I’ve now found that reading strong ideological blogs is like asking the dentist to give me four root canals and pull out my toenails while he’s at it. Why? Our political “discussion” now seemingly can’t function without a personal attack on someone, rather than sticking to policy issues. So enter the conservative, quite openly pro-Trump website Breitbart, where a columnist referred to The Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol as a “renegade Jew.” Since when did Kristol bring his religion into his analysis? Didn’t matter. This is indicative of how our political “debate” now must have the component of hatred and demonization in it. To wit:
Breitbart columnist David Horowitz labeled conservative figurehead Bill Kristol a “Renegade Jew” for his push to keep presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump out of the White House.
Horowitz, who is Jewish, published a column on Sunday titled “Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew Prepares Third Party Effort to block Trump’s Path to White House.” Within hours, the phrase “Renegade Jew” was trending on Twitter.
The column picked apart the Weekly Standard editor’s plan, laid out in a weekend op-ed, to “recruit and support an independent candidate” who could keep both Trump or Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton from winning the election.
Only the last paragraph touched on faith. Horowitz charged that by opposing Trump, Kristol allied himself with Clinton and proponents of the Iran nuclear deal, thus strengthening countries that endanger Israel and weakening “the only party that stands between the Jews and their annihilation.
You can read the column here, which basically suggests the Republican Party is the only thing that stands between Israel and its being wiped off the face of the earth. It’s more of the kind of rheotric we’re seeing as we speed into the 21st century where any semblance of nuance is excised from much punditry. It’s all heaven and hell; we’re the good guys the others are the demons who want to kill us all or let us all get killed because they’re dumb or cowards.
I really don’t care if a columnist is Jewish when he uses that phrase. By putting in the phrase “renegade Jew” the columnist and its publication have not jumped the shark. They’ve jumped the sieg heil.
How many others who now disagree with a Kristol or some other politician who is Jewish will out of thin air stick “Jew” in their posts?
Horowitz seems to forget: no, Jews, just like every other group, aren’t 100 percent monolithic when it comes to Israel. But our politics now functions by dissing and discrediting those who dare to see the world through a different personal life’s filter. Horowitz wants Trump…Kristol wants a third party because he doesn’t want Trump…so all the rhetorical nuclear weapons are coming out to name call and to discredit Kristol.
Meanwhile, this further underscores the apocalyptic nature of much of todays punditry: if so and so doesn’t agree with your view on Israel, then you hate Israel, you don’t want to survive or don’t care as much for it to survive as that brave thoughtful writer who accuses you of not caring. Columns on religion (pro or not) are fair game. Pointing to Kristol’s religion is shabby, cheap and will enable and encourage those who do in fact hate Jews to start referring to politicians or writing as “that liberal Jew, that conservative Jew.”
P.S. I’m no Bill Kristol fan. My disagreements with him are over policy and his being accuracy challenged in some of his political predictions and endorsement. I couldn’t care less the name of his religion or if he had no religion. When you read stuff like this, you run out of adjectives such as “contemptible.” But really it all illustrates how many Americans can no longer differ with people and debate their ideas; they have to name call and hate — and bring religion into it. But it gets hits, ratings, sells books and could mean high speaking fees for those who dabble in rhetorical brinksmanship and belong to the conservative political entertainment media.
Here are some tweets:
To be fair, “Renegade Jew” sounds arguably badass. https://t.co/cnxVZNqsmR
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) May 16, 2016
.@BreitbartNews calls @BillKristol "Renegade Jew." I've never been so ashamed of Republican Party and never more proud to be #NeverTrump
— Brittany Pounders (@LibertyBritt) May 16, 2016
Breitbart’s “renegade Jew” headline is a perfect example of how Trumpian rhetoric works. https://t.co/1TyAMiKStU
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) May 16, 2016
‘Vile and Really Sad’: Twitter Blows Up at Breitbart for Calling Kristol a ‘Renegade Jew’ https://t.co/mJfquOWw70 pic.twitter.com/UDIJBDdoDe
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 16, 2016
@NoahCRothman I saw Renegade Jew open for Aerosmith in Lakeland, Florida in 79.
— Jazz Shaw (@JazzShaw) May 16, 2016
Breitbart's "Renegade Jew" column isn't anti-Semitic. Just David Horowitz arguing a Real Jew would support the GOP. pic.twitter.com/W3qGlbRBRa
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) May 16, 2016
Renegade Jew? And some scoffed at my Trump/Hitler comparisons! **** off TrumpBart! @BillKristol @GameOnJD pic.twitter.com/f89Fp8dp9T
— Norwood Tea Party (@NorwoodTeaParty) May 16, 2016
"RENEGADE JEW"??? Really, America? @Reince? ANYONE care? https://t.co/PZhsM2o8hD
— Ex-GOP Shelly (@TexHellCat) May 16, 2016
@Yair_Rosenberg @katherinemiller how is Renegade Jew not a superhero name yet?
— Hend Amry (@LibyaLiberty) May 16, 2016
See how this works folks? David Horowitz wrote the article. Ergo, it can be as anti-semitic a headline as they like. pic.twitter.com/e3tb4zg5TU
— Ben Howe (@BenHowe) May 16, 2016
Dear David Horowitz: There’s No Such Thing As A ‘Renegade Jew’ https://t.co/izdA3DsyFV pic.twitter.com/rCfVW7RYXk
— The Resurgent (@resurgent) May 16, 2016
David Horowitz tells me in an email that he is responsible for the @BreitbartNews headline "Renegade Jew": pic.twitter.com/vZUPEMD0rg
— Jamie Weinstein (@Jamie_Weinstein) May 16, 2016
I once praised David Horowitz's RADICAL SON. I wish that review could be lit on fire.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) May 16, 2016
Also on Donald Trump’s California delegates list: crazy right wing ranter David Horowitz.
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) May 12, 2016
Turning Bill Kristol into a sympathetic figure is truly Donald Trump’s greatest achievement.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 16, 2016
Breitbart, ‘Renegade Jews,’ And The Anti-Semitic Wing Of The Trump Movement | Daily Wire https://t.co/ihWEz8jF8t pic.twitter.com/KWtVvJsl2y
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 16, 2016
@benshapiro @andrewklavan Maybe the Trumpsters at Breitbart wish they could put all the renegade Jews in some kind of camp or something.
— The Orange Menace (@SheilaJLol) May 16, 2016
Breitbart tells Bill Kristol the only way to be a real Jew is to get on the Trump Train. Hey Breitbart, stop telling Jews to get on trains.
— Tim Dimond (@timdimond) May 16, 2016
Cool, so now Breitbart is running pieces saying Jews who doesn't support the GOP are traitors. (h/t @HeerJeet) pic.twitter.com/RlRQPRBqKX
— Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff) May 16, 2016
I have loved David Horowitz's work for years. I can't believe this "renegade Jew" crap. More proof Trump a cancer that corrupts everything.
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) May 16, 2016
This is a sick/twisted attack made in a grotesque website. Is David Horowitz proud of promoting antisemitism? https://t.co/KZwzjv0lSF
— Peter Wehner (@Peter_Wehner) May 16, 2016
Forget the "Renegade Jew" stuff. The worst part part of that Horowitz article was the blatant Trump apologia
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) May 16, 2016
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.