This week, Mike Johnson floated a wild-eyed theory about the pro-Palestinian protests that have been rocking college campuses.
The House speaker called onthe FBI to get involved, adding:
“I think they need to look at the root causes and find out if some of this was funded by, I don’t know, George Soros or overseas entities.”
Because such talk has become routine, Johnson’s claim didn’t garner much media attention.
👉But Democrats can and should act to compel media attention to it. And they have a big opportunity to do so:
Johnson is planning high-profile hearings about the protests in coming weeks, which will include grilling university officials about whether administrators are doing enough to combat antisemitism on campuses.
Republicans are being open about their aim here, 🔹which is to divide Democrats between those who will defend nonviolent protest and those who fear association with campus unrest. 🔹And many Democrats are feeling deeply skittish about all this.
That’s in some ways understandable.
🔥But Democrats should view upcoming hearings as an opportunity to reset the argument.
Johnson’s Soros quote
—and others from Republicans just like it
—give Democrats a way to go big.
They should hold the GOP and the MAGA media complex accountable for the ugly reality that a whole range of white nationalism-adjacent ideas
—especially ones with antisemitic overtones
—have been festering inside the House GOP for years and have even been mainstreamed at the highest levels of Republican power.
⭐️“They don’t actually care about Jewish people or antisemitism,” Democratic Representative Daniel Goldman of New York told me, speaking of Republicans.
⭐️“When they start using antisemitic tropes,” such as “globalist” and “elite” in this context, Goldman continued, it “shows their true colors.”
