his influence, and whether democratic socialist rhetoric can connect with the party’s most dependable vote blocs.
Knowa was careful not to turn the segment into a full takedown. He said he likes Piker “because of the influence he brings to the table” and called any conversation with him “an interesting conversation.”
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Knowa’s core argument: the problem is tone, not policy
When asked about his views on Piker, Knowa said that he doesn’t think that Piker is “a bad person.”
“I don’t think he’s a bad person, but he is definitely not a moderate. He is a democratic socialist,” Knowa said.
However, Knowa returned to the same point: Piker, in his view, does not naturally know how to communicate with “older people within the party” and Black voters who care less about internet ideology than about trust, tone and everyday concerns.
Knowa framed South Carolina as the test case, calling Black voters there “the backbone of the Democratic Party” and questioning how Piker would fare in a conversation with an older Black woman focused on kitchen-table issues.
He said, “I think whoever our Democratic nominee in 2020 is not gonna be Hassan Piker. But what I’m saying is whoever our Democratic nominee is gonna be in 2028 needs to know how to speak really well to South Carolinians.”
Knowa agreed that Piker talks about issues many voters support in theory, including healthcare, education costs and putting more money in people’s pockets. But he argued that those promises alone do not win over older Black voters.
His point was that the “how” matters, especially when proposals like Medicare for All can be framed as threatening something voters already have. “Everybody’s gonna say yes to those things 100%, but when we talked about earlier, how people are dealing with their everyday issues. So it doesn’t seem that simple for them,” he said.
He added, “I think if you communicate like okay, you can say, ‘ Do you want free health care?’ but that’s also manipulation.
He continued, “Because that might be a Medicare for all solution that might drag that auntie out of her health care and have to go to this weird Socialist system.”
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“Social democrat” and “Democratic socialist”
In his conversation with The Breakfast Club host DJ Envy, Knowa drew a line between a “social democrat” and a “democratic socialist.”
He said, “I would say that I am a social Democrat. I’m not a moderate Democrat, but whatever’s to the left of moderate democrat.”
He also suggested that left-wing figures can be quick to brand moderates as sellouts, even when those moderates are trying to speak to a broader electorate.
He described himself as someone who wants to “reform capitalism” and reduce inequality, but warned that messaging around “dismantling capitalism” can alienate voters who see the existing system, however flawed, as a route to opportunity.
He said, “I think if you’re wearing shirts, they ‘dismantle capitalism,’ not only is that destructive to the system that we have here today, which has gotten so many people opportunities, it’s dangerous to American society, and I’m interested to see how democratic socialism socialism plays out around the world.”
