Thursday, April 17, 2025
PMT: So... this is about anti-semitism?
Last week, the home of a Jewish family in Pennsylvania was firebombed during Passover, not long after they completed a Seder. Fortunately, no one was killed or hurt, but the damage was extensive and people easily could have been victimized. The two Molotov cocktails were hurled by a man named Cody Balmer.
You would think that given the Trump Administration's oft-declared focus on combatting anti-semitism, they would be all over this. But, no. It turns out that the suspect was fervently anti-Democrat, and the victim was the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro.
Instead, they are focusing on universities where protests were held during the height of the conflict between Gaza and Israel. The dispute with Harvard, in particular, is bringing out the fact that the supposed focus on anti-semitism is really a pretense; what the government really wants is control over those universities, which always present a challenge to governing bodies.
It's too bad, too, in a lot of ways. For one thing, there is actual anti-semitism in this country, just as there is a raft of other toxic biases. And the administration's attempts to address anti-semitism AND root out those parts of universities that identify and eliminate bias (ie, DEI offices) is inherently contradictory. Do you care about bias or not?
I think the answer is not. And the agenda is really about something else.
