It was a rare bipartisan moment.
The GOP cannot even agree with Democrats to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, or to pass routine spending bills — including, for months, aid to Israel and Ukraine.
But a few weeks ago, Rockland’s own Republican Rep. Mike Lawler joined in the time-honored tradition of taunting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green for her conspiracy theory that California wildfires were ignited by the Rothschild family’s operation of “space solar generators,” or what have been coined “Jewish space lasers.”
Attempting to blame natural disasters on a conspiracy theory revolving around Jewish space lasers is textbook antisemitism.
Lawler points this out in a new bill he co-sponsored, which passed with substantial bipartisan support, that defines antisemitism based on the National Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s “non-binding working definition” of antisemitism, which includes the following example as guidance: “Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.”
“Moscow Marjorie has clearly gone off the deep end, maybe the result of a space laser,” Lawler said after she tried (unsuccessfully) to boot the GOP’s own speaker, Mike Johnson. “But this type of tantrum is absolutely unacceptable. And it does nothing to further the cause of the conservative movement.”
But recent statements made by Lawler (who did not reply to our request for comment) stand out for just how unusual they are, and maybe they can serve as a useful reminder to the GOP that if party if it wants to maintain any measure of moral high ground on the issue of anti-Semitism, they’ll at least need to tone it down in their own party.
The truth is that the mostly MAGA-led Republican Party has allowed anti-Semitism to flourish within its ranks, platforming and normalizing Neo Nazis and empowering them like never before. Now they want us to forget that.
Johnson (himself a Christian nationalist, lest we forget) has tried to capitalize on the issue of anti-Semitism, literally foisting himself into the middle of the controversy by giving a speech on Columbia University’s campus amid the protests.
Meanwhile, his party is unlikely to call up a vote on a bill introduced by New York Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman to allocate $280 million to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which enforces federal anti-discrimination laws, including protecting students from anti-semitism.
Lawler’s district, which includes Rockland County, is home to one of the largest Jewish populations in the country.
But while he and others have been outspoken about anti-Semtism within the protest movement, we’ve heard almost nothing from the GOP about the normalization of anti-Semitism within its own ranks, not to mention the presumptive Republican nominee for president, whom Lawler supports.
Donald Trump has said that any Jews who vote for Democrats hate “their religion,” “hate everything about Israel,” and “and “should be ashamed of themselves” for their “disloyalty.” He’s also reportedly said that “Hitler did a lot of good things” and praised German generals.
His most recent foray into antisemitism includes posting a 30-second video on Truth Social featuring fake future news articles that would run if he wins the election. They included “the creation of a unified Reich” under the headline “What’s next for America?,” according to the New York Times.
Another hypothetical headline alludes to rejecting “globalists” if Trump becomes president again. The term, which has gained traction in certain right-wing circles, is seen by many as thinly veiled antisemitism.
The Trump campaign said the video was posted on a Monday afternoon by a member of his staff, but it remained up into the next day.
It would be nice if the GOP’s sudden pearl-clutching in the face of the very real and growing problem of anti-Semitism made it a little more awkward for Republican politicians who tolerate and promote bigotry emanating from their own party. But we’re not holding our breath.
