Video taking off 9.6x its usual first day

Mehdi Hasan challenges Stevens over standing with Mike Rogers

Zeteo's fast-starting Short features Hasan arguing that Democrats should not normalize anti-Muslim rhetoric.

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Zeteo Story of November 3, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 237,262 views a day, 9.6 times a normal first day on this channel (24,715).

Mehdi Condemns Haley Stevens' Bigotry

Haley Stevens' decision to appear alongside Republican Mike Rogers is the point Mehdi Hasan keeps returning to. In a discussion with Jacob Soboroff, he argues that the Michigan Democrat's choice carries a responsibility of its own, beyond the controversy over an election ad.

Stevens lost Michigan's Democratic Senate nomination to Abdul El-Sayed before endorsing his Republican opponent, Rogers. Hasan challenges that endorsement by pointing to rhetoric about El-Sayed that he characterizes as racist and anti-Muslim. His central argument is that Democrats should not turn a blind eye to such language, much less participate in normalizing it.

"The point is, no one told her to turn up with Mike Rogers," Hasan says.

Zeteo posted the MS NOW discussion as "Mehdi Condemns Haley Stevens' Bigotry." It has reached about 275,000 views, with an estimated first-day audience nearly ten times the channel's usual start for Shorts. The comment section was also several times busier than usual.

The clip's description sets out Hasan's charge of a double standard: Stevens demanded that El-Sayed condemn an ad he did not make, while choosing to campaign with Rogers despite his rhetoric about the Democratic nominee.

Zeteo is following the endorsement's aftermath beyond this exchange. Another unusually fast-starting Short features Prem reporting from Michigan on what the channel describes as a record fundraising day for El-Sayed's campaign.