Alan Dershowitz, lawyer and emeritus professor at Harvard Law School, revealed in an op-ed that he’s experienced social upheaval at Martha’s Vineyard because of his vocal defense of President Trump’s “civil liberties.”
In the op-ed, published by the Hill, Dershowitz said he has been shunned by his friends on the affluent Massachusetts island, due to their mental separation of people into two camps: for Trump or against him.
“And that is all some people need to know to make judgments about you,” wrote Dershowitz while discussing how divided the political landscape is in the U.S., leading to a lack of discourse between the two sides.
Dershowitz, who has repeatedly made headlines for his defense of Republican lawmakers and the president, explained that though he opposes many of Trump’s immigration policies and contributed “handsomely” to 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, his cohorts at the Vineyard purely see him as a supporter of the president.
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“For them, it is enough that what I have said about the Constitution might help Trump. So they are shunning me and trying to ban me from their social life on Martha’s Vineyard,” he wrote, likening the experience to the McCarthyism of the 1950s.
One academic at a “distinguished university,” according to Dershowitz, even refused to show up at any functions at which he would be attending. Dershowitz claimed that “he and others have demanded ‘trigger warnings’ so that they can be assured of having ‘safe spaces’ in which they will not encounter me or my ideas.”
Dershowitz also said some people have threatened to stop contributing to organizations that sponsor events at which he speaks.
“But one good thing is that being shunned by some ‘old friends’ on Martha’s Vineyard has taught me who my real friends are and who my fairweather friends were,” Dershowitz wrote. “From a personal point of view, I could not care less about being shunned by people whose views regarding dialogue I do not respect.”
