Democrat Steve Descano accused an official in Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R-VA) administration of trafficking in antisemitism earlier this month. The official had stated that Descano, the Fairfax County commonwealth’s attorney, was a George Soros-funded prosecutor.
Descano denied that Soros funded his campaign, but the official, Virginia’s Deputy Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Maggie Cleary, was correct. Descano received $601,369 of his 2019 campaign donations, nearly two-thirds of his entire campaign contributions, from the Justice and Public Safety PAC, a Soros-funded organization promoting progressive criminal justice reform.
It’s bad enough to have a commonwealth’s attorney who can’t tell the truth while accusing others of lies. But using someone’s religion — in this case, my religion — to shut down debate is as cynical as it is disgraceful. And I have had enough.
Soros happens to be Jewish, but his religion is irrelevant to the very real debate over public safety. Soros has publicly set out to use his personal wealth to promote progressive prosecutor candidates throughout the United States. He is a prominent backer of the soft-on-crime approach, the failures of which led San Franciscans to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin earlier this year. Soros is not shy about working to elect progressive prosecutors; he has trumpeted his views in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. He has, in short, made himself a public figure on this issue.
Criticizing public figures such as Soros for the stances they take on an issue is appropriate in a democracy. It is the lifeblood of democratic debate. Democrats such as Descano show their disdain for democracy and reasoned debate when they attempt to terminate discussion with spurious accusations of antisemitism. If they feel the need to smother debate by alleging antisemitism, it is a sure sign they are losing the debate. (Indeed, Fairfax County Police statistics show that the number of violent crimes, including murder, rape, and assault, has increased on Descano’s watch.)
It has become a standard play in the Democratic playbook to accuse those who oppose Soros’s progressive criminal justice reforms of antisemitism. In so doing, Democrats cheapen the term “antisemitism,” debasing it into a “get out of debate free” card and making it more difficult to respond to real instances of antisemitism.
I have found no instance of Descano publicly rebuking the undeniably antisemitic comments made by members of his own party, from Rep. Ilhan Omar’s “all about the Benjamins” comment in reference to pro-Israel political lobbying to Fairfax County School Board member Abrar Omeish’s allegations of Israeli apartheid and colonization. If Descano seeks antisemitic dragons to slay, he could start there.
Shutting down debate over disingenuous cries of “antisemitism” or “racism” is ruining the discourse in this country. Americans who disagree in good faith with progressive theories of law enforcement find themselves smeared as antisemites or racists. Instead of feeling heard, they are left to seethe inwardly at their mistreatment while terrified about the risk to their jobs and reputations. It is a recipe for civic mistrust and frays the bonds we have as Americans.
Democrats such as Descano, who fancy themselves defenders of democracy and democratic norms, should think twice before deploying the “antisemitism” or “racism” line of attack. Such attacks are the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Michael E. Ginsberg is the chairman of the 11th District Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia.
