The Republican midterm convention in Dallas just wrapped its second night.
And Vice President JD Vance had something to say about exactly who Democrats are choosing to stand next to on the campaign trail.
What he said about the 9/11 anniversary is going to leave a mark.
Vance Draws the Line on Fox News
Appearing on Fox News Channel’s live coverage of the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Vance spoke directly about what the convention was designed to accomplish, and the contrast it was drawing with the Democrat Party heading into the November midterms.
“So, I think what the president tried to do tonight very successfully was really two things,” Vance said.
The first, he said, was laying out the record. “First of all, you got to talk about all the amazing things that we did over the last couple of years. No taxes on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. That stuff all goes away if the Democrats take control.”
Then came the second part, and Vance didn’t soften it.
“They also did a really good job of identifying just how crazy the Democrats have become. I mean, really, just using their own words, Sean, this is not actually that — it’s hard to believe the things that they’ve actually said.”
He put it plainly: “And I really do think the contrast is common sense versus crazy. Agree with Republicans. Disagree with Republicans. We’re trying to do what’s in the best interest of the people of the United States of America. And Democrats are running on a lot of crazy, crazy stuff.”
Then Vance turned to the 9/11 anniversary, which falls just days after the convention wrapped. “The Democrats are running around campaigning with people who say that we deserved 9/11. The people who died on that day actually had it coming.”
He kept going. “You have Democrats going around and saying that they want to abolish the American way of life. You have Democrats going around saying that they want to seize people’s wealth.”
The Hasan Piker Problem Democrats Can’t Shake
The 9/11 remark Vance referenced traces directly to Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who said “America deserved 9/11, dude” during a 2019 livestream on his personal channel. Piker later walked the comment back, saying he could have “phrased things better,” but the words are on tape and they haven’t gone anywhere.
The reason this matters in 2026 is simple: Piker actively campaigned with Michigan Democrat Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed during the primary, appearing alongside him at events including a rally at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Rep Summer Lee (D-PA) was also present at one of those events.
El-Sayed has tried to put distance between himself and Piker’s remarks. “Of course it was a dumb statement and of course I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement,” El-Sayed said in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press. He also told Fox News, “Of course I oppose rape. Of course I don’t think 9/11 was justified,” while defending his decision to appear with Piker on the trail.
But El-Sayed would not say directly whether he planned to campaign with Piker again ahead of the general election. And the optics of a Democrat Senate nominee standing next to someone who said the people murdered on September 11 had it coming — two days before the 25th anniversary of the attacks — are not something a press statement erases.
Piker, for his part, offered a non-apology that only made things worse. “I apologize for those who I have offended, but most importantly, apologize for giving an opportunity to the right to just like use this against me,” he said in a recent podcast interview. The concern, apparently, was not the families of 3,000 murdered Americans. It was the political inconvenience.
What This Convention Was Actually About
Republicans gathered in Dallas for the first-ever Republican midterm convention, with President Donald Trump and Vice President Vance both delivering primetime addresses. The event was designed to energize the MAGA base heading into November, with Trump himself telling the crowd they needed to “pretend I’m on the ticket.”
Vance, meanwhile, is looking like the future of the party. The crowd interrupted his speech with chants of “48,” a reference to the 2028 presidential race. He quickly redirected: “We’ve got to take care of business this November, then we’ll worry about what comes next.”
But what Vance said on Fox News after the convention speeches deserves to be taken at face value, not just as campaign rhetoric. The Democrat Party is making choices about who it elevates, who it campaigns with, and what kind of politics it is willing to normalize. Those choices have consequences.
Islamic terrorists directed by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda carried out the September 11 attacks, murdering nearly 3,000 Americans. That is settled history. There is no version of “context” that makes “America deserved 9/11” an acceptable thing to say, and there is no version of political strategy that makes campaigning alongside the person who said it a defensible decision for anyone seeking a seat in the United States Senate.
El-Sayed called it a “dumb statement.” But he appeared with Piker anyway. And the Democrat Party put him forward as their nominee anyway. And Piker’s own response was to apologize for the political inconvenience to himself.
Vance’s point isn’t complicated. Democrats are making choices. Voters get to evaluate those choices. And with the 25th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history falling in the middle of campaign season, those choices are especially visible.
The broader picture Vance was painting at that convention in Dallas is one that should concern every voter who remembers what September 11 actually was. Not an abstraction. Not a foreign policy debate. Three thousand people going to work in the morning and never coming home.
And the Democrat running for Senate in Michigan thought it made sense to share a stage with the man who said they had it coming.
Sources: Breitbart, “JD Vance: ‘Democrats Are Running Around Campaigning with People Who Say that We Deserved 9/11′” (September 10, 2026); NBC News, “Vance positions himself as a fighter for family values and a ‘national birthright'” (September 11, 2026); Notus, “Abdul El-Sayed Calls Streamer Hasan Piker’s Past 9/11 Comment ‘Dumb'” (August 9, 2026); The Hill, “Piker says he could’ve phrased ‘America deserved 9/11’ better” (August 12, 2026); Fox News, “Abdul El-Sayed says rallying with Hasan Piker doesn’t mean he endorses ‘America deserved 9/11’ remark”; CBS News, “Michigan Senate candidates battle over their records on 9/11 at 25-year mark” (September 11, 2026)
