Thanks to Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Democrats have had their Charlottesville moment. On Thursday, House Democrats botched their condemnation of anti-Semitism as badly as Trump botched his anti-hate comments after Charlottesville. Speaker Pelosi meant well, originally drafting a tough-worded condemnation of anti-Semitism. However, in an odd twist, anti-establishment backbenchers convinced her the condemnation was another “dog whistle” for white supremacists. The resulting consensus-resolution was utter mumbo-jumbo.
Ms. Pelosi was as wrong Thursday as Donald Trump was in 2017, when he proclaimed there were “some very fine people on both sides” of a violent clash in Charlottesville. Actually, there were some very bad people on both sides, who turned their right to peaceably assemble into a hate-filled riot. President Trump fumbled an opportunity to condemn hate groups and violence, choking on his own mumbo-jumbo.
An American president can never-ever suggest a swaztika-adorned or KKK-attired protestor is a fine person. Perhaps Scott Adams (Dilbert comic-strip creator) was right: Trump was talking in context of pro-statue/anti-statue. Hard to say, but the big news in Charlottesville was the presence of Nazis and Klansmen – because those days are supposed to be long gone. By (at best) speaking out of context, Trump’s comments diluted the real story.
In 2017, Pelosi condemned Trump for providing political cover to white supremacists. Faced with a similar responsibility to condemn anti-Semitism, the House speaker choked. She diluted the original resolution that condemned anti-Semitic comments from Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born Muslim. Omar has repeatedly suggested Israel-Congress collusion (Israel as puppet-master), but the final resolution did not identify Omar as the perpetrator or remove her from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Critical comments from Ted Deutsch (D-FL) were spot-on: “Why are we singularly unable to condemn anti-Semitism?” That is the $64,000 question, because the moral high ground is slipping away from Nancy Pelosi and mainstream Democrats. If Trump was immoral by not specifically condemning white supremacists in Charlottesville, then Pelosi is now immoral by not specifically condemning an anti-Semitic member of Congress.
In case you have not noticed, American Jihadism is eerily following the path of German Nazism: slogans on the walls of New York Falafel cafes, random acts of violence, a few politically incorrect elected officials, and sedition within a mainstream political party. Let me be clear: by attacking Jews, Omar means to ultimately weaken Judeo-Christian moral constructs.
Jews in Congress should be outraged, because Omar’s anti-Semitism was echoed by Louis Farrakhan’s spokespeople: “her tropes are true [because of] the American Jewish Establishment and the Shabbat goys on their payroll.” That is patently anti-Semitic, and Farrakhan publicly urged Omar “not to apologize” for her beliefs.
Creating an over-broad condemnation of identity hatred (e.g. white supremacy) is not the issue here. Rather, Democrats will rue the day they did not stand strong against anti-Semitism. By diluting the condemnation, Nancy Pelosi has only emboldened Ilhan Omar’s Israel-Washington conspiracy theories. The mad-lib radicals have neutered Pelosi, meaning the seeds of jihad can sprout elsewhere. Sadly, truth, justice and the American way died a little on Thursday.