There was a lot of seethe tonight but little to no cope, as MSNBC host Joy Reid and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) commiserated over the defeat of fellow Squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) in the Democratic Primary. And, as you’d reasonably expect, the first culprit of Bowman’s defeat is AIPAC. Which in the context of this primary and MSNBC’s coverage thereof, is clearly shorthand for “the Jews”.
Watch as Reid opens the show with a lamentation for Bowman and the money that got dumped on his head:
MSNBC THE REIDOUT
6/26/24
7:36 PM
JOY REID: All week we have told you to keep an eye on the Democratic primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District, which covers parts of Westchester County and the northeast Bronx. That is because the most expensive House primary, in not just this cycle but in U.S. history, was under way to unseat Squad congressman Jamaal Bowman, one of the fiercest critics of Israel in Congress. Those efforts were successful yesterday partly through the efforts of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, which not only $14 and a half million dollars to beat Bowman, but also recruited the winning candidate: moderate Westchester county Executive George Latimer. Bowman is not only the first incumbent Democrat to lose a primary this election cycle, but also the first member of the House’s progressive Squad to be ousted from power since the group formed after the 2018 elections.
It was then that Reid brought on Rep. Pressley. It is then that Reid and Presslwy entered into the recitation of a varied assortment of calamities that contributed to Bowman’s defeat. First off, of course, was the money:
AYANNA PRESSLEY: I think this unprecedented sum of money, $20 million, we cannot allow special interests, dark money, super PACS, to buy congressional seats. It is a threat to our democracy.
Reid then goes on to cite redistricting. Then the money again. Then Pressley pivots to Citizens United. Then racism. Of course, there had to be a mention of racism. And then back to the money. The dark money.
Realize where we are, and the full circle moment that this primary represents. I’m old enough to remember when General Wesley Clark was excoriated for suggesting that “New York money people” pushed for war with Iran. Everybody understood what “New York money people” meant and what that implied. And Clark was rightly raked for using what was perceived to be coded antisemitic language. The public discourse was different then. 2007 comes across as a quaint era nowadays.
Fast forward to 2024 and you have people openly campaigning against AIPAC, which is code for “Jews”, and no one bats an eye. And this explains a lot of why Bowman lost, even if the cloistered MSNBC talent pool would rather not talk about that.
What ultimately lost Bowman his seat is his strident antisemitism and his denial of Hamas’ use of rape as a weapon of war. That, and his boorish demeanor as a member of Congress. The truest thing he ever said was uttered during a House hallway argument with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) over gun legislation: “I was screaming before you even got here”. That, ultimately is what fueled the money that was spent against him. That, and the blatant antisemitism.
Good riddance.