J. D. Vance Cozies Up to Anti-Semitism

"On Sunday, J. D. Vance was presented with the simplest moral test: denounce commentators who traffic in medieval blood libels, who deny the Holocaust, and who endlessly harp on evil Jewish cabals. The test was forced on the vice president. By the time he addressed the Turning Point USA conference this past weekend, it had turned into a referendum on latter-day Father Coughlins who have acquired substantial and growing audiences on the right."

"When presented with the simplest moral test, Vance failed. "We have far more important work to do than canceling each other," he said, as if anti-Semitism were just one more woke fixation. Strains of anti-Semitism have long festered on the American right. But in the second half of the 20th century, leaders of the Republican Party and the intellectual guardians of the conservative movement attempted to keep bigotry out of the mainstream."

J.D. Vance declined to denounce commentators who promote medieval blood libels, Holocaust denial, and conspiratorial portrayals of Jewish influence. The Turning Point USA conference became a referendum on contemporary right‑wing figures with large platforms who traffic in anti‑Semitic lies. Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson exemplify those amplification dynamics by spreading conspiratorial allegations and giving platforms to Holocaust minimizers. Ben Shapiro publicly denounced anti‑Semites and was attacked by Steve Bannon, who labeled him a 'cancer.' Vance’s remark that there was "far more important work to do than canceling each other" treated anti‑Semitism as a distraction rather than a moral emergency, reflecting weakened norms against bigotry on the right.

Read at The Atlantic