Michael LaRosa was drinking Whitehaven New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and watching Ted Lasso when he decided to torch his own party. The former press secretary to First Lady Jill Biden hopped online and announced he'd rather vote for Republican Senator Mike Rogers than support Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed — a candidate who can't seem to separate himself from a streamer who told America it deserved 9/11.
That streamer would be Hasan Piker. And LaRosa isn't being coy about why.
LaRosa responded "SAME" to a voter's post expressing the same reluctance, then elaborated that he "woke up in Crazy Town." When the predictable backlash arrived from the online left, LaRosa didn't flinch. "I'm not a public official. I have no constituency," he wrote. "I have no cult following to deliver and no role in this race."
Then he went further. Much further.
"Of course I would rather see someone like Rogers over a 'D' who is too much of a p*y to stand up to an anti-Semitic goon like Hasan Piker," LaRosa said. He added that he "refused to defend or support anyone with an SS Totenkampf tattoo" — a reference to Democrats other controversial candidate Graham Platner who had a well-documented Nazi symbol inked across his chest for years and only covered it up when voters in Maine called him out.
Piker, for those keeping score, is the same streamer who claimed America "deserved 9/11." Said it out loud, on camera, with the confidence of someone who's never had to picture what it looks like when people jump from 110 stories because the stairs are gone. LaRosa apparently has pictured it. His comments referenced those who fell from 95 stories that morning — and he doesn't seem interested in pretending that's a forgivable political opinion.
Piker also made insane comments about plans to destroy the White race...
El-Sayed's problem isn't just that Piker endorsed him. Endorsements happen. The problem is the grin. LaRosa specifically called out El-Sayed's response to questions about Piker's 9/11 comments, saying, "Maybe he should try answering it again — and wipe the grin off his face next time." When a guy who used to stand behind the podium at the Biden White House tells your Senate candidate to stop smirking about September 11th, the campaign has a messaging problem that no amount of digital ad spend is going to fix.
This is what happens when a party decides its coalition includes people who think the worst attack on American soil was justified. You don't lose the center. You lose your own staff. The people who answered the phones, prepped the talking points, and defended the administration on cable news look at the nominee and say, actually, the Republican is fine.
LaRosa didn't leave the Democratic Party over taxes or regulation or even the border. He left over a candidate who doesn't think Israel has a right to exist, and wants to bring Sharia law to America.