I find it perplexing to watch Republican members of Congress attack school administrators for their failure to act in the face of antisemitism while dismissing the January 6th rioters who wore Camp Auschwitz t-shirts. It is almost like there are two sources of antisemitism (which there are) from each side of the politically extreme spectrum. I find it appalling when one is dismissed as just a demonstration, and the other is found to be worthy of extended public rebuke. Both forms are odious and deserve serious attention. I wish there were more on the Right condemning the Proud Boys and other neo-Nazi groups; and more on the Left condemning the antisemitism emerging from pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

For those whose families fled Nazi Germany, this is not an academic discussion. Nor should it be used as an opportunity to enable the politically performative actors to preen on the national stage as people opposed to discrimination.  

Remember, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who discovered that Jewish space lasers caused the wildfires in the west, is still embraced by the Republican Party’s nominee in waiting, after he dines with Holocaust deniers. Maybe his analysis is that “there are very fine people on both sides” as it was after the antisemitic marches in Virginia while he was President. We can only wonder what a second Trump term might produce.