Dems torn as pro-Palestine protests rock universities

Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests are inspiring a nationwide movement while the Democratic Party finds itself split in two. A group of twenty-one House Democrats called on Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, to end the encampment or resign as progressives such as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman joined in the Manhattan university’s protests Friday.

The Democratic Party struggles with clashing opinions regarding the broader conflict as well as concerns over electability — particularly as “uncommitted” voters sent a message to President Joe Biden in the primary over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Biden’s public demonstrations of support for Israeli war efforts are teetering as a result, as the State Department released a report Monday accusing the IDF of human rights offenses. 

The House is scheduled to vote this week on the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act — a bill that will further accentuate the Dems’ division. Congressional progressives and a lone Republican representative, Thomas Massie, are already expressing opposition to the act, criticizing how it equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Still, the measure is likely to pass, with solid Republican support and the support of a good chunk of liberals — including the bill’s fourteen Democratic co-sponsors. 

The Act would require the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism when enforcing anti-discrimination federal statutes. Language in the definition includes the following: “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” and “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” These two elements of the definition have been criticized as far-reaching by progressives and free speech advocates.

“There’s a bipartisan effort in Congress to equate criticism of the secular state of Israel to violence toward Jewish people in America,” said Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie on X. “The latter is illegal and the former is protected speech, but if a false equivalency is established, it will be forbidden to criticize Israel.”

Back on campus, Columbia is prepared to unleash another round of suspensions on students who refuse to vacate the encampment Monday. 

-Juan P. Villasmil

On our radar 

HUNTER VERSUS FOX Hunter Biden’s attorney is threatening litigation against Fox News over the outlet’s coverage of sexually explicit photos of the president’s son and claims by an FBI informant that the Biden family was bribed by a Ukrainian official. 

‘CAGE-MATCH POLITICS’ A profile in the New York Times of UFC chief Dana White reveals how the entertainment mogul uses politics “situationally and transactionally” to get things done — like uncanceling Bud Light after a major conservative boycott. 

KITARA REVIVED Former New York congressman George Santos announced on X that he would once again perform as Kitara, a drag queen persona he reportedly adopted in Brazil, but this time his death drops would raise money for charities such as Tunnel to Towers. 

KJP TO BE AXED? The Biden administration is quashing claims made in a New York Post report that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is being encouraged to resign her job because she relies too much on prepared answers read directly from her binder. 

Noem’s dog days are over

When the passage from South Dakota governor Kristi Noem’s new memoir describing how she shot her own dog hit headlines, the sane people of America recoiled. Many of us also wondered who her PR team is and what the heck they were thinking letting such a story be known to constituents. Yet in the face of backlash, Donald Trump’s vice-presidential hopeful is proving to be just as much of an ice queen as she looks.

In No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, Noem recalls how she shot her fourteen-month-old pointer, Cricket, in a gravel pit because the pup was “less than worthless” as a hunting dog and had ruined a pheasant hunt by “chasing all those birds and having the time of her life.” Noem also writes that Cricket killed the neighbor’s chickens and was aggressive and untrainable, concluding, “I hated that dog.”  

Dispatching Cricket was “not a pleasant job” that “had to be done,” Noem recounts. Even if that were true, did the story have to be told? Noem’s attempt at a get-tough image is backfiring big time, with Democrats and Republicans criticizing her. Even Laura Loomer, for instance, took to Twitter/X to declare, “She can’t be VP now. You can’t shoot your dog and then be VP.”

Nonetheless, Noem is unremorseful. She wrote on Twitter/X:

I can understand why some people are upset about a twenty-year-old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch. Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle. Even if it’s hard and painful. I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner and neighbor.

When it comes to Noem’s VP dreams, No Going Back is probably right…

–Teresa Mull

Trump and DeSantis reunite

Former president Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis met in Miami Sunday, marking their first conversation since the governor abandoned his presidential race in January.

The Washington Post reportsthat according to a source close to the situation, the meeting was arranged through Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer and longtime Trump buddy, at the request of the governor. 

A copy of an invitation obtained by CNN reveals that Witkoff will be hosting a fundraiser for Trump in Miami this Sunday, which might very well indicate the purpose of the reunion. 

The unnamed source told the Post that Trump and DeSantis had a friendly exchange, with the governor agreeing to fundraise for the Republican nominee. The meeting evidences a change in what has been seen as a negative relationship for months now, with the New York Times labeling Trump’s past attacks on DeSantis a “campaign of humiliation,” and the governor delivering his own more subtle blows.   

What is there to win for Trump? A superb fundraiser. For DeSantis, however, it is less clear. A Trump who compliments, not mocks, you sounds pretty good. But does the governor want more? Probably. And so let the speculation begin: “Is DeSantis back in the veepstakes?”

–Cockburn