The anti-Israel protests that have erupted on college campuses across the country in recent weeks over Israel\u2019s war with Hamas in Gaza are fueling new political attacks by Republicans on vulnerable Democrats running in this year\u2019s Senate elections.<\/p>\n
\u2018Death to America. Threatening Jews. Attacking Police. Antisemitic mobs are taking over our universities. Students radicalized by the far left acting like terrorists,\u2019 the narrator says in a new series of ads by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of the Senate GOP.<\/p>\n
The spots target four Democrats \u2014 senators Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana \u2014 as well as Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the likely Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan. All five are being heavily targeted by the NRSC as the GOP aims to regain the Senate majority in November\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n
The narrator argues that President Biden and Democratic lawmakers \u2018want you to pay off their student loans using your tax dollars to fund this mayhem.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ads end with the narrator urging viewers to tell Democrats to \u2018stop caving to the woke mobs and put America first.\u2019<\/p>\n
The NRSC is spending a minuscule five figures to run the spots, but a bigger ad blitz with a similar theme is expected in the near future.<\/p>\n
\u2018This is the most toxic issue for Democrats since they tried to defund the police,\u2019 NRSC communications director Mike Berg claimed.<\/p>\n
\u2018You can bet it will be in television ads if Democrats on college campuses continue these antisemitic riots.\u2019<\/p>\n
The protests, some of which have turned violent this week, have grabbed plenty of attention on the cable news networks and online. And they seem to be giving Republicans plenty of ammunition to use in this year\u2019s ballot box showdowns.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the NRSC.<\/p>\n
In battleground Pennsylvania\u2019s high-profile Senate contest, which may decide the chamber\u2019s majority, presumptive GOP nominee Dave McCormick on Friday attacked Casey in an email titled \u2018As Antisemitism Runs Rampant on Campuses Across the Country, Bob Casey Fails to Stand Up for What\u2019s Right.\u2019<\/p>\n
Casey, who earlier this month teamed up with GOP Sen. Tim Scott to introduce the Senate\u2019s version of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, has emphasized that \u2018on the campuses, they\u2019ve got to enforce the law.\u2019<\/p>\n
As the House GOP works to hold onto its fragile majority, the National Republican Congressional Committee this past week launched a similar spot against 37 swing district Democrats it is targeting.<\/p>\n
\u2018Tell House Democrats it is time to stand up for Israel. It is time to stand up for what is right,\u2019 the narrator in the ad urges.<\/p>\n
The NRSC ad buy is also modest but may be an appetizer for more to come.<\/p>\n
Republicans are mostly unified in reacting to the protests, framing them as antisemitic and anti-American, while Democrats have struggled to find a consistent message when it comes to the demonstrations.<\/p>\n
Brian Walsh, a veteran Republican consultant who served for years as a top communications strategist for both House and Senate Republicans, argued that the protests are \u2018problematic for Democrats on several fronts.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018First, they need the youth vote to turn out for them in November, and it\u2019s clear they\u2019re very unhappy with President Biden, which will have a negative down-ballot effect. Second, it\u2019s motivating conservatives because it reminds them of the woke ideology that\u2019s become a hallmark of this administration,\u2019 Walsh said. \u2018And it\u2019s coming at the same time the president is telling working-class Americans they need to pay for the student loans of these same college students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018You should expect Republican candidates around the country to pose a very simple question to their Democratic opponents: Do they stand with the protesters who\u2019ve sided with Hamas or do they stand for law and order and in support of one of America\u2019s closest allies, Israel? It\u2019s a problem for many Democrats because they\u2019re caught between their liberal base and where most Americans are who are disgusted by the scenes at Columbia, UCLA and elsewhere.\u2019<\/p>\n
Democrats appear divided.<\/p>\n
Some in tough races are calling for crackdowns on the campus protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We all speak strongly that the antisemitism and hate and violence are not acceptable,\u2019 Ohio\u2019s Brown said.<\/p>\n
But plenty of progressives who don\u2019t face difficult re-election fights are strongly defending the protesters\u2019 rights to demonstrate and oppose calls for federal intervention.<\/p>\n
\u2018It is outrageous and it is disgraceful to use the charge of antisemitism to distract from the immoral and illegal war policies that Netanyahu\u2019s extremist and racist government is pursuing,\u2019 progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont argued as he pointed to the longtime Israeli leader.<\/p>\n
Veteran Democratic strategist Maria Cardona told Fox News \u2018Democrats need to continue to underscore two foundational things. The first one is that we are a nation of laws, and one of those critical laws and rights is that we allow for and people have a right to peacefully protest. Underscore peaceful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018President Biden and Democrats need to continue to listen to the Palestinians and those speaking for the innocent lives that are being lost in Gaza and for the need to continue and expand humanitarian aid, and that is something that President Biden and Democrats are listening to and working very hard to obtain a cease-fire.<\/p>\n
\u2018The other side is to always strongly disavow and condemn hate speech, violent rhetoric, antisemitism and that harassment of Jewish students will not and should not be tolerated,\u2019 Cardona emphasized. \u2018And those two things are a huge contrast to Donald Trump, who said he would deal harshly with the protesters, even those who are doing it peacefully, wanting to call in the National Guard and clear everyone out. (He) has said before he would bash heads. That is not the way that we do things in this country. \u2018<\/p>\n
While Republican candidates and campaign committees are likely to keep up the pressure as the protests continue, it\u2019s questionable how effective their efforts will be with voters.<\/p>\n
An ABC News\/Ipsos poll released this week indicated that few respondents said the demonstrations in the U.S. and the fighting in Gaza were critical to their vote in the autumn elections.<\/p>\n\n
The anti-Israel protests that have erupted on college campuses across the country in recent weeks over Israel\u2019s war with Hamas in Gaza are fueling new political attacks by Republicans on vulnerable Democrats running in this year\u2019s Senate elections. \u2018Death to America. Threatening Jews. Attacking Police. Antisemitic mobs are taking over our universities. Students radicalized by <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":18714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}