What's right is left and what's up is down. Claudine Gay's resignation served as a reminder that in 2024, it's hard to know who your friends or enemies are.
There is merit in the concern over the abuse of first amendment rights on college campuses—antisemitic speech leads to antisemitic behavior and legitimate fear—but, yes, the cultural warriors are also putting Jews in that difficult place that you describe: be part of us or risk losing the shield of our protection.
The far right, under the guise of standing up to antisemitism , is striving t unite a base where they offer a mafia style protection in exchange for joining a cultural warrior attack that is anathema to most Jews. In so doing they aim to extend a base that has white supremacists on one side, racism deniers in the middle ( Haley’s inability to state slavery as the cause of the civil war ) and Jews to the left, joining because they want protection from first amendment abuses.
I dont want to minimize the issues that led to the criticism and resignations of college presidents, but I want to agree that the motivation behind the attacks on elite education and diversity is insidious and provides the far right with an ideal smokescreen for their repressive mechanisms.
As I see and saw it, when Stefanik set up her trap for three women (who went without subpoena and not obliged to go to the hearing: Columbia U president declined to do so) it was a choreographed distraction from what Trump was doing and saying immediately after Oct. 7. He called Hamas "smart" for their bombing attack, and then proceeded to embark on his most recent "poisoning the blood" and "vermin" rhetoric in full force. Stefanik, a Catholic and Harvard trained, recognizes history and began her tactical maneuver to provide cover for Trump.
But in March 2018, Stefanik was still a Trump critic:
"She stated that 'Russia meddled in our electoral process.' And she noted the Kremlin scheme was designed to benefit Trump: 'We’ve seen evidence that Russia tried to hurt the Hillary Clinton campaign.' Moreover, she expressed worry about the Trump-Russia contacts: 'I am concerned about some of the contacts between Russians and surrogates within the Trump Organization and the Trump campaign.' . . . A year later, as Trump continued to push his phony “Russia hoax” claim, Stefanik, at a town hall meeting, disagreed with the Trump line that the Moscow assault was no big deal. It was, she said, 'much more systemic, much more targeted, with very sophisticated hacking efforts, disinformation efforts targeted to specific campaigns.' Stefanik, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, also said that the Trump administration needed to be pushed 'to take the threat from Russia very seriously.' She criticized the Trump campaign for holding that covert meeting with the Moscow intermediary" (Mother Jones).
Later of course in 2020-21 we know what occurred, and subsequently “Harvard University removed Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) from one of the advisory committees for its school of public policy. In doing so, Harvard joined a growing list of businesses and other institutions that are making complex choices about how to engage with politicians who amplified President Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.”
Also from Mother Jones:
“Trump’s son-in-law and key adviser on Middle East policy, hit the television news shows to hail the accords. He hyped them as the 'beginning of the end of the Israel-Arab conflict.' When asked about the unresolved issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kushner, supremely confident, remarked, 'Those issues aren’t as complicated as people have made them out to be.' “Kushner certainly was generously rewarded for his work on the Middle East, which included arranging a $110 billion weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. Six months after leaving the White House, he secured a $2 billion investment from the kingdom for his new private equity firm.) In a podcast . . . , he touted the Abraham Accords and said, 'My hope and prayers are that President Trump is reelected and that he’s able to then restore calm and peace and prosperity to the world.'"
There is merit in the concern over the abuse of first amendment rights on college campuses—antisemitic speech leads to antisemitic behavior and legitimate fear—but, yes, the cultural warriors are also putting Jews in that difficult place that you describe: be part of us or risk losing the shield of our protection.
The far right, under the guise of standing up to antisemitism , is striving t unite a base where they offer a mafia style protection in exchange for joining a cultural warrior attack that is anathema to most Jews. In so doing they aim to extend a base that has white supremacists on one side, racism deniers in the middle ( Haley’s inability to state slavery as the cause of the civil war ) and Jews to the left, joining because they want protection from first amendment abuses.
I dont want to minimize the issues that led to the criticism and resignations of college presidents, but I want to agree that the motivation behind the attacks on elite education and diversity is insidious and provides the far right with an ideal smokescreen for their repressive mechanisms.
You are so right about divide and conquer.
As I see and saw it, when Stefanik set up her trap for three women (who went without subpoena and not obliged to go to the hearing: Columbia U president declined to do so) it was a choreographed distraction from what Trump was doing and saying immediately after Oct. 7. He called Hamas "smart" for their bombing attack, and then proceeded to embark on his most recent "poisoning the blood" and "vermin" rhetoric in full force. Stefanik, a Catholic and Harvard trained, recognizes history and began her tactical maneuver to provide cover for Trump.
But in March 2018, Stefanik was still a Trump critic:
"She stated that 'Russia meddled in our electoral process.' And she noted the Kremlin scheme was designed to benefit Trump: 'We’ve seen evidence that Russia tried to hurt the Hillary Clinton campaign.' Moreover, she expressed worry about the Trump-Russia contacts: 'I am concerned about some of the contacts between Russians and surrogates within the Trump Organization and the Trump campaign.' . . . A year later, as Trump continued to push his phony “Russia hoax” claim, Stefanik, at a town hall meeting, disagreed with the Trump line that the Moscow assault was no big deal. It was, she said, 'much more systemic, much more targeted, with very sophisticated hacking efforts, disinformation efforts targeted to specific campaigns.' Stefanik, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, also said that the Trump administration needed to be pushed 'to take the threat from Russia very seriously.' She criticized the Trump campaign for holding that covert meeting with the Moscow intermediary" (Mother Jones).
Later of course in 2020-21 we know what occurred, and subsequently “Harvard University removed Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) from one of the advisory committees for its school of public policy. In doing so, Harvard joined a growing list of businesses and other institutions that are making complex choices about how to engage with politicians who amplified President Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.”
Also from Mother Jones:
“Trump’s son-in-law and key adviser on Middle East policy, hit the television news shows to hail the accords. He hyped them as the 'beginning of the end of the Israel-Arab conflict.' When asked about the unresolved issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kushner, supremely confident, remarked, 'Those issues aren’t as complicated as people have made them out to be.' “Kushner certainly was generously rewarded for his work on the Middle East, which included arranging a $110 billion weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. Six months after leaving the White House, he secured a $2 billion investment from the kingdom for his new private equity firm.) In a podcast . . . , he touted the Abraham Accords and said, 'My hope and prayers are that President Trump is reelected and that he’s able to then restore calm and peace and prosperity to the world.'"