Proudly-Jewish & Never-Boring: Alan Dershowitz on His Divorce from the Democratic Party

Andrew Keen (0:00)

Hello, my name is Andrew Keen. Welcome to Keen On America, the daily interview show about the United States.

Hello, everybody. A couple of days ago, there was an interesting piece in The Wall Street Journal by an old friend of the show, Pamela Paul, on three books about breakups within political parties, memoirs about individuals who broke up with their political parties. And that's what we're talking about today. It's not one of those three books, but it's a book about a breakup with the Democratic Party by somebody who most of you will already know, Alan Dershowitz, long time lawyer, Politico of one kind or another. And he has a new book out this week, Why I Quit the Dems and So Should You, Confessions of a Reluctant Republican. Alan Dershowitz is joining us from New York. Surprise, surprise. Alan, congratulations on the new book. Is this a sad book? Breakup books are usually rather sad.

Alan Dershowitz (1:27)

No, I'm actually enthusiastic about my breakup. A good divorce is better than a bad marriage. And this is a good divorce.

I got basically thrown out of the Democratic Party the way Ronald Reagan did.

I was a staunch, loyal supporter of the Democrats from the time I first voted for John F. Kennedy. I defended Ted Kennedy. I defended Bill Clinton. I defended Alan Cranston. I've defended a lot of Democrats and obviously campaigned for a lot of Democrats, but the Democratic Party is no longer my party. It's turned against America. It's turned against meritocracy, which is to me the essence of democracy. People being judged, is being judged on the merit, not on the basis of identity politics. The Democrats has become the party of DEI, diversity, exclusion, they say inclusion, but it's exclusion. And I don't identify. I started out by just switching from the Democrats and became an independent, but then I realized I couldn't be an independent. I really want to see the Democrats lose. I don't want them to control the House and the Senate. I don't want AOC to be chairman. I don't want El-Sayed to be chairman of a committee. No, so I'm a reluctant Republican.

Andrew Keen (2:49)

So you're like an angry ex-spouse, Alan. You want your ex-wife to suffer.

Alan Dershowitz (2:56)

Well, I'm more like a convert. I think people say converts are the most religious. And so I'm a convert. I've become Republican. I don't want the Democrats to suffer. My children are Democrats. My family are Democrats. I just don't want them to win. They can lose without suffering. But I don't want them in control of my country.

The Democratic Party has become a different party than the party that my grandparents, parents, siblings and everybody else supported for years. They've become the party of anti-meritocracy, of racist politics, of sexist politics. And they become anti-American, anti-Israel, in some respects anti-Semitic. And look, they lost the party because of anti-Semitism. They should have nominated Josh Shapiro to be the vice president. He would have won Pennsylvania. Maybe he would have won the election. But the Democrats couldn't bring themselves to nominate a Jew, a Jew who supported Israel. So they nominated a clown instead who got them nothing and lost them a lot of votes. Now there are four Democrats running for the presidency who are Jewish, in addition to Shapiro.

There is Pritzker and there is Ossoff and there is Rahm Emanuel. None of them will get nominated because the Democrats cannot nominate a Jew. There are too many anti-Semites in the party to nominate a Jew.

Andrew Keen (4:30)

Well, you sound to me, Alan, a little bit single issue. I mean, is all you can think about the relationship between the Dems and the Jews, or are there other reasons to be so unhappy for quitting?

Alan Dershowitz (4:43)

It's like asking a German in 1932, you're so obsessed with this Hitler guy. Oh my God, can't you vote for the economy? Can't you vote for the environment?

No, the greatest danger today to civil liberties and civil rights in the world is anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. It's much greater danger than racism. It's a much greater danger than sexism, homophobia. All of those are moving in the right direction. The only ism that's moving in the wrong direction is anti-Semitism. So, no, I'm gonna maintain my priorities. I spent all my life representing the rights of others or represented the rights of blacks. I marched in the 1960s in Alabama and Georgia. I worked for gays and women.

Now the time has come to look at what the most serious issue in the world is today and it's anti-Semitism. So, you know, I'm not gonna be a single issue voter because I think that anti-Semitism is bad for America. I think anti-Zionism is bad for America. I'm gonna vote for what's best for America, but I'm certainly not gonna neglect the right, the influence, the safety of my fellow Jews. No.