By Kevin D. Williamson
Wednesday, March 06, 2019
The Democrats have a couple of problems: One is that they
have spent many years complaining about being labeled “socialists” only to see
their party come to be dominated by self-proclaimed socialists such as Senator
Bernie Sanders (the gentleman from Vermont is a candidate for the Democratic
presidential nomination but is not a member of the party) and Representative
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who, in spite of her pricey education, does not give
the impression that she could be relied upon to spell bourgeoisie.
“Don’t call us socialists!” they used to say.
Now?
“Don’t call us anti-Semites!”
Well.
If the Democrats have a minor socialist problem, they
have a major problem in the form of Jew-hating weirdos, preeminent among them
the Reverend Louis Farrakhan of the so-called Nation of Islam. Farrakhan has
been an out-and-proud Jew-hating weirdo for many decades now, but Democrats
still feel the need to make gestures of obeisance before him: Anti-Trump
leaders such as Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour of the Women’s March have
embraced Farrakhan and courted his favor. Barack Obama came a-calling in 2005
when he was ramping up his political career. The Congressional Black Caucus has
consulted him. Bill Clinton stood alongside him at Aretha Franklin’s funeral,
implicitly elevating the cult leader. California Democrats Barbara Lee and
Maxine Waters attend Farrakhan’s public events, and Obama-administration
veteran Eric Holder recently posed for a picture with him.
Farrakhan is an anti-Semite. About that there is no real
debate. Eric Holder? Maxine Waters? Others who confer status and influence on
Farrakhan and his gang? Maybe they aren’t anti-Semites. They certainly are
collaborators.
Farrakhan isn’t the end of it, though.
MSNBC continues to prominently feature the Reverend Al
Sharpton. He was Jussie Smollett before Jussie Smollett was in the matter of
the Tawana Brawley hate-crime/rape hoax, and his rabble-rousing attacks on
Jewish “bloodsuckers” and “interlopers” preceded the mass murder at Freddie’s
Fashion Mart. He inflamed anti-Semitic passions leading up to the Crown Heights
riots. Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes apparently are content to be affiliated
with him.
Newly elected Representative Ilhan Omar apparently cannot
open her mouth without letting out an anti-Semitic libel accusing Jews of being
unpatriotic (the “dual loyalty” canard) and of bribing U.S. political leaders
into supporting Israel. The Jews, she insists, “push for allegiance to a
foreign country.”
Representative Rashida Tlaib has similar problems and
turns out to have been a contributor to one of Farrakhan’s batty publications.
Members of the Democratic Socialists of America — Representative Ocasio-Cortez
is a member — recently chanted eliminationist
slogans calling for the liquidation of the Jewish state.
“Oh, that’s not anti-Semitism!” their apologists will
say. “That’s anti-Zionism.”
Farrakhan has used the same line of defense. But it
doesn’t wash. The viciousness and slander of the Democrats’ attacks on Israel
are unique; give them a Cuban police state or a Venezuelan dictatorship and
they’re kittens, but give them a polity full of Jews and they’re jackals. The
double standards and unreasoning hatred of the progressive view of Israel
simply does not have an equivalent associated with a non-Jewish state. Even
their anti-Americanism is not quite as poisonous.
Anti-Semites? Collaborators? Something in between?
The Democrats have just been shamed into introducing an
anti-anti-Semitism resolution in the House. In remarkably cowardly fashion, it
does not name any names or even address the “anti-Zionism” dodge.
Strangely, the Democrats can, on occasion, work up some
excitement on the question. Democrats love to lambaste the rich for weaponizing
their fortunes in political fights. But Representative Jerrold Nadler accused a
Republican colleague of anti-Semitism for rendering the name of billionaire
progressive activist Tom Steyer as “$teyer.” Steyer, who has pledged many
millions of dollars in support of sundry left-wing causes, is an Episcopalian,
like his mother.
The Democrats bucked at being called socialists until
their revolutionary vanguard began to come out as frank socialists. They
complain about being called anti-Semites, too, which is a funny thing for
friends and associates of Louis Farrakhan and Ilhan Omar to do. They can pass
all the resolutions they like, but they will rightly be judged by the company
they keep.
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