Joy Reid quits Democrats over Israel stance

www.americanthinker.com

There is no Joy in Demville; the donkey party has struck out over its support for Israel.

Former MSNBC talk show host Joy Reid used to be so dedicated to the Democrats that she said in 2024 she would vote for Joe Biden even if he was “in a coma.” No more. Reid said recently she’s dropped them like a hot potato because the leftist party still won’t completely cut ties with Israel.

“To me, I, going forward, cannot vote for a Democrat who does not pledge to end this relationship [with Israel]. This relationship needs to end,” Reid said June 18 on her YouTube podcast. “This is a nuclear-armed expansionist power. They don’t need our money, and they definitely won’t get my vote.”

Reid is among a growing number of leftists unhappy with Israel over its moves in Gaza. For decades, Democrats and Republicans both viewed Israel as America's strongest ally in the Middle East, a democratic nation surrounded by hostile neighbors.

That consensus began fraying long before the current war in Gaza. Progressive activists increasingly embraced the Palestinian cause, viewing it through the lens of social justice, colonialism and racial politics. The October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel initially generated widespread sympathy for the Jewish state, but support among many on the left quickly evaporated as Israel launched a military campaign aimed at destroying Hamas in Gaza.

According to a recent Pew survey, 80% of Democrats have an unfavorable view of Israel. In 2022, only 53% did.

While President Biden and many congressional Democrats attempted to maintain support for Israel while also criticizing some aspects of its military operations, that balancing act pleased neither side. Pro-Israel voters viewed the administration as insufficiently supportive, while anti-Israel activists demanded a complete break with the Jewish state.

Reid’s recent comments were made to her podcast guest Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose criticism of Israel has made him a hero to many progressives. Coates drew national attention in 2024 when CBS News host Tony Dokoupil aggressively challenged him during an interview about his book, The Message, which compared aspects of Israeli policy toward Palestinians to systems of segregation and oppression.

Dokoupil pressed Coates on why his book devoted so little attention to Hamas, Hezbollah and other groups dedicated to Israel's destruction. Dokoupil compared some of Coates's arguments to rhetoric that could be heard from extremists or terrorists, sparking outrage among some CBS staffers and media critics.

Reid told Coates on the recent podcast that the only hope she sees for having Democrats completely cut their ties to Israel would be the rise of someone like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who has become the darling of progressives and who has faced accusations of antisemitism.