Democratic former member of the United States House of Representatives, who represented Tennessee's ninth congressional district for five terms and served on the House Budget and Financial Services committees. He is executive vice president and regional president of PNC Bank, New York, and joined Fox News as a contributor in 2021, appearing as a rotating co-host of The Five.
Case
Hasan Piker told Axios the US has caused more terrorism than al-Qaeda "pound for pound." The full episode added more contested claims -- on Iran's nuclear programme, Mao Zedong, China and Zionism -- and drew condemnation from both parties.
Role at the time: Democratic former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Fox News contributor, as a rotating co-host of The Five
Statement summary
Immediately after the programme played Piker calling Mao Zedong “a great man of history,” Ford — a Democratic former congressman — said the views fell outside the range of any position held in either American party, said he was disappointed the programme was giving “this nonsense” airtime because Piker “almost tries to normalize it,” and said he knew of nobody in Congress who would say Iran should have a nuclear weapon or that Mao was a good man.
“These views are so outside the periphery of the most extreme views in either political party in all of politics in America. And the fact — in some ways I'm disappointed we've been giving this nonsense airtime, because he talks about it in ways, I think, to Joey's point, that he almost tries to normalize it. No Democrat, no Republican, no progressive Democrat or liberal Democrat in their right mind subscribes to any of this. I'm a conservative Democrat.”
Relative to the case's fixed reference point — the claims Piker made in the Axios Show interview — Ford condemns. He calls the views “nonsense,” places them outside the range of any position held in either party, and objects that Piker's manner of expressing them normalises them. The closest competing label is explicitly_declines, because he twice says he wishes the programme would not discuss Piker at all; that loses because he answers substantively and at length before and after saying it, and his objection is to the airtime rather than to being asked.
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
