Jew hatred on the political right

[Fenris]

Jew hatred has been institutionalized in the political left in America. 

But something equally disturbing is happening on the political right. Donald Trump is ignoring it, but he's a lame duck. What is more worrisome to me is that JD Vance is very tolerant of it. He also does not have a deep rooted love or appreciation for Israel, unlike many others on the right do; he has stated that we will work with Israel "when our interests coincide". That's not the definition of an ally. Perhaps it is his Catholicism at play here? I don't think that the Catholic church ever got over the theological implications of the founding of the state of Israel.

Anyway, have a read. Comments welcome, of course.

Hating Jews for Fun and Profit
Social Commentary
by Christine Rosen

How did anti-Semitism become mainstream so quickly, especially among younger Americans? Perhaps because it has become a form of mass entertainment.

In the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the significant increase in attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions in the U.S., this is an urgent question. A squad of prominent public figures, elected officials, and cultural arbiters has emerged to promote ideas many thought permanently relegated to the unsavory fringes of American life—and they are gaining an increasingly enthusiastic hearing.

Case in point: Tucker Carlson’s fawning reception of self-proclaimed white nationalist and leader of the so-called groyper movement, Nick Fuentes. As a guest on Carlson’s show, Fuentes, a fan of both Hitler and Stalin, obligingly performed his predictable routine, complaining about “organized Jewry” and the Jews “controlling the media apparatus.” Smiling and nodding along, Carlson did remind Fuentes that “going on about the Jews helps the neocons” but otherwise agreed with him, noting that Christians who supported Israel have been “seized by this brain virus.” An internal conservative battle erupted soon after, when Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, one of the conservative movement’s major institutions, produced a video defending Carlson and calling him a friend.

Water finds its own level, and Roberts’s unwillingness to denounce Carlson’s endorsement of anti-Semi-tic conspiracy theorizing places him and, by association, his institution in the most polluted part of the conservative movement’s pond. That this happened was entirely by design. As Fuentes himself gleefully noted on his show after the Heritage debacle unfolded, “We are thoroughly in the groyper war, the civil war for the GOP.”

In previous eras, anti-Semitism spread in the form of propaganda published in largely fringe newsletters, a few newspapers (like Henry Ford’s Dearborn Independent) and books, and notoriously, on radio broadcasts like those of the Canadian-American priest Charles E. Coughlin. Political organizers such as America First Party founder Gerald L.K. Smith (who, like Carlson, was fond of theories about UFOs and demons) also tried strenuously to mainstream anti-Semitism, but the effort never achieved widespread acceptance.

Today, by contrast, anti-Semitism lives and thrives on the entertainment platforms of the young and very online. YouTube, streaming sites like Rumble, and social media platforms have vastly expanded their reach and scope while presenting no barriers to entry and providing anonymity to millions of people who crave communities of the like-minded—often with little regard to what they are endorsing with their time and attention. Popular streamers like Fuentes and Carlson are the arbiters of an online culture that now permeates real-world politics daily. Fuentes boasts more than 1 million followers on X and hundreds of thousands of viewers of his America First streaming show on Rumble, where he regularly, proudly, and unashamedly makes racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, and anti-American claims. Carlson is among the most popular public-affairs podcasters on platforms such as Spotify and Apple, where he muses about “globohomo” conspiracies and “the Antichrist’s newest manifestation.”

Motivated toxic actors like Fuentes and Carlson and Candace Owens, combined with streaming platforms and DIY media, have created a massive amount of content that can be consumed by millions almost hourly. And unlike the anti-Semitic propaganda of old, this new form allows for active, rather than merely passive, consumption. Viewers post comments, swap memes, and form fan chat groups. They feel connected to peers while enjoying the posture of being skeptical renegades “just asking questions” about how the Jews control everything. The Two Minutes Hate is available 24 hours a day.

Carlson and Fuentes and their ilk are skilled at cultivating and nourishing these parasocial relationships—relationships that have been incredibly lucrative for them. This is why more podcasters on the right are embracing Carlson and promoting his noxious ideas themselves, under the guise of their being “friends”—which was also the excuse Kevin Roberts gave for his unwillingness to condemn Carlson’s behavior.

But these are performative and transactional relationships; not long before Carlson hosted Fuentes on his show, he was mocking Fuentes as a closeted homosexual. Fuentes pinballs between praising MAGA leaders and, before the last election, vowing to vote for Kamala Harris. The self-styled celebrity “groypers” call themselves the leaders of an army, but watching them perform is like witnessing a demented version of Lucha Libre. The incoherence is the point.

This posture also allows people who should know better to try to excuse their behavior. When a group of Young Republicans was discovered exchanging anti-Semitic and racist remarks in a group chat, Vice President JD Vance downplayed their behavior, saying the grown men in question were just “young boys” exchanging “edgy” jokes.

As Eli Lake noted in an insightful piece at the Free Press, Fuentes might be joking about some things, but he consistently saves his most vitriolic rhetoric for Jewish conservatives: “He yells into the camera and says: ‘You’re the filth. You are traitors. You are scum. You do not belong here. You are not American. You’re not home.’”

This is the language and demeanor of the leader at the fascist rallies of old, yet today it is far more likely to be consumed by someone who is literally all alone—streaming in the background of a teenager’s bedroom while he’s supposed to be doing his homework, or listened to by a man on his lunch break while he scrolls his social media feeds. The danger of the message is the same, but it is being delivered in a seemingly innocuous form—on the same screens through which we do everything else in daily life.

The flattening effect of our information ecosystem makes it more difficult to combat the constant stream of filth. In one sense, groypers are just another kind of influencer. This oddly gives them a familiar feeling to many viewers, even as the noxious things they say would, until recently, have been anathema to everyday political discourse. In a culture where everything is content, it is volume (of viewers, followers, and likes), not values, that matters. And it starts to seep into everyday life in alarming ways: The bishop of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, recently had to issue an apology to the diocese because the Halloween parade float of Saint Joseph Catholic School in Hanover “featured a replica of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp gate, bearing the words Arbeit Macht Frei.”

Popular culture has long been a vehicle for testing and mainstreaming new norms. In the 1970s, The Jeffersons featured one of the first portrayals of an interracial couple, Tom and Helen Willis, on network television; in the 1990s, Will and Grace helped encourage acceptance of homosexuality by featuring main characters who were openly gay. But as the anti-Semitic turn in culture shows, normalization doesn’t require virtuousness or perceived virtuousness to become a reality.

Marx infamously proclaimed religion the opiate of the masses. Today, with short-form video, live-streams, and social media, we have created not an opiate, but a stimulant—one that isn’t anesthetizing people but supercharging their taste for an ancient hatred. Combating this scourge is a generational challenge. It’s astoundingly difficult to overcome. To stop the combat in its tracks, Kevin Roberts denounced as representatives of a “venomous coalition” those who said Carlson and Fuentes should be anathematized. He apologized for using that language when it got him into trouble. But the adjective he and his associate Ryan Neuhaus chose was pointed and purposeful. Venom is produced by snakes. Likening Jews and those who would defend them to the serpent in the garden is literally an act of demonization. It was also a clever effort to reverse the reality. The poison that threatens the American right, the Republican Party, and the West itself is coming not from the coalition Roberts despises but from the anti-Semites Roberts said he would not ostracize, and from those, like Roberts, who would provide them cover.

[RabbiKnife]

Haven’t heard much about Fuentes so he’s likely not on my radar other than in the “loon” category.  Like Kathy Griffin on the left

Owens and Carlson would fit that category for me as well. Bigger platforms but no less compelling and at time equally nutty.

In general,  the philosophical and theological drought of rational thought on the left or right drives me bonkers. The right’s propensity toward conspiracy theory and false moral equivalencies related to Israel are utterly incomprehensible.   

[Fenris]

Owens and Carlson would fit that category for me as well.

Carlson's son works for JD Vance.

[Fenris]

And suddenly the problem comes into focus.

[RabbiKnife]

And suddenly the problem comes into focus.

Just don’t give up the codes to the Space Laser.

[Fenris]

From a couple of weeks ago:

The Question JD Vance Needs to Answer
by Seth Mandel

Last night, Vice President JD Vance made remarks at a Turning Point USA event in Mississippi and then took questions from the crowd. It was inevitable that one of those questions would be a provocative statement about nefarious Jewish influence masked as an innocent question about American foreign policy.

“I’m just confused,” the stammering MAGA-hatted student repeated a couple of times. What was this poor chap confused about? “I’m a Christian man, and I’m just, uh, confused why—that there’s this notion that we, uh, might have or, uh, owe Israel something or that they’re our greatest ally or that we have to support this multi-hundred billion dollar, um, foreign aid package to Israel…. I’m just confused why this idea has come around, considering the fact that not only does their religion not agree with ours but also openly supports the prosecution of ours.”

Now, there are a few possible ways to answer this type of “question.” Vance could have been combative and rejected the premise forcefully, deterring any other clowns from trying to hijack the vice president’s event. That would have been a show of strength. He also could have ignored the sniping about Judaism to appear diplomatic while trying to show that he won’t take such bait. In that case, he could’ve just answered the policy part of the question by correcting the kid’s warped description.

The third option would be the weakest: accept the premise of both parts of the question and try to convince the young man that the White House knows what it’s doing.

As you can probably guess, the vice president chose the third option:

“First of all, when the president of the United States says America First that means that he pursues the interests of Americans first. That is our entire foreign policy. And that doesn’t mean that you’re not going to have alliances, that you’re not going to work with other countries from time to time…. In this example, the most recent Gaza peace plan that all of us have been working on very hard for the past few weeks, the president of the United States could only get that peace deal done by actually being willing to apply leverage to the State of Israel. So when people say that Israel is somehow manipulating or controlling the president of the United States, they’re not controlling this president of the United States.”

A good follow-up question might have asked Vance which specific presidents he had in mind when he suggested that other presidents have been controlled by Israel.

Vance then treated the other part of the question as equally legitimate:

“Now you ask about, you know, sort of Jews disagreeing with Christians on certain religious ideas. Yeah, absolutely. It’s one of the realities is that Jews do not believe that Jesus Christ is the messiah. Obviously, Christians do believe that. There are some significant theological disagreements between Christians and Jews. My attitude is: Let’s have those conversations. Let’s have those disagreements when we have them. But if there are shared areas of interest, we ought to be willing to do that, too.”

Vance said he was fine with, for example, working with Israel to maintain open access to Christian holy sites. Then he concluded: “What I’m not OK with is any country coming before the interests of American citizens.”

Vance was plainly unprepared for this question, even though he should have known it was coming. In the end, he came off as a guy who really wants the vote of a college-age groyper who came to troll him that night.

In recent weeks, there has been a growing chorus on the right calling on Vance to state clearly where he stands on the mainstreaming of rabid right-wing anti-Semites. That mainstreaming has been orchestrated by, among others, Tucker Carlson, who recently hosted Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist with nice things to say about Hitler.

That chorus will only grow louder after Vance’s performance in Mississippi. I join them: I’d love some clarification and straight talk from the vice president and prospective heir to President Trump, now that Vance has gotten that question publicly and flubbed it.

Meanwhile today, in the “not helping” department, we have the president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts. He posted a video responding to “speculation” that the pathbreaking conservative think tank is distancing itself from Carlson. He managed to defend Carlson while doing so in JD Vance’s name, quoting the vice president’s comments last night.

This came at the end of Roberts’ statement. The preceding two minutes had been filled with dog whistles about “the globalist class or their mouthpieces in Washington.” Carlson is a friend, Roberts reaffirmed, calling Carlson’s critics a “venomous coalition” who are “sowing division” on the right.

To sum up: According to Roberts, free and open debate is important, which is why Carlson’s critics should shut up.

I think the vice president is playing a cynical game. I imagine he thought he could put off having to choose between the traditional conservative mainstream and the groypers until much closer to the election he plans to run in 2028. He miscalculated, and the anti-Semitic right is giddy over it because Nick Fuentes and Tucker Carlson see this entire public debate as a victory for them.

It would be spineless to let Fuentes and Carlson think they’ve won if Vance disagrees with them and opposes their continued ability to set the terms of the debate. The microphone is yours, Mr. Vice President.

Vance didn't come off looking great during the exchange.

Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, fumbled his response as well.

[Fenris]

This is not a Jewish problem. It's a general electoral problem for Republicans. The problem is multifactorial.

Vance's behavior on this issue is going to split the Republican party. Allow me to explain. The political right can be divided into moderates and the far right. Vance playing footsie with the far right is going to turn off moderates. It might hurt him in potential 2028 primaries, or it might not. If it doesn't hurt him, it will very likely depress Republican turnout in 2028. Mind you, Vance already underperformed other Republicans when he ran for the Ohio senate seat, so this is already a known problem.

Then we have crossover voters. The Democrats running all sorts of fringe candidates has created the possibility where long-time independents and Democrats might decide that the Republican party looks appealing. Truly this is a once in a generation opportunity. A Republican party headed by Vance will send them right back where they came from.

Of course, the left and right both agreeing that there is a "Jewish problem" is bad for the country as a whole.

[RabbiKnife]

At least Majorie Taylor Green is doing us all a favor…

[Fenris]

Mamdani met with Trump. They got along great. "I feel very confident that he can do a good job. I think he is going to surprise some conservative people".

At what point do I regret my vote?

[RabbiKnife]

Right after you finish watching the Kamala speeches…

[tango]

This is not a Jewish problem. It's a general electoral problem for Republicans. The problem is multifactorial.

Vance's behavior on this issue is going to split the Republican party. Allow me to explain. The political right can be divided into moderates and the far right. Vance playing footsie with the far right is going to turn off moderates. It might hurt him in potential 2028 primaries, or it might not. If it doesn't hurt him, it will very likely depress Republican turnout in 2028. Mind you, Vance already underperformed other Republicans when he ran for the Ohio senate seat, so this is already a known problem.

Then we have crossover voters. The Democrats running all sorts of fringe candidates has created the possibility where long-time independents and Democrats might decide that the Republican party looks appealing. Truly this is a once in a generation opportunity. A Republican party headed by Vance will send them right back where they came from.

Of course, the left and right both agreeing that there is a "Jewish problem" is bad for the country as a whole.

I saw a headline recently that suggested even the wacko AOC would beat Vance in a presidential election. As much as I'm leery of President Vance I can only imagine the chaos under AOC. Suddenly President Kamala seems like an attractive alternative.

[IMINXTC]

Machine politician Gavin Newsome will be the significant contender to dread for those concerned with an (inevitable?) swing to the left

[RabbiKnife]

For some reason, I doubt God is wringing His hands over any of it…

[Fenris]

I saw a headline recently that suggested even the wacko AOC would beat Vance in a presidential election.

Vance doesn't have crossover appeal and a lot of Republicans don't like him either. So it doesn't surprise me that even weird fringe candidates on the left could beat him.

[Fenris]

For some reason, I doubt God is wringing His hands over any of it…

Since the topic is Jew hatred on the political right, everyone should be wringing their hands over it. We know where that leads. And what starts with the Jews never, ever, ends with the Jews.