Jamie Kirchick writes a smart piece in Tablet about how Democrats have decided that all criticism of George Soros is coded antisemitism.
The argument that the mere mention of the name “Soros” is tantamount to antisemitism, which is effectively the position of the progressive political, media, and activist elite, is made entirely in bad faith. Stating the plain and observable fact that some prosecutors are “Soros-backed” is no more of an attack on Jews than the broadcaster Soledad O’Brien’s warning to “full-time Florida residents,” an antisemitic dog whistle about God’s waiting room. If the mind of a Soros supporter, upon hearing his name, races immediately to an image of a “Jew,” and one who serves as a stand-in for “the Jews,” it’s probably not the motives of the critic that need questioning.
To which I would only add that I bet a significant number of people who hear the rhetoric about “Soros-backed” prosecutors have no idea that George Soros is Jewish.
There are ways of criticizing Soros that do play with antisemitic tropes. But noting his extraordinary intervention into American justice is not one of them.