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He Made Videos for Mamdani and Piker—and Loves the CCP
Now living in Shanghai, Eric Hovagim grew up privileged and was well educated before veering off in a radically anti-capitalist, conspiratorial, and antisemitic direction.
By Tanner Nau
08.02.26 — U.S. Politics
No description available.
Eric Hovagim, a videographer for Zohran Mamdani campaign ads, now lives in China and makes content in favor of the country’s communist government. (Illustration by The Free Press. Image via @EricHovagim on X)
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The United States is the “fourth Reich” and the “Epstein empire,” Israel is “the most dangerous threat to humanity,” and both countries are run by “Zionist pedophiles.” The idea of selling weapons to Taiwan is like “Hitler arming Robert E. Lee while he’s posted up in the breakaway state of South Florida.” Elon Musk is “a valid military target,” and Sam Altman is “a human shield.”

These aren’t just the online rants of some anonymous troll. The man behind these posts is Eric Hovagim, who has said he helped film or edit three primary campaign videos for Zohran Mamdani—and posed with the future New York City mayor in an Instagram post in June 2025. In April, Hovagim helped produce popular far-left internet streamer Hasan Piker’s mini-documentary about the trip he took to Cuba in March along with hundreds of activists, politicians, and other assorted props of the regime.

Hovagim calls himself a “geopolitical commentator and video producer,” and he has over 150,000 followers or subscribers on TikTok, YouTube, and X, plus whatever secondhand influence he reaps through making content for Piker, who has 3.1 million followers on the livestream platform Twitch. Hovagim’s videos meander from topic to topic but echo positions of the Democratic Socialists of America and often hinge on three themes: conspiracy, anti-Americanism, and glorifying political violence, often connecting all three.

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Tanner Nau
Tanner Nau is an editorial fellow at The Free Press.
Tags:
Zohran Mamdani
Progressives
China
Communism
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