Republican pollster and political strategist. She managed Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, the first woman to run a winning presidential campaign, and then served as senior counselor to the president in the White House until 2020. She is the author of the memoir Here's the Deal and appears as a Fox News contributor.
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: Republican pollster and former senior counselor to the president, as a co-host of Fox News' The Five
Statement summary
Answering Ford's claim that nobody in either party entertains Piker's views, Conway named Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Senate candidate campaigning alongside Piker, said he would not disclaim him, and argued Democrats should distance themselves from Piker as some had from Graham Platner. She said the party had allowed itself to be “infiltrated by influencers and streamers” and that the Democratic National Committee pays influencers rather than economists or foreign policy experts.
“So, Harold, respectfully, I know at least one person who's willing to entertain this. His name is Abdul El-Sayed. He's palling around with this guy. He will not disclaim him and the crazy by-the-moment things that he's saying. And I think that Hasan Piker the person is actually even less important than Hasan Piker the performance artist now, because it represents how difficult it is now and will be in 2028 for Democrats to transition from shock-the-conscience crazy talk in the primaries to trying to present themselves as reasonable and semi-capitalist and connected to voters, to everyday voters. The way that some responsible Democrats wanted to distance themselves and their party from Graham Platner and his Nazi tattoo and his abuse of women and his adultery, I think that people should be doing that now with Hasan Piker. Here's the problem with Piker: the Democratic Party has allowed itself to be infiltrated by influencers and streamers and to live online.”
Relative to the case's fixed reference point — the claims Piker made in the Axios Show interview — Conway condemns. She characterises what Piker is saying as “the crazy by-the-moment things” and “shock-the-conscience crazy talk,” and the Platner comparison treats his statements as disqualifying rather than merely unhelpful. The closest competing label is challenges_characterization, which loses because she is not disputing how Piker's remarks have been described; her argument is that a candidate who will not disavow them is the more consequential problem, which extends the condemnation rather than redirecting it.
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
