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Worcester city council must reject Thu Nguyen’s indulgence of antisemitism

There is something deeply unsettling in Worcester City Council member Thu Nguyen’s attitude toward Jews and the Jewish state.

Most recently, Nguyen, who uses they/them pronouns, took issue with a statement that City Council Member Moe Bergman put forward for the council’s consideration. The text, below, seems uncontroversial:

That the City Council of the City of Worcester does hereby condemn the recent barbaric and inhuman taking of hostages in Israel, including a number of American citizens, and prays for their immediate and safe release and return to their loved ones.

Who could take issue with a statement calling for the release of hostages, many of whom are children? Apparently Thu Nguyen. They posted to social media Bergman’s proposed resolution, complaining, “There is no acknowledgement of the death and suffering of the Palestinians and what has unfolded. I urge us to speak. If we are to go on record regarding Israel-Hamas, we must also be on the record calling for a ceasefire and an end to the killing of Palestinians, the collective punishment, and imminent genocide.”

Other city council member’s should ignore, or even condemn, Nguyen.

First, it’s worth pointing out that Bergman’s statement is directed only at those held captive by Hamas. There is also no acknowledgement of the death and suffering of the hundreds of Israelis who were slaughtered, unprovoked, by the thugs who streamed into Israel on October 7. Nguyen doesn’t seem to mind that they were not mentioned. Why would this be?

Unfounded accusations of Israeli of “genocide”

But notice something else in this statement. Nguyen not only minimizes the horrors perpetuated by Hamas; they also accuse Israel of “genocide.” This is an antisemitic trope with no basis in reality. The idea that evil Israel is plotting to wipe out an entire population of innocent victims is nothing more than a modern form of blood libel.

On October 7, Hamas perpetrated the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history, perhaps the worst ever carried out in the developed world. Babies were burned and beheaded, girls were raped while their parents were forced to listen by cellphone, people were burnt alive in bomb shelters, Holocaust survivors and toddlers were taken captive and brought into Gaza. The list goes on.

What does Nguyen think the proper response should be to a state-like entity sending its “warriors” across the border to rape, murder, and kill? Israel decided it would topple the terrorist organization responsible. While President Biden agrees with this decision – he even said it was necessary to do so – Nguyen wrote in another rambling statement, “Demanding that people leave within 2/4 hours and then bombing the escape routes. We cannot with our conscious(sic) encourage this behavior. We must call for a ceasefire and negotiate towards peace.”

A ceasefire! Negotiations toward “peace”! How nice that sounds. Israel should just lay down its weapons and have a nice conversation with those who came to rape and murder her citizens! That will solve everything! Obviously, this is a stupid idea. No “negotiations” are possible with a group that wants to murder you – and Hamas’s founding charter, which calls for the eradication of all Jews – makes that intent clear.

Propaganda directly from Hamas

Also notice the little detail about “Demanding that people leave…and then bombing the escape routes.” This is propaganda directly from Hamas. Hama’s supporters spread this narrative around the Internet for a bit, before video emerged debunking the claim: the “bombing” was an explosion of a vehicle, which couldn’t have been caused by Israel, as there were no troops in Gaza, nothing flying overhead, and no projectile incoming. Smarter antisemites stopped talking about this before Nguyen made their post.

But let’s look closer at Nguyen’s two statements. One accuses Israel of plotting “genocide.” The other condemns Israel for telling Gazan civilians to get out of areas where there is going to be intense bombing and fighting. If Israel is plotting to murder all Gazans, why is it telling them to go a dozen miles south temporarily so that they can avoid being endangered?

Special standards for Israel

Yes, it’s true that Gazan civilians are dying in Israel’s response to Hamas. That is sad, and every Jew I’ve spoken with or texted with, including friends who are now in the IDF, who are scared but desperate to fight Hamas, have expressed sorrow at the deaths of innocent Gazans. But has Nguyen no idea of what happens in war? Can Nguyen, or anyone, name a war in which civilians weren’t killed? Has Nguyen ever looked at the photos of Berlin or Rome or many other European cities, bombed out as a result of World War II? No one accuses the U.S. of genocide, even though our air force carried out a bombing raid on Tokyo that killed 100,000 civilians on a single night in 1945.

Would Nguyen argue that the U.S. should have just sat out the war and “negotiated” for “peace” with the Nazis?

War is horrible. You don’t judge a country’s entry into a war based on the ugliness of the conflict. You judge the war based on whether or not the intended outcome is just, and whether the country making war is doing its part to prevent civilian casualties.

Israel is obviously doing its part. It gave civilians notice, while Hamas gave none to the innocents before they raped and murdered and captured them. That’s why Israel even extended the deadline for people to leave northern Gaza. That’s why Israel turned on water to southern Gaza and why it’s made way for food shipments.

Given the above, that Israel’s aims are just and that its defense forces are doing their part to get civilians out of harm’s way, it is impossible to imagine that anyone could seriously believe that Israel is trying to wipe the Gazans from the face of the Earth, i.e., to commit genocide. Also interesting to note is that Nguyen hasn’t condemned any other country for “genocide” or war crimes. They didn’t even note that Azerbaijan expelled nearly every single ethnic Armenian from Nagorno-Karabach a few weeks ago. Worcester has one of the largest Armenian populations in America, so this is certainly as local an issue as Palestinian suffering.

Clearly, given that their only statements on foreign policy relate to Israel, and that they expend far more words condemning the Jewish state than Hamas, Nguyen is singling Israel out as an actor of unique evil, the Jew of nations.

Not only did this statement make nonsensical claims that promote antisemitism – endangering Jews everywhere – but Nguyen also includes another piece of dishonesty. They write, “I did not intend on writing a statement not because I don’t care but because I am still learning and working through my emotions.”

Nguyen doesn’t seem to have been “still learning and working through my emotions.” Before posting that statement, they had already spread lies. On October 12, the eve of the “day of rage” proclaimed by Hamas, when tens of thousands of Jews around the world, including here, were deciding whether to send their kids to school or to keep them home for fear of violence, when Worcester synagogues needed police protection to ensure Jews’ safety, Nguyen had already decided they “learned” and “worked through” their emotions enough to post a statement from Jewish Voice for Peace accusing Israel of plotting genocide.

Again: at the very moment Jews around the world and here in Worcester were taking shelter, Nguyen posted an inflammatory statement accusing the Jewish state of genocide.

And don’t be fooled by the word “Jewish” (or the word “peace”) in JVP’s name. As I pointed out to Nguyen, JVP is labeled by the Anti-Defamation League as an extremist organization that fans the flames of antisemitism. This is an organization that literally posted a picture of IDF soldiers drinking the blood of children.

“Jewish Voice for Peace” sounds nice, but it’s an extremist organization

Using a fake Jewish organization to spread lies about Israel is a grotesque form of tokenizing Jews. As a public servant, Nguyen should know that the vast majority of Jews in their community are still reeling from the violence of October 7 and, along with President Biden, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and a host of other American leaders, support Israel in defending herself.

Nguyen must at least intuit that they’re engaging in gross antisemitism; that’s why, throughout their statements they use this fake Jewish organization and refer to their Jewish friends as cover. It’s a form of tokenizing, as in the case of every white racist who assures the world that they have Black friends.

I responded to Nguyen on Instagram, noting that using JVP as a way to express the opinions of the Jewish community is similar to using Candace Owens as a messenger of the opinions of the Black community. Nguyen replied, oddly, only that they viewed JVP as Angela Davis. I wrote about this and, of course, Nguyen felt aggrieved, bringing us to another act of dishonesty on the council member’s part.

While most people would issue an apology if someone pointed out that they shared a post from an organization identified by the ADL as an extremist group, Nguyen let the propaganda stand. Then, when this Jew-endangering behavior was pointed out, they jumped to an old standby: “…believing in the dignity, the right to live and freedom of Palestinians is not anti-semitic. This notion of being anti-Jewish over the simple acknowledgement of a community is a reductive argument that detracts from the conversation of history and people’s humanity…” Obviously, I never called Nguyen an antisemite for “believing in the dignity,” etc. of Palestinians. I suggested that they were ignorant or antisemitic for dishonestly accusing the Jewish state of “genocide,” a form of blood libel, on the eve of a day when violence against Jews had been called for worldwide.

The Worcester city council should reject an amendments to the statement condemning kidnapping from the council member most guilty of spreading antisemitism.

And voters should reject Nguyen in November.

Neither the Democrats nor MAGA won yesterday

Yesterday was bad for Democrats. They won, or, at least, they didn’t lose as badly as expected (results still too close to call), probably maintaining control of the Senate and losing the House by far fewer seats than expected. This is a victory, to be sure, but it’s a pyrrhic victory, setting the stage for a 2024 decimation of the Democratic Party at both the executive and legislative levels.

By all accounts, the Democrats should have seen a resounding defeat yesterday. Off-year election cycles routinely deliver bad results to the governing party, and the most important indicators – crime, the economy, etc. – favored an opposition party over a governing party. Combine that with a president who’s quite obviously non compos mentis, and the expected result is, as George W. Bush once described it, “a thumpin’.” But that didn’t happen, so the obvious question is: Why?

Why were the Democrats able to defy the odds and pull off what amounts to a victory? Only two real options are available: the Democrats did just about everything right, or the Republicans did just about everything wrong. If Democrats are being honest with themselves, it should be obvious to them that the electorate voted against the Republicans, not for the Democrats. If there was widespread content with the Democrats, the polls don’t show it. They don’t show it in the presidential approval rating or in confidence in Democrats’ ability to handle key issues like crime and inflation; the Democrats don’t even fully dominate the area they’ve tried to make their key issue: protecting democracy (though, to be sure, this is an area where they beat the Republicans).

Throughout the race, the Democrats broadcast their lack of faith in their standing with the voters. While Biden was making speeches arguing MAGA Republicans are a threat to democracy, other members of his party were openly funding the most extreme of these threats, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. A cynical move, ostensibly fighting for democracy while funding democracy’s supposed gravediggers, but it worked. With a few exceptions, almost all of the Trump-favored extremists, including those the Democrats helped to beat out over their moderate, regular Republican, challengers, lost. But therein lies the problem for the future.

Victory leads to complacency, while defeat leads to soul searching, as was the case in 2020, when Democrats like Abigail Spannberger forcefully questioned the “defund the police” slogan with which the Democratic Party had become too comfortable. Recall that 2020 was a defeat for Democrats in the same way that 2022 is a victory: while this time they didn’t lose by as much as they would have been expected to, two years ago they didn’t win by nearly as much as they should have. Indeed, the only reason they won a “majority” (really, 50-50 plus the vice president’s tie-breaking vote) of the Senate was because Trump went to Georgia and convinced Republicans their votes didn’t matter, because the election was “rigged” and “stolen.”

Now, the election results have made the Democrats complacent, while the Republicans search their souls, along with their strategic playbook. While many have been arguing that Trump is an albatross around the Republicans’ collective neck, yesterday made it clear that he’s not an albatross, but a noose. The candidates Trump picked lost yesterday, but in places where the former president didn’t interfere, Republicans fared much better. Georgia’s Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock is locked in a dead heat with Republican Herschel Walker, an unhinged figure who was endorsed by Trump. Walker could win, but Democrats only need to look elsewhere in Georgia to see something that should terrify them: Brian Kemp, a conservative Republican who Trump declared an enemy, destroyed Democratic superstar Stacey Abrams in the race for governor, 54-46, despite few problems and high turnout.

One could look also at New York’s 17th Congressional district. There, Sean Patrick Maloney was defeated by Republican state legislator Mike Lawler. Lawler, despite having been a Trump delegate to the RNC in previous times, sought to distance himself from Trump and focused his campaign on crime and inflation. Lawler’s website, especially its foreign policy section, shows a candidate at pains to paint himself as a strongly conservative – not an America Firster. And Maloney should have won easily: there was some redistricting, but Biden won the general area of the district by 10 points – and Maloney is chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the organization that’s responsible for raising and doling out money to the party’s Congressional candidates. No DCCC member has lost in four decades.

Other examples abound, but the most important is in Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis handily beat Democrat Charlie Crist. Trump has been strongly, and publicly, signaling that he hates DeSantis, holding a rally at the same time as the Florida governor and warning DeSantis not to run for president because, “I know more about him than anybody — other than, perhaps, his wife.” Were DeSantis to run, Trump said, the Florida governor “could hurt himself very badly.”

So far, DeSantis hasn’t hurt himself at all. He’s been able to build a huge base of support in Florida, straddling the lines between competent administrator (If he runs for president, he’s sure to point to his handling of the pandemic, as compared to the disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, responsible for the state’s nursing home scandal), conservative, and Trump-style troll (as evinced in his apery of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s transport of undocumented immigrants to blue states).

Coming days will reveal more information about how Black, Hispanic, and Asian voters cast their ballots, but they are clearly shifting Republican – and DeSantis has made huge headway with, at least, Hispanic voters in his state, beating Biden’s share of that demographic’s vote in 2020. While commentators then pointed to Cubans and Venezuelans fearing the stated socialism of AOC, Sanders, and their bloc, the same explanation doesn’t hold now. DeSantis won 50 percent of all Hispanic voters in Florida, and a whopping 55 percent of Puerto Rican voters in the state.

The Florida governor is clearly the rising star in the Republican Party, and, if that dynamic isn’t halted, it likely means an eclipse for the Democrats. DeSantis might actually be able to purge the GOP of Trump’s influence, or at least to wrest control from him. That, combined with the quite obvious rebuke of Trumpism by the voters, can expunge MAGA and rob the Democrats of their key talking point in 2022. In 2024, they’ll have to focus on their record and the state of the country, and economists are still predicting a recession.

And if DeSantis becomes the Republican nominee, Biden would not stand a chance. Biden won in 2020 by promising not to be Trump. While Biden and the Democrats didn’t seem to get the message, it was pretty clear: voters wanted simply a return to normalcy, to pre-Trump politics. They didn’t want a lurch to the left or to the right; they wanted to make America normal again. Biden hasn’t done that; everyone who’s honest admits that there’s something terribly amiss in the Biden administration’s handling of almost everything, and the president isn’t even able to hold his own against friendly interviewers. How will he perform against DeSantis who will, after winning the primary and hew moderate? DeSantis is a fairly skilled orator, full of facts and figures, easily able to defeat Biden in a debate.

Each party has work to do. For Republicans, the steps forward are clear: expunge Trump’s influence. For Democrats, the work is clear, but both the problem and the necessary steps forward are obscured by the fog of victory. Recent Democratic statements seem to indicate that Biden and his inner circle, as well as many legislative Democrats, believe that there has been a vindication of their policies, encouraging them to simply keep doing what they’ve done for the past two years. That, though, is a path to electoral disaster. As for the actual steps the Democrats should take moving forward, George Will has some decent suggestions.

If Trump is gone, a winning strategy will no longer consist of not being Trump.

Team Biden vs. Manchin: the Democrats’ suicidal impulse

The problem isn’t Joe Manchin.

Perhaps the biggest campaigners for the Republicans in 2022 and 2024 will turn out to be America’s top Democrats. It is hard to imagine any strategy, insofar as they have one, that would better ensure Democrats’ loss of both houses of Congress and the presidency than that which the president and his allies are pursuing right now.

“If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort [to come to an agreement on the president’s signature Build Back Better legislation], they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a Dec. 19 statement.

While the statement’s blistering language sounds like something a presidential administration might have said about a member of the opposition party, Psaki was directly attacking, on the White House’s behalf, President Biden’s former colleague and co-partisan, Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.V. The White House was irritated that Manchin said Dec. 19 on Fox that he would not support Biden’s more than $2 trillion “Build Back Better” bill (BBB), citing spending and inflation worries.

Putting aside the Trumpian notion that a representative’s commitments should be “to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate,” the statement is still jarring. One could only look to the Trump administration to find such a blatant example of a president – Psaki speaks on behalf of the chief executive – attacking a member of his own party, especially an administration suffering so grievously in opinion polls in the run-up for what will be a desperate fight to hold onto either of the houses of Congress. It is hard to imagine Obama speaking in such a way to Blue Dog Democrats during his administration’s quest for the Affordable Care Act, or George W. Bush issuing such condemnations against other Republicans.

Not only did Biden’s press secretary attack Sen. Manchin, but Congressional Democrats piled on as well.

“We all knew that Senator Manchin couldn’t be trusted,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said on MSNBC. “The excuses that he just made I think are complete bullshit.”

Also on MSNBC, Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez said, “I think what Sen. Manchin did yesterday represents such an egregious breach of the trust of the president.” She went on to say that Democrats “should take the kid gloves off.”

Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, said of Manchin, “If he doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing for the working families of West Virginia and America, let him vote no in front of the whole world,” seemingly unaware that speaking on television is much more “in front of the world” than is casting a vote in Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would schedule a vote on the bill, “so that every member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television.”

While Sanders and Schumer apparently hope to shame Manchin into voting for the bill, and while Psaki, Ocasio-Cortez, and Biden seem to think Manchin has an obligation to the president, the reason for the West Virginia Democrat’s “no” vote is clear. A recent poll of voters in his home state, where Biden lost to Trump by 40 points, shows that 74 percent of respondents support Manchin’s handling of the bill. The same poll showed Biden with a 33 percent approval rating in West Virginia, while 61 percent approve of Manchin.

In essence, the president and the Democratic legislators are vehemently condemning Manchin for representing his constituents. While Biden might think it is the duty of a senator to represent the president, one can only wonder what such thinking says about Democrats’ campaign plans for 2022. Good campaign slogans don’t usually highlight unquestioning loyalty to the party line or the candidate’s willingness to work against the stated interests of his or her voters.

This past weekend, the Democrats’ lack of strategy could have charitably been described as misguided. Now, in the light of new information, the administration and its allies seem positively unhinged.

The Washington Post reported Dec. 20 that Sen. Manchin had actually sent a new proposal to the White House the previous week. Included in it was most of what was in BBB, including universal pre-K and more than half a trillion dollars for environmental protection.

So much for the claim that the senator was merely working at the behest of evil coal companies (and, one supposes, their evil supporters who comprise most of West Virginia’s electorate).

What Manchin did leave out of his proposal was billions of dollars for the popular child tax credit, or CTC. This was also the apparent source of Manchin’s anger: someone in the White House apparently leaked to the press that Manchin wanted to do away with the credit, which explains his testy exchange with a Huffington Post reporter, in which he said, “You’re bullshit. This is bullshit.”

Shortly thereafter, Manchin was on Fox saying he’ll vote “no.”

Of course, leaking the CTC proposal in a move to embarrass Manchin was pure stupidity, as cutting it from the bill might have been good politics. The CTC is just about the only part of BBB that has bipartisan support and that could stand on its own and likely get past the 60 votes needed for cloture.

The bumbling and ineptitude of the White House in first leaking information to embarrass a senator from the president’s own party, and then going on to attack him in a public statement, along with the subsequent infighting within the Democratic Party won’t hurt Manchin. If anything, it helps him; In a state that voted overwhelmingly for Trump, public condemnation from Biden, Ilhan Omar, and others can’t help but boost the senator’s support.

On the other hand, the stupidity of the president, his administration, and legislators, help to further ensure that the Republicans win back control of the Senate and House on a scale not seen since the Gingrich Revolution.

If the Democrats start acting smarter, they might be able to maintain either the House or Senate. If they don’t, they’ll be annihilated by the voters.

Image: Stock photo of Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.V., via the West Virginia Conference of the United Baptist Church.

Labor, community groups and elected officials say “Vote for Dante Comparetto”

WORCESTER, Mass. – Labor leaders, elected officials, and representatives of community organizations gathered at the Educational Association of Worcester’s headquarters this morning to announce their support for Dante Comparetto’s bid for a seat on the city’s school committee. Supporters highlighted argued his years of advocacy for Worcester families and support of working people’s rights make him the ideal candidate.

“He’s been an absolute staunch advocate for the educators in Worcester and the members of this union,” said EAW president Roger Nugent. “We are very pleased to unanimously endorse him.” The 2,800-member EAW represents Worcester’s teachers, many administrators, instructional assistants, bus drivers, and other school employees, and is a local of the National Education Association.

City Council member Candy Mero Carlson, chair of the Worcester Democratic City Committee spoke on behalf of the WDCC, saying, “I’m extremely pleased that Dante made a decision to run, because he is all about our kids today; he is all about our Worcester Public Schools.”

Carlson added, “I look forward to working with Dante on behalf of all of our kids in the Worcester Public Schools.”

It was clear that Comparetto has the backing of organized labor. Central Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Joe Carlson, Mary Colby of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and Fred Taylor of Carpenters Local 107 attended, each representing their unions.

Taylor emphasized how well prepared Comparetto was to answer labor’s question. According to Taylor, the Carpenters’ endorsement committee “peppered” Comparetto with questions, and he answered them all adeptly.

Colby stated that Comparetto would be an ally and an advocate for students’ health. “An important issue that nurses hold dearly is to ensure that the nurses to have a partner in education,” she said. “Our goal is to ensure that safety is maintained in the Worcester Public Schools. I think Dante is the person to do that.” She added that she believed Dante would fight to make sure that each school has a nurse.

Shanique Spalding, of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which also endorsed Comparetto, picked up on the issue of students’ health and wellbeing. “Now more than ever we need to work together on holistic solutions that recognize the connection between health care access, student achievement, and breaking the cycles of poverty,” she said. “When young people are taught how to make healthy decisions, build safe relationships, and focus on their futures, they thrive and we all win. We can make a better and brighter future by making sure that Dante wins this election cycle.”

City councilor Sarai Rivera praised Compratto, saying he’s someone “who comes from a perspective of community.” Rivera, herself a product of the public school system and a parent of public school children said Comparetto understands that “good schools equal good neighborhoods.”

Another council member, Khrystian King, praised Comparetto for fighting to ensure adequate funding for education, specifically through the “No on 2” campaign in 2016. “I’ve seen the work that he’s put in leading up to the elections, I’ve seen the work that he continues to put in on the campaign trail, and I’m quite confident that that work ethic will continue upon election,” King said. “Dante is a champion for Worcester.”

Support also came from the state legislative delegation, with Rep. Dan Donahue speaking on behalf of most of the city’s delegation to the House of Representatives in Boston. “He’s someone who gets it,” Donahue said of Comparetto. “I know that he’s going to have the ability through all his previous experience to really not just be a voice on the school committee, but to be an advocate and an organizer.”

Other state legislators endorsing Comparetto include Reps. Mary Keefe, John Mahoney, and Jim O’Day.

Paul DePalo, chair of Greater Worcester Our Revolution, said that “Dante understands that building a world class school system means addressing the whole child, and that means engaging with the community and being responsive to the community. I know for sure that he’s going to be a standing advocate for students and teachers.”

In accepting these endorsements, Comparetto said he was “honored.” The endorsements “reflect the more than 15 years of work that I have dedicated to our community. For my entire adult life, I have been serving the Worcester community, and bringing people together to solve problems. I have founded nonprofits that improve our city, served our city on boards and commissions, and started my own small business.”

Comparetto noted that the schools face challenges, saying, “I want to bring [my] experiences to the school committee in order to bring our community together to make our school district the best in the state.”

Image: Left to right: Khrystian King, Candy Mero-Carlson, Joe Carlson, Sarai Rivera, Paul DePalo, Dante Comparetto, Mary Colby, Fred Taylor, Shanique Spalding, Rep. Dan Donahue, Roger Nugent.