Jonathan Chait takes an in-depth look at 'the GOP's surrender to the antisemites'

New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait has noticed a disturbing trend in the Republican Party, one that’s 100% exclusive to the Republican Party:

Antisemitism has gained a foothold in the GOP. And no recent development in American life has done more to throw American Jews’ safety and civic equality into doubt. @jonathanchait writes https://t.co/1B5yP8KUnn

— Intelligencer (@intelligencer) September 13, 2022

Chait writes:

Trump’s rise has reshaped the GOP, driving out some of its constituent elements while bringing in previously excluded factions, the ranks of which include virulent antisemites. The lessons of Hitler’s Germany have been badly overapplied, so it is important to contextualize these events carefully. The GOP may not be an antisemitic party. Indeed, it has managed to maintain a big tent that includes both Jewish ultrahawks like Miriam Adelson and their most paranoid enemies. Nevertheless, it has become a party in which antisemitism has gained a foothold. No recent development in American life has done more to throw American Jews’ safety and civic equality into doubt.

…

Before Trump came along, antisemites had little investment in American politics. His rhetoric articulates themes they recognize as compatible with their own, and he has given them a reason to marshal their energies on behalf of one side in a two-party system from which they had been excluded.

…

Prosecutors have found that Trump’s January 6 rally attracted a significant number of people who share Hitler quotes, hold membership in neo-Nazi organizations, have a fixation with “white genocide,” and the like, making the party leadership’s desire to sweep the whole thing under the rug all the more dangerous. Whatever misgivings the remaining old-line Republicans may have toward the militant cadres Trump inspired, Republicans fear their political and even terroristic power. They no longer imagine they have the gatekeeping force to exclude the antisemites, less still to steer the party away from the kind of paranoid rhetoric that invites their participation.

The GOP’s overriding goal is to win, and it has decided this means accepting the support of anybody who will provide it. For three-quarters of a century, antisemites were locked out of major American politics or at least had to keep their bigotry quiet. Now the door is open.

If we're talking about throwing American Jews' safety into doubt, there is no question that the Democratic Party that presides over Hasidic Jews being regularly beaten in New York City is far more of a threat than the GOP. There's a reason yarmulke-wearing Jews are fleeing to FL.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 14, 2022

And if we're talking about Jews' civic equality? The true threat is coming from Leftists trying to cram down LGBTQ+ politics on Yeshiva University, and Democrats nationally becoming more anti-Israel.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 14, 2022

Antisemitism has been a problem in the Democratic Party for a long time now. It’s just that in recent years, they’ve become a lot more open with it, in no small part because they know they won’t face any real consequences from each other.

Or from liberals like Jonathan Chait.

NY Mag writer unfamiliar with own magazine, pledges to help find the real killer pic.twitter.com/vL5ZEBIeOx

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

Heh.

Obviously a *New York* based magazine knows this is a lie–but that's actually the reason to publish this in the first place. And it tells us a couple important things about the pressure structure that too many on the left give in to:

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

This is a typically excellent thread from Seth Mandel:

First is the instinct for misdirection and defensiveness. There's a problem going on right under their nose, they contribute to the problem (see their recent slobbering over BDS), so instead of just not egging on Jew-baiting, they say 'look over here.'

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

Second is the importance of scapegoating Jews to their base's ideological hierarchy. Chait angers a lot of lefties over his support for school choice, so he has to throw them a more important bone and prove he's closer to them on what really matters: keeping the Brews down.

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

Third–and arguably most important–is the complete lack of institutional support for anything *except* this kind of nonsense. Publications on the left no longer feel any pressure from their own side to police antisemitism in a meaningful way. I'll give an example:

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

When Mastriano, a Republican, hangs around with the Gab guy, the Republican Jewish Coalition slams him for it. RJC is a specifically partisan organization, and the Democrats have one too: the Dem Jewish Council. But the Council only protects the bad actors on the left. Further:

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

I edit one of the largest right-of-center publications in the country, and I too knock Mastriano for the same thing the RJC does. But when a much bigger problem on antisemitism, Ilhan Omar, does her thing, here's what we saw on the Atlantic: pic.twitter.com/Z56pk8ycXP

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

Again, it's not actually about Left-vs-Right antisemitism (read my WaPo piece on why this ideological framing is wrong), it's about the incentive structure that is far more effective at getting *self-censorship* on the left. Not opposition, *self-censorship.*

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

The incentive structure did not prevent the GOP's haters from rising; it *does* allow for the kind of criticism from institutional voices that is necessary. It's the Spine Gap. There's one spine on the left, Ritchie Torres, and he could use some help! Ask why he doesn't get it.

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

In recent years, Republicans have at least stripped one of his committee assignments. The Democrats have held votes to strip… Republicans of committee assignments! Obviously this doesn't solve the problem, but pay attention to the institutional incentive structure.

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

When I call out antisemitism on the right, I am never alone in doing so. That's important, even if we fail, because at least I can be true to my professed values in public, and not just in DMs.

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

And that part is crucial. Why would you be in this business to only say what you really feel in DMs, in private? What are you even doing here? Say it out loud. Ignore the right-left framing and just don't be a coward. Free advice.

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

PS–lot of ppl getting naturally defensive and pointing to the one time they criticized Omar. You are making my point. The one time ('Benjamins') was the same for everyone: when figures on the left called it out. The one time there was institutional support for it. The one time.

— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 14, 2022

At least there are people in the GOP who are willing to call out antisemitism in their own ranks. The same can’t be said for the Democratic Party — other than, as Mandel reminds us, for Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres — who has had an abundance of opportunities to denounce Democratic antisemitism but when push comes to shove can reliably be counted upon to downplay it or, more often than not, just brush it under the rug.

And as for Donald Trump paving the way for open Republican antisemitism, well, if that’s really the argument Chait wants to make, he’s got some serious ‘splaining to do: