<p>The Democratic Party is rallying behind three of the most vicious bigots Congress has seen in decades. I am alternately annoyed at the president for engineering this and impressed by his strategic thinking for the same reason.</p>
<p>It truly was obnoxious for the president to suggest that American citizens leave and go somewhere else if they don’t like it here. Obnoxious, but not racist.</p>
<p>These three women came to Congress with the idea that the United States is fundamentally broken, though they themselves celebrate their origins in developing regions. There is nothing wrong with finding the president&#8217;s weekend tweeting to be offensive, and to suggest they should “go back” is still worse.</p>
<p>But even more so, it is wrong to call this rude reaction <em>racist</em>. To misattribute this to diverse skin tone only needlessly exacerbates our tensions and divisions.</p>
<p>Which leaves us pondering a different question: Why would the president mix into the Democrats&#8217; perfect storm?</p>
<p>Until Trump opened up against the four women of the so-called “Squad” — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MN) — progressive and moderate Democrats were headed for an epic falling-out.</p>
<p>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had pushed back against Twitter attacks upon her efforts to govern her Democratic caucus. And when Ocasio-Cortez (&#8220;AOC&#8221;) responded by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/outright-disrespectful-four-house-women-struggle-as-pelosi-isolates-them/2019/07/10/a33c63a8-a33f-11e9-b7b4-95e30869bd15_story.html">accusing Speaker Pelosi</a> of “singling out &#8230; newly elected women of color,” several members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) <a href="https://www.theroot.com/missouri-rep-lacy-clay-blasts-aoc-for-using-the-race-1836297417">castigated AOC</a> for “using the race card.” Democrats discovered what most of us already knew: Cries of racism are bigoted and hateful when used against innocent parties.</p>
<p>For AOC and similar “progressives” with a minority characteristic, the identity defense shields them from all criticism of their ideas. Instead of the race-blind society we so recently hoped to achieve, the “intersectionality” coalition divides America on racial and other minority lines, though with a notable carve-out: Jews are pushed off the minority map, regardless even of whether their families were driven out from Arab countries or were Holocaust survivors.</p>
<p>Remember that Ilhan Omar quite recently claimed that furious responses to her anti-Semitic remarks were “attacks” upon her as a Muslim, black, refugee woman. At that time, Jewish writers with obviously Middle Eastern names and features were castigated for “attacking a woman of color.” No CBC member or other Democratic leader cried foul at that time; on the contrary, even Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cory-booker-trump-ilhan-omar_n_5cc0b207e4b0764d31dc1184">employed the same tactic</a> against President Trump on Omar’s behalf.</p>
<p>But with Speaker Pelosi now targeted by this divisive language and identity politics, the Democratic caucus was ready to finally reject it — until, with just a few damaging tweets, the president closed the Democratic fault line. It is my suspicion that this was intentional.</p>
<p>Bringing Democrats back together leaves only Republicans on the side of Americans sick of being smeared as racist, homophobic, or misogynist simply for having different opinions.</p>
<p>Now Trump can go back to skillfully using the “Squad” to depict all Democrats as similarly leftist and unreasonable. Even his half-baked recollection of Omar <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-trump-falsely-claims-rep-omar-praised-al/story?id=64349788">“holding her chest out”</a> when she talked about al-Qaeda will work in Republicans&#8217; favor. The mainstream media played directly into this, depicting his imperfect recollection as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/us/politics/trump-fact-check-ilhan-omar.html">lie</a> — thus cementing Omar’s reputation as the sort of mainstream left-wing figure whom the media will defend.</p>
<p>America will now carefully revisit her comments from 2013, and observe that if the president didn’t have the details quite right, the accurate version is just as abhorrent. She literally <em>joked</em> about <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ilhan-omar-jokes-al-qaeda-america">her professor stiffening</a> when he spoke about a terrorist organization such as al-Qaeda or Hezbollah, as compared to a country such as America or England.</p>
<p>She was undoubtedly right — we don’t discuss England with the same “intensity” as we do al-Qaeda. We feel a high level of revulsion when discussing a terrorist organization that murdered thousands of Americans simply because it could; Omar appears to find this amusing.</p>
<p>In recent comments regarding “Palestine,” Omar <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1150504391566217217">called out</a> our “hypocrisy in not celebrating non-violent movements there and condemning it.” She said this at roughly the same time that the Hamas Interior Minister celebrated the completion of a new factory for <a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1150483553790177287">building suicide belts</a> with “off-on detonation switches” that Gazan girls (and boys) can use once they break through Israel’s border fence — and called for Palestinians around the world <a href="https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-political-bureau-fathi-hammad-explosive-belts-knives-slaughter-kill-jews-all-over-world-israel-one-week-ultimatum/transcript">to slaughter Jews</a>.</p>
<p>Omar’s words will now continue to harm not just the &#8220;Squad,&#8221; but all Democrats. Pelosi needed to distance her caucus for her own self-preservation; polls now show that distaste for AOC and others could <a href="https://www.axios.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-poll-democrats-2020-aeaa3771-f142-4059-b79e-1fed569dfdf9.html">return control of the House</a> to Republicans in 2020. Trump’s tweets forced them back into a tight embrace.</p>
<p>It would be better that the Democratic Party itself reject the identity politics and divisiveness of the “progressive” Left, rather than go the way of the U.K.’s Labour Party, which Jewish members and their allies are now abandoning en masse as “toxic.” That already seemed unlikely, but now, at least at present, seems impossible. Mr. President, I only hope it was worth it.</p>
<p><em>Rabbi Yaakov Menken is Managing Director of the <a href="https://coalitionforjewishvalues.org/">Coalition for Jewish Values</a>.</em></p>

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MENKEN: Don’t Underestimate Trump’s Strategic Thinking

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MENKEN: The Impeachment That Threatens America

MENKEN: To Stop Hateful Attacks On Jews, Oppose The Ideology Behind Them

MENKEN: Supporting The President Is The Moral Choice

MENKEN: When Fake News Harms the Jews

MENKEN: Secular Jews Claim They Don’t Exist To Spite The President

MENKEN: If You Want To Be Anti-Israel, Don’t Claim Trump Is An Anti-Semite When He Disagrees With You

Opinion

Al Qaeda

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Democratic Party

Donald Trump

Ilhan Omar

Immigration

Intersectionality

Leftism

Rashida Tlaib

Twitter

A video goes viral showing a baby being refused his mother by two gay "dads". This is just the tip of the iceberg, which is why we will have an important discussion today about surrogacy. 

Hour 1

The Matt Walsh Show

Ep. 1765 - This Video Is One Of The Worst Things I've Seen In A Long Time 

The Strait of Hormuz officially opens for business (kind of), the Pope makes “shocking” comments on immigration, and President Trump promises UFO disclosure at TPUSA. 


The Michael Knowles Show

Ep. 1956 -  Pope Leo's "SHOCKING" Immigration Comments EXPLAINED

A false miscreed has corrupted our leadership class.


The Andrew Klavan Show

Ep. 1275 - Dumb, Dumber and Progressive

President Trump announces a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, a murder-suicide involving former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shakes Virginia, and France and Britain hold a conference to secure the Strait of Hormuz – after the Iranian conflict ends. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.

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Ep. 2738

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U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26 [Member Exclusive]

A ceasefire goes into effect between Israel and Lebanon, a tragic murder-suicide rocks Virginia, and Dairy Queen deploys AI in the drive-thru. Get the facts first with Evening Wire.
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Ep. 2737
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Evening Wire: Lebanon Ceasefire Begins & Murder-Suicide Rocks VA | 4.16.26

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MENKEN: Don’t Underestimate Trump’s Strategic Thinking