“I’m pragmatic,” Hasan Piker says, when it comes to how Democrats wield power.

Our last episode of the show featured a more centrist perspective on what Democrats should learn from their midterm triumph and what they should do when they take control of Congress next year. Today, we wanted to pair that with a perspective from the left.

Piker might be the most prominent leftist commentator in politics right now. The popular Twitch streamer catapulted to main character status in the recent election cycle, as he took on a more hands-on role stumping for candidates like Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, and the right tried to turn him into a boogeyman in response.

So I want to talk to Piker about the election and how the Democratic Party should act going forward — especially when it comes to health reform, where I see a synthesis coming into view, and Israel, the issue where Piker is the most personally controversial, and where the Democratic coalition is at the greatest risk of tearing apart.

This episode contains strong language.

Book Recommendations:

“Mao” by Philip Short

“Blackshirts and Reds” by Michael Parenti

“American Socialist” by Shawn Gude

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html 

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Julie Beer and Kelsey Lannin. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones and Aman Sahota. Our recording engineer is Aman Sahota. Cinematography by Kyle I. Kelley. Video editing by Brandon Belk-Yee, Britt Shacham Bernstein, Dani Dillon, Arpita Aneja and Steph Khoury. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Shows is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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