Antisemitism Gets a Boost
You have likely heard the news that shortly before Thanksgiving, former president Donald Trump had dinner with Ye, Kanye West’s new name, and Nick Fuentes at Mar-A-Lago. And while Trump and his team are trying to distance themselves (content warning for language) from this dinner, the facts remain the same: a former president of the United States and a hopeful future president invited two antisemites into his home to break bread. Fuentes, for those who may not have kept up with the antisemitism movement in America, is a certified Neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier. Ye has recently been spouting anti-semitic remarks and seems to be taking the next step by palling around with Fuentes.
While all of this news is horrible, even if it is not shocking, there is a reason for hope. And that reason is that Trump’s stranglehold on the Republican party may have finally reached its end. The Washington Post reports that several Republican leaders, from Mike Pompeo to Mike Pence to Mitt Romney, who called Trump a gargoyle, have spoken out against Trump and this dinner. It appears that Trump may have finally crossed a Rubicon that the majority of the Republican party is unwilling to follow after.
Cynics may look at these developments and argue that this was always in Trump’s nature and that we should not be shocked by the dinner or the guests. These same cynics may point out, as Charlie Sykes and Peter Wehner discuss on The Bulwark Podcast, that the real reason that Republicans are turning on Trump is because of the Red Trickle during the midterm elections, where most of Trump’s preferred candidates lost or only narrowly won. But now is not the time to be cynical.
Writing for the New York Times, Michelle Goldberg helps to put this current moment into context: “For most of my adult life, antisemites — with exceptions like Pat Buchanan and Mel Gibson — have lacked status in America. The most virulent antisemites tended to hate Jews from below, blaming them for their own failures and disappointments. Now, however, anti-Jewish bigotry, or at least tacit approval of anti-Jewish bigotry, is coming from people with serious power: the leader of a major political party, a famous pop star, and the world’s richest man.” When Donald Trump, Ye, Elon Musk, and basketball star Kyrie Irving are flirting with antisemitism and promoting its horrid ideals, it is a time for coalition building, not cynicism.
Now is the time to take Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, and any conservative speaking out against Trump and this dinner at their word. There is no place for antisemitism in America, or there should be no place for it. Now is the time for all conservatives to stand up and loudly proclaim what some have been saying for years: anyone willing to bring antisemitism, as well as a host of other dehumanizing ideas and policies, into the conservative movement is not a conservative. And anyone who will not denounce Fuentes and Ye does not deserve to be a leader of people in this country.
3 More Things:
1) Elon Musk recently purchased Twitter, promising to make it a haven of free speech. And even if you are not on Twitter or don’t care about social media, Musk’s particular lack of understanding about what free speech is essential to keep up with as it mirrors current arguments on the right about free speech. Charlie Sykes of The Bulwark has an excellent summary of the whole debacle in his Morning Shots newsletter.
2) Pentecostal pastor Paul Prather, writing for Religion Unplugged, reminds us that despite polarization, we are still more alike than different. The whole column is worth a read, but this point will sit with me: “...nobody is ever just one thing. Nobody is just a Trump supporter and that’s all. Nobody is just a wackadoodle leftie and that’s all.” We are all complex beings, and we should embrace that complexity.
3) In the continuing saga of the Jan. 6 insurrection, Axios reports that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has been found guilty of seditious conspiracy and faces up to 20 years in prison.