American Jews’ potential Kamala catastrophe

American Jews must ask themselves if a party unwilling to take the “risk” of nominating a Jew for vice president is worthy of their vote.

There was considerable consternation in some Jewish circles this week after CNN anchor John King stated that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro may not become Kamala Harris’s running mate because Shapiro is Jewish.

In a discussion of possible vice-presidential nominees with Anderson Cooper, King said of Shapiro: “He’s Jewish, there could be some risks in putting him on the ticket.”

Both King and CNN were criticized for this comment, but the criticism overlooked a very dark and disturbing fact: King was absolutely right.

That is, there is considerable risk for Harris in putting a Jew on the Democratic presidential ticket. What King did not note was the reason why: The Democrats are now badly if not fatally compromised by antisemitism. 

The Red-Green Alliance between the progressive left and Muslim antisemites is now a formidable wing of the Democratic Party. This Alliance is not simply antisemitic, it is entirely based on antisemitism. That is, antisemitism is the only thing holding these two disparate movements together. Fortunately for them, but unfortunately for humanity, antisemitism arouses passions ferocious enough to serve this purpose quite well.

The power of the Alliance is not based on numbers. Its membership is relatively miniscule. It has been successful because of its willingness to use horrendous violence and kamikaze political tactics to get what it wants, coupled with the cowardice or collaborationism of those who should know better. This belligerent nihilism is buttressed by the Alliance’s strong elite connections in government, media, academia, and the activist industry, which ensure that the Alliance enjoys all but total impunity. In effect, the Alliance need obey no laws, codes, regulations, or standards of common decency whatsoever. Suffice it to say, expectations are different for the rest of us.

In this context, it is almost unthinkable that Harris would pick Shapiro as her running mate. She not only needs but wants the antisemitic wing on her side, if only out of pure fear. Picking a Jew to be second-in-line to the presidency would be seen by the Alliance as the most blasphemous and unthinkable of sins. Putting aside her own natural sympathies, Harris surely knows that if she committed such a sin, the Alliance would have no compunctions about destroying her.

As for those sympathies, it is ominously clear that the antisemitic wing of the party has great confidence in Harris’s fealty. A recent Commentary article noted:  

The Democratic Party’s changing of the guard is almost certainly a milestone in American politics, a bold notch on the timeline marking a point of departure for the party’s approach to antisemitism and the Jewish state. … Members of the Biden-Harris administration who resigned over the president’s support for Israel against Hamas see Harris’s succession in that light. Lily Call, a former Interior Department staffer and member of the virulently anti-Israel group IfNotNow, expressed hope that Harris might enact an arms embargo on Israel. “I’ve worked for Kamala, and I know she’ll do the right thing,” Call told Politico.

There is no reason to think that the administration’s Hamas sympathizers are wrong. Harris has been noted as a strong anti-Israel voice in the administration and has engaged in craven and outrageous apologetics on behalf of the protester-terrorists who rampaged through American campuses this year. 

That alone should be indication enough that she would never countenance a Jewish running mate; at least not one like Shapiro who—unlike, say, Bernie Sanders—is not a collaborator with the Red-Green Alliance.

Before objections are made, I am aware of the fact that Harris has a Jewish husband. This is all well and good, but it is irrelevant. Antisemitism is an ideology, not a marital status. One can love an individual Jew and hold the Jews as a collective in contempt. When antisemites say some of their best friends are Jews, they are not always lying.

It is also irrelevant whether or not Harris is herself an antisemite. The question is what a Harris presidency might mean for Jews in the context of the Red-Green Alliance’s campaign of protester-terrorism.

The possibilities are not pleasant to contemplate. 

Of course, a President Harris would make life unpleasant for Israel. But in some ways, this is a less worrisome issue. Israel is determined to win this war and will go on whatever any given president might do. There is overwhelming support for Israel and its war aims among the American people, while almost the entire Republican Party and most of the Democrats who have remained sane are in Israel’s corner. A President Harris would no doubt cause considerable trouble, but there would be strong countervailing forces at work that would blunt the impact of her hostility.

This is not true of American Jews, because there is every reason to believe that a Harris administration would entirely capitulate to if not actively enable the Red-Green Alliance in every sector of American life.

Attempts to impose legal consequences for antisemitic violence will be ended. Hate crimes against Jews will not be prosecuted. Efforts to force educational institutions to actually enforce their own codes of conduct against antisemitism will be stymied. The Jewish community will be frozen out of all discussions of policies affecting its safety and security. Muslim organizations that are an essential part of the Red-Green Alliance and its protester-terrorism will be welcomed at the White House and Jewish organizations marginalized. A de facto ghettoization will take place, with Jews forced out of political office and government and academic jobs, as well as specific neighborhoods, cities, and even states by antisemitic violence and collaborationist authorities. 

In short, American Jews may be forced to contemplate the previously unthinkable: Whether or not they can remain Americans.

It is possible, of course, that Harris will have a change of heart. Things look different from the top and, with the presidency now within sight, she may decide that there is more risk in embracing antisemitism than in embracing the Jews—especially in a close election. She may even choose Josh Shapiro as her running mate. The signs, however, are not encouraging. 

American Jews, then, must remember the most essential of all admonitions: When something isn’t working, stop doing it. American Jews have been voting for the Democrats for a very, very long time. It isn’t working. 

Clearly, fresh thinking is necessary. American Jews could begin by asking themselves if a party unwilling to take the “risk” of nominating a Jew for vice president is worthy of their vote.