FLASHBACK: Watch Charlie Kirk Expose Absurdity Of Hasan Piker’s Communist Dream

A nearly eight-year-old clip of Charlie Kirk ripping Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker’s communist dream went viral on social media again this week.

In the exchange, which took place during a Politicon debate in Los Angeles on October 20, 2018 — the pair’s second meeting at the convention — Kirk asked Piker why he doesn’t live by the communist vision he calls for America to embrace.

“Why don’t you give 95% of your money away and go live on a commune?” Kirk asked the America-hating communist streamer.

“Do you really think that that’s how it works?” Piker replied.

“Why not? Go live what you preach,” Kirk said as Piker attempted to interrupt the Turning Point USA founder.

“I live what I practice,” Kirk added. “I am a free-market capitalist, I employ people, I took a risk, I have my own start-up business. Every single day, I practice what I preach. He wants other people to contribute to what he considers to be a good idea, what he considers will make the world a better place.”

“You have the freedom to go live as a socialist. Go do it, Hasan. What’s stopping you?”

Piker called the exchange “absolutely preposterous.” “If I gave away the measly earnings that I had and gave away 95% of that,” he began — before Kirk cut in to ask, “How much do you make, Hasan?” — “that wouldn’t necessarily even push the needle.”

“I will be very honest, it’s really embarrassing especially because my boss is sitting right there, I make $60,000 a year, okay? And that’s a really good salary.”

The exchange devolved when Cenk Uygur — Piker’s uncle and, at the time, his boss at The Young Turks — began shouting at Kirk from the audience, demanding to know Kirk’s own salary.

“I live like a capitalist every single day, Cenk,” Kirk said. “I practice what I preach. You do not practice what you preach.”

Pressed on his own pay, Kirk answered: “Less than Hasan, so you can check it yourself.”

The debate was just one of many examples of how Kirk stood for conservative principles in some of the most radical leftist environments.

On September 10, 2025, Kirk was assassinated while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University. The Turning Point USA founder was shot while taking a question about transgender mass shooters. According to charging documents, the suspected gunman texted his roommate and trans-identifying lover afterward: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Since the debate with Kirk in 2018, Piker has gained fame among the far-Left, and he has even been embraced by some in the Democratic Party, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). This year, Piker has campaigned with Democratic House and Senate candidates in New York and Michigan, including Michigan Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who is hoping to become the first Muslim U.S. senator.

Piker’s earnings have grown considerably since. Fox Business host Charles Payne put his net worth at $35 million on air Wednesday, though public estimates vary widely, with Celebrity Net Worth listing roughly $8 million. What isn’t in dispute is the $2.7 million West Hollywood home — a long way from the commune.

In an April New York Times podcast, Piker said he’s “pro stealing from big corporations, because they steal quite a bit more from their own workers,” and added that while he doesn’t shoplift himself, “if someone needs the food, they should absolutely steal it.”

Piker has praised murderous Chinese communist dictator Mao Zedong and has argued that America “deserved 9/11.” In March 2025, Piker was temporarily suspended from the streaming platform Twitch — his fifth suspension from the site — after saying that if Republicans cared about entitlement fraud, “you would kill Rick Scott.”