Persuade me: Kamala, Trump Faces His Critics and Other Opinions
Democrat: Convince me, Kamala
As a Democrat, Anna Abramzon at The Times of Israel insists she once would’ve “been thrilled to declare ‘I’m with her’ ” and backed Kamala Harris, but can’t now.
“As a liberal Jew and an unapologetic Zionist, I represent the segment of [Harris’] coalition” that’s “diametrically opposed” to the Dems’ “far-left, terror-apologist wing.” Abramzon won’t support Kamala just because she’s “not Donald Trump”; amid a horrifying eruption of antisemitism and “anti-Zionist intimidation,” Harris must show “which Democratic Party” she represents — “pandering to both sides won’t work.”
So far, Harris has ignored the antisemitism spike, empathized with those calling for global intifada and boycotted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abramzon might not back Trump, but if Harris can’t convince her, she’ll stay home — “or better yet, write in Ritchie Torres.”
Election watch: Trump Meets His Critics
“Half of politics is showing up, even for a roomful of critics,” note The Wall Street Journal’s editors. That’s what Donald Trump did at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. Trump “has a good case that his economic policies helped black voters in his first term, especially compared to the Biden-Harris inflation that has cut real wages.”
That’s “an argument journalists should want to hear and report to inform the public, instead of arguing to deplatform candidates they don’t like in the tradition of university cancel culture.”
Yes, Trump “dove right in” to a Dem “identity politics trap” around Kamala Harris’ race. But “Harris originally declined the association’s invitation to appear in person.”
Mideast beat: Haniyeh Assassination’s Lesson
Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination “should finally bury one of the more absurd claims made by Israel’s critics” — that there’s “no military solution to the problem posed by Hamas,” cheers Commentary’s Seth Mandel. Some say that eliminated Hamas members will just “be replaced by interchangeable cogs.
But the Haniyeh killing so defies that logic that it ought to prompt some reconsideration of this part of Israel’s strategy by its critics.” Haniyeh’s “forced exit” is a “game changer,” because he’s been “integral to the development of Hamas as an organization and a governing force”; he “can be replaced in name only.”
“Israel’s campaign of targeted assassination since October 7 prepared the ground for this . . . Hamas put itself underground when this war started; Israel may yet ensure it stays there.”
Legal take: Biden’s Supreme Overreach
President Biden’s proposed Supreme Court reforms are so blatantly unconstitutional, argues Madeleine Kearns at The Free Press, that even Biden’s own members of the Presidential Commision on the subject think so: “Adam White, who served as a member of that commission, tells The Free Press that ‘nothing in our report actually recommended anything’ that the president is now proposing.”
“Imposing term limits by statute would be unconstitutional,” and “trying to get around this by ‘slicing and dicing the Supreme Court into subgroups’ — granting justices 18 years of ‘active service,’ after which they no longer participate in their ordinary duties” would surely invite Congressional mischief.
Thankfully, House Speaker Mike Johnson has declared that “any legislation Biden brings to Congress is likely to be dead on arrival.”
From the right: Brace for Street Chaos at DNC
“The anti-Israel violence and vandalism last week in Washington, D.C., merely hints at what might await Democrats in Chicago later this month,” warns J.T. Young at RealClearPolitics. The warning is important because “the lax law enforcement in Chicago and other cities run by Democrats has set the stage for a reprise of 1968.”
The Washington marches devolved into riots as “organizers had vowed a ‘day of rage’ ” and “delivered on that promise.” Of the protesters who “burned the American flag,” “defaced monuments” with “pro-Hamas” graffiti and demonstrated “inside the Cannon House Office Building,” few were arrested, while “nearly half have had their charges dropped.”
The anti-Israel violence and that likely to visit Chicago during the Democratic National Convention are “microcosms of Democrats’ larger national problem on crime.”
— Compiled by The Post Edorial Board
