Like AOC, Bernie Sanders has also cultivated links with Corbyn, with both men’s campaigns reportedly advising and supporting each other in elections.94 Embracing comparisons with Sanders, Corbyn confessed in an interview with writer Naomi Klein that his Labour Party borrowed ideas from Sanders’s presidential campaign. Corbyn also admitted that to Sanders when Sanders called to congratulate him on his campaign. Sanders, in turn, has often cited Corbyn’s campaign as an example of how leftist politics can win. In an interview with the Washington Post, Sanders marveled at Corbyn’s ability to get younger voters to turn out and praised that model as a formula for a Democratic landslide victory. As long as young voters continue to identify with socialism, Sanders is doubtlessly correct.95
Green is adamant that the Democrats are building the same political coalitions as Britain’s Labour Party and Europe’s other left-wing parties, and he sees a connection between their anti-capitalism and anti-Semitism. “The hatred of Jews is foundational to the anti-liberalism and anti-capitalism of the radical left,” writes Green. “This is why the Democrats have developed what used to be called a ‘Jewish problem’—which is to say, representatives and voters who have a problem with Jews, and a DNC unwilling to do anything about it because that would cost votes.”96
Undeniably, a disturbing number of leftists seem to regard Jews as greedy super-capitalists. There is so much anti-Semitic smoke on the left, in fact, one must look for fire. It’s easy to find it, for example, with fervent Israel-hater Linda Sarsour, a leader of the Women’s March who is an admirer of Imam Siraj Wahhaj. Sarsour calls him her “mentor, motivator, and encourager,” even though Wahhaj is an unindicted coconspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.97 Sarsour also warned that Israelis should not be “humanized” because they are “oppressors.” Unsurprisingly, AOC praised Sarsour after she was arrested for disrupting the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. She tweeted, “Our future is a shared responsibility. This woman putting it all on the line for healthcare, women & LGBT + rights is @lsarsour. The far right constantly maligns her with false attacks + threats of violence. Yet, there she is, as always, fighting for everything our flag represents.”98
We’ve already discussed anti-Semitic controversies stoked by Sarsour and other Women’s March leaders. Yet there are more disturbing instances. Evvie Harmon, the Women’s March co-global coordinator, described one such incident that occurred at a January 2017 Women’s March meeting.99 Harmon said co-chair Tamika Mallory told them the problem was that only three of the eight women in the room were women of color, and she didn’t trust white women. Harmon said Mallory and Carmen Perez then began berating Venessa Wruble—not because Wruble is white but because she’s Jewish. They allegedly declared, “Your people hold all the wealth.”
Mallory also attended a Saviors’ Day event that featured a three-hour speech by Louis Farrahkan in which he blamed Jews for “degenerate behavior in Hollywood, turning men into women and women into men.” Mallory and Perez allegedly defended Farrakhan in a conference call of some forty women, refusing to denounce anything he had said. Asked whether she believes the co-chairs are anti-Semitic, Mercy Morganfield, a former spokesperson for the Women’s March, told Tablet magazine that they refuse to put Jewish women on the board. She further noted, “They refused to even put anti-Semitism in the unity principles.”100
Far-left Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar has richly earned her reputation for anti-Semitism. In 2012 she tweeted, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”101 Another time she downplayed the Holocaust on Holocaust Remembrance Day by equating the Nazis’ genocidal slaughter of Jews with other casualties of war.102 Omar’s partner in normalizing anti-Semitism in Congress is Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who criticized Senator Marco Rubio for opposing boycotts of Israel, tweeting, “They forgot what country they represent.” Tlaib never apologized for accusing Rubio of dual loyalty.103
In February 2018, Omar got herself into hot water again with a series of tweets in response to a piece by Glenn Greenwald in which he noted that Rep. Kevin McCarthy was “threatening punishment” of Omar and Tlaib “over their criticisms of Israel.” Omar brazenly responded, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” indicating that McCarthy is in the pocket of Jewish interests. When a person tweeted, “Would love to know who Omar thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel,” Omar responded, “AIPAC,” referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which does not contribute to politicians.104 Omar also retweeted, and later deleted, a tweet saying that Omar was basically calling all Jews “hooked nose.” Jewish advocacy groups condemned Omar’s tweets, with the American Jewish Committee describing her comments as “stunningly anti-Semitic.”105
House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement “condemning anti-Semitic comments made over Twitter by Congresswoman Omar,” but other Democrats and progressives rushed to Omar’s defense.106 Omar later apologized for these slurs. Columnist David Harsanyi notes the disingenuousness of Omar’s defenders, who say that she and Tlaib are merely criticizing Israel. No one equates mere criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, argues Harsanyi. What is anti-Semitic is advocating the extinction of the world’s only Jewish state. The best way to determine whether they favor the abolition of Israel, says Harsanyi, is to see if they seek to delegitimize Israel—as do supporters of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS); if they demonize Israel—as in suggesting Israel hypnotizes the world for evil; and if they engage in “double standards”—reflexively condemning Israel while defending the Palestinians and the rest of the Muslim world for far worse actions.107 For both Omar and Tlaib, the answer is yes to all three questions.108
President Trump called Omar’s apology “lame,” as she reaffirmed her position that Congress supports Israel because it is paid to do so.109 Vice President Mike Pence also condemned Omar, tweeting, “.@IlhanMN tweets were a disgrace & her apology was inadequate. Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress, much less the Foreign Affairs Committee. Those who engage in anti-Semitic tropes should not just be denounced, they should face consequences for their words.” Other Republicans called for Omar to resign or be removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee.110
House Majority Whip James Clyburn defended Omar, calling her “an incredible young lady” and urging his colleagues to let the controversy go. He said he believed her apology was sincere and she just misspoke. But Omar left no doubt that her remarks were intentional. She engaged in an exchange with Rep. Nita Lowey, who condemned the anti-Semitic practice of accusing Jews of dual loyalty, saying that throughout history these accusations had led to discrimination and violence against Jews. Omar countered that she “should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country.”111 Critics observed that she was peddling the Palestinian cause to sneak in her bigoted talking points.112
In the wake of Omar’s slurs, House members proposed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism. But Democrats could not bring themselves to approve even this simple message—it would have been too offensive to the left. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it was unfair to single out Omar, even though the resolution did not mention her name. House progressives delayed a vote to include condemnation of anti-Muslim bias.113 And members of the Congressional Black Caucus opposed the resolution because lawmakers didn’t denounce Republicans and Trump. “We need to have equity in our outrage,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley, explaining that she was focused on “the occupant of the White House who is seeding every form of hate, emboldening it with racist rhetoric and policies. That is who we all need to be focused on and this is a distraction.”114 The rabid loathing for Trump is a singular obsession that obscures everything else.115
Eventually the Democrats passed a largely meaningless resolution denouncing numerous forms of bigotry, with an emphasis on “white supremacists,” and condemning some of Omar’s anti-Semitic tropes without mentioning that she was the one spre
ading them. The inclusion of anti-Muslim bigotry in the resolution was a shameful attempt at moral equivalency. It legitimizes Omar and Tlaib’s tactic of portraying themselves as victims of anti-Muslim bias as a means to deflect and excuse their flagrant anti-Semitism.116 In a stunning display of the rising power of the radical left over the old-guard Democrats, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, a strong Israel supporter, also denounced Omar’s comments but said he didn’t want to “exacerbate the situation” by punishing Omar, who sits on his committee, and expressed hope that she would grow and change. Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw tweeted the obvious response: “At some point Dems just need to accept that @IlhanMN has deeply held prejudices about the Jewish people. Stop explaining her comments away and ‘asking for dialogue.’ ”117
After the House passed its toothless resolution, Nancy Pelosi and three Democratic presidential candidates publicly stated that Omar is not anti-Semitic—though she made the precise claims the resolution condemned. Omar, Tlaib, and Democratic Rep. Andrew Carson brazenly released a statement praising the resolution, saying, “We are tremendously proud to be part of a body that has put forth a condemnation of all forms of bigotry including anti-Semitism, racism and white supremacy. Our nation is having a difficult conversation and we believe that is great progress.”118 It is remarkable, and only possible in the upside-down world of progressivism, that an initiative aimed at condemning anti-Semitic slurs uttered by a specific congresswoman could be twisted into a resolution defending that very offender.
Yet that was not even the most ludicrous statement of the affair. Democratic congressman James Clyburn suggested that Omar’s experience in fleeing Somalia and spending time in a Kenyan refugee camp was more personal and powerful than that of the families of Holocaust survivors. “I’m serious about that,” said Clyburn. “There are people who tell me, ‘Well my parents are Holocaust survivors.’ ‘My parents did this.’ It’s more personal with her. I’ve talked to her, and I can tell you she is living through a lot of pain.”119 So there you have it—Omar has apparently suffered more than the children of any Holocaust victims. After all, what person could possibly feel as much anguish as Omar just because his mom and dad were forced into Nazi concentration camps?
It is mystifying that American Jews overwhelmingly vote Democrat in light of the party’s attitude and policies toward Israel and its feckless handling of this issue. It is not “a coincidence that the Democratic Party is increasingly both the anti-Israel party and home to a growing number of anti-Semites,” writes columnist Michael Goodwin. “To be clear, the two things are not always the same, but something is going on when both are defining elements of a political organization.”120
THE ROAD AHEAD
The AOC branch of the Democratic Party is unabashedly confident that it can sell socialism to the American voters largely by villainizing capitalism. As a practical matter there are only two different types of economic systems. We’re either going to have a mostly free-market system or one that is largely socialist. Leftist activists realize that while socialism doesn’t currently sell well with middle-aged and older Americans, capitalism isn’t that popular either, so if they can continue to denigrate it and demonize its proponents as Wall Street predators, they’ll be more likely to sell socialism by default.
In the New Republic, Alex Shephard takes this tack, attributing socialism’s revival in America to the 2008 financial crisis, which he believes Americans blame on the banking industry and America’s wealth inequality. These stir the type of outrage that drove the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City in 2011 and fueled Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential effort. The major “flaw in Trump’s anti-socialism strategy… is that it’s forcing him to be staunchly pro-capitalism at a time when its popularity is severely ebbing,” writes Shephard.121 Shephard apparently believes Trump’s admittedly “hot” economy won’t help him much because the top 20 percent have benefited most from it. This is how leftists think—it doesn’t matter that conditions for the poor, women, and minorities are improving if the wealthiest people are getting wealthier. Their contempt for the wealthy blinds them to the progress of middle- and lower-income groups. But you can’t gut the wealthy through transfer payments and exorbitant taxes and expect the economy to continue to grow to the benefit of lower-income groups.
Sadly, Democrats will continue their class warfare attacks, which are based on envy and resentment and bring out the worst in people. Republicans must seize this opportunity to counter the Democrats’ hopeless message with one of optimism, hope, and an earnest desire to improve the economic plight of all people. The GOP must emphasize the stark contrast between the two approaches and cogently present their uplifting message.
CHAPTER TEN Leftist Intolerance and Hate
The left and the Democratic Party paint conservatives as intolerant, haters, and bigots. Remember when Joe Biden told an African-American audience that, if elected president, Mitt Romney would “put you all back in chains?”1 Remember the Democrats’ repeated, baseless charge that Republicans suppress black votes? Their claim that Mississippi Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith is racist?2 Viewed in the most favorable light, they are projecting their own intolerance and hate—toward anyone who opposes their agenda, particularly conservatives.
“I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”
Leftists demonize Christians, suppress their religious liberty, and muzzle their speech, even portraying some biblical teachings as hate speech. Their outlook is pessimistic and their humor is gone—all that remains is an unlimited capacity for political warfare and a rapacious appetite for control over people’s lives. With people waiting to be offended, comics are now afraid of their own shadow. Some have stopped performing on college campuses altogether because young people claim to be infuriated by ideas, statements, or even jokes that stray outside the leftist narrative. The only acceptable topic of humor today, increasingly, is what we see in leftist late-night talk shows—mean-spirited “jokes” about greedy, stupid, racist Republicans. “It’s okay not to hurt feelings of various tribes and groups,” said Hollywood comedy legend Mel Brooks. “However, it’s not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks.” Brooks says because of the stifling atmosphere of political correctness, he wouldn’t be able to make his classic comedy Blazing Saddles today.3
A growing number of people, however, are tiring of the left’s politically correct straitjacket. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll shows that 52 percent of Americans, including a majority of independents, oppose America becoming more politically correct, which was doubtlessly a factor in Trump’s election. Many appreciate that Trump refuses to be hamstrung by the left’s artificial constraints on our thoughts and speech. “I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct,” said candidate Trump during a GOP primary debate. “And I don’t, frankly, have time for political correctness, and to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time, either.”4
Since Trump’s election, leftists have grown increasingly intolerant and uncivil toward conservatives. Sure, there’s some of this on both sides, but the left is noticeably angrier, less forgiving, and more violent. You won’t find many places in society where liberals hesitate to identify themselves as liberals for fear of shunning, incivility, or violence from conservatives, but just see what happens when someone wears a MAGA hat in a venue full of liberals. In fact, the campaign of presidential candidate Corey Booker suggested Trump rallies should be banned altogether.5 It’s not that conservatives are morally superior, but most, especially those who follow the biblical ethic, at least aspire to treat people civilly.
There is no self-policing among the left. To the contrary, leftists’ hateful actions are applauded by their peers. Rather than encouraging people to appeal to the better angels of their nature, they invite them to summon their demons and join the mob mentality. How often do leftists condemn Hollywood narcissists like Robert De Niro for his vile public outbursts or Jim Carrey for h
is deranged hate-art? They have dehumanized conservatives, believing that we have forfeited any expectation of civility and must rightly be disrespected, boycotted, and suppressed. Even children are not exempt. When seven-year-old Benton Stevens of Austin opened a hot chocolate stand near a strip mall to raise money for President Trump’s border wall, leftists labeled him “little Hitler.”6
There are enough examples of liberal intolerance, hatred, and incivility to fill volumes—in this chapter, I provide just a fractional sampling. The left has become a giant outrage mob, bullying everyone who refuses to submit to its ideas. Leftists are everything they say they are not, and they embody what they rail against. They talk diversity and inclusiveness and claim to champion gays, minorities, and women, but as noted, they’ll viciously turn on any member of these groups whenever they deviate from leftist orthodoxy.
On a daily basis, leftists get away with statements that any conservative would be flayed alive for saying. Former Saturday Night Live star Jane Curtin, for example, announced on CNN, “My New Year’s resolution is to make sure the Republican Party dies.”7 Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin went even further, proclaiming, “It’s not only that Trump has to lose, but that all his enablers have to lose. We have to collectively, in essence, burn down the Republican Party. We have to level them because if there are survivors—if there are people who weather this storm, they will do it again.”8 Predictably, there was no uproar on the left about the casual heartlessness of these comments, which were made around two years after a Bernie Sanders supporter shot up a congressional Republican baseball practice, wounding four people including Republican Rep. Steve Scalise. If a Republican comedian had mused on CNN about ensuring the death of the Democratic Party, she’d be subject to a nationwide boycott to this day. Then again, it’s hard to imagine a Republican comedian being invited on a mainstream media platform at all—because for the left, everything is political.
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