The Trumpian wing of the Republican Party has been doing an excellent job of forcing me into the arms of the Democratic Party. I fear their hatred, their racism, their dishonesty, their graft, and their deification of Donald Trump. So for the last several elections, I’ve voted straight Democratic tickets.

But now I’m watching the Socialist wing of the Democratic Party doing their best to force me away from the Democrats. It’s on fewer issues, but perhaps that’s only because they are the newer player on the stage, and haven’t had the time to poison as many wells. There’s the outrageous “abolish police” position, and their drives to nationalize certain industries. And there’s more.

I’m not religious—don’t attend temple, don’t keep kosher—but I am socially or culturally Jewish. And every time the Democratic Socialists open their mouths, I feel even more marginalized, even more a target of their outright hatred. A few weeks ago, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani threatened to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is not accused of committing any crimes in New York City (though the ICC has an asymmetric view of the events of October 7, 2023, and its aftermath). So why is Mamdani making such threats? Who is the audience he’s playing to? His comments certainly don’t represent this citizen of New York City. And now, he’s decided the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary should have no Jews on it.

And most recently, DSA spokesmodel Hasan Piker is certain that whoever wins the Democratic nomination for president in 2028 will oppose Israel and embrace Hamas and the Palestinians. (CNN on July 31 played a clip of his comment, taken from an interview that is scheduled to air August 2.)

The Democrats seem hell-bent on losing, and I’ve written about it before. In 2018, it was throwing out Senator Al Franken, because he’d been in a questionable photo years before he was elected to the Senate. In 2021, it was the fight with the new progressives demanding everything instantly, and threatening to derail the entire Joe Biden presidency if they didn’t get everything they wanted immediately. In 2022, the Democrats were yelling at Senators Manchin and Sinema to abolish the filibuster rule (they should be venerating them today for not giving in). Today, the Democrats have been handed the future on a platter: Trump’s reputation is at historical lows; the Trump-Iran War is keeping prices and inflation high; the Trump-Epstein Files still have not been released; his chief domestic priority seems to be plastering his name and his tacky taste on everything in Washington; and the list goes on. A Democratic sweep of government offices would require only keeping their heads down and doing their jobs. Instead, they’ve let their Socialist wing come rampaging in, doing nothing to attract new voters, but doing everything to turn off Democratic stalwarts, the centrists.

There have always been racists in this country. But when Trump came to power, the racists felt emboldened. They became comfortable proclaiming their racism publicly. And there have always been anti-semites. But with the rise of the Democratic Socialists, they, too, are no longer ashamed.

Several of my friends have or will soon move out of the country because they fear a Trumpian future. Each of those moves saddens me, because I’ve held the firm opinion that the country can be saved, and is worth fighting for. But now, listening to the Democratic Socialists, I’m wondering if my friends fleeing the country are actually the smart ones.

The Republicans have accepted the Trumpians and their vitriolic hatred for everyone who isn’t them. Now the Democrats are accepting the Socialists and their hatred of Jews. Is there any place left for me and mine?