"All of which is to say, Democrats have a decided antisemitism problem in their ranks. And with the election years of 2026 and 2028 directly ahead, stay tuned for a potentially pitched internal battle over the issue."
"The Wall Street Journal gets it.
"Over there on the WSJ editorial page, the paper’s editors have penned a sharply observant piece headlined: “Chuck Schumer’s Mamdani Test: Will the New York Senator abandon his life-long convictions?”
"In which New York’s U.S. senator — the Senate’s Democratic Leader, no less — is taken to task for playing cutesy with Zohran Mamdani, the Democrats’ recent and apparent choice for mayor of New York.
"A recent arrival on the national stage, Mamdani has quickly been revealed not simply as a Communist/Socialist sympathizer but someone with a decided record of antisemitism.
"Among other things, the WSJ noted: “Mr. Mamdani is a socialist who spoke as an Assemblyman of ‘seizing the means of production’ and blamed Israel, not Hamas, on Oct. 8, 2023.”
"Even more to the point, the WSJ notes that Senator Schumer has recently authored a book with this title: Antisemitism in America: A Warning.
"As it happens, I bought the Schumer book when it came out — before Mamdani was even on the political horizon. And obviously, Schumer wrote his book well before Mamdani was nominated by his fellow New York Democrats.
"The fact of Mamdani’s rise after the Schumer book appeared ironically makes Schumer’s book even more relevant, with a look back at exactly what Schumer had to say before he was suddenly confronted with an antisemitic mayoral nominee from his own hometown, seriously relevant indeed.
"With that in mind, follow along as I note here some of what Schumer has had to say about antisemitism — all of it pre-Mamdani. For example, Schumer writes:
“For the first time in my life, widespread antisemitism is a serious problem in America, and it’s getting worse.”
“I believe it is my duty to alert our country to the rising tide of antisemitism, to clarify how it can be identified and how it can be stopped.”
“In other words, antisemitism is a long-enduring form of racism, one of the world’s oldest and most powerful types …. To some antisemitism almost defies explanation. But the best explanation is the simplest one.”
“Antisemitism means hating Jewish people and all things Jewish.”
“Antisemitism just is. Has been. Will always be.”
"Schumer rolls on. And yes, some readers will roll their eyes at a senator going on and on as United States senators of all stripes are prone to do." . . .
Jeffrey Lord, a contributing editor to The American Spectator, is a former aide to Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. An author and former CNN commentator, he writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
