I first registered as a Democrat in 1979, the year I turned 18.

It was too late to vote in any election, but it was my grand “here I am!” to the political world.

The political world was unimpressed, as were the Democrats. They became increasingly unimpressed over the years as I blossomed into what one journalist called a “conservative firebrand” and a generation of readers has called “a hack,” “loser,” “a MAGA shrew,” a “Boomer aunt,” and a cat lady.“

I am none of these things, although Boomer Aunt is close enough not to quibble. But it’s clear that I left the party long before I actually left the party.

Mostly, it was about abortion.

The Democrats had slowly morphed from "safe, legal and rare” to non-indigenous Aztecs supporting human sacrifice. Babies were fungible goods.

It took me too long to see the moral rot from the inside looking out, but I finally figured it out at the ripe old age of 55. This time, it was in time for an election. And yes, I voted for Trump.

I’m not thrilled with the GOP. In fact, I’m now an independent, although I sometimes change my registration to vote in the primaries.

These days I have an even better reason for having left the Democratic Party: open antisemitism.

I say “open” because Jew hatred has always been with us, from the “Protocols of the Elders,” to “Gentlemen’s Agreements,” to the Holocaust, to the Tree Of Life, and most horrifically in recent times, Oct. 7. Like 9/11 and Dec. 7, you no longer need to mention the year. The voices of the dead whisper it on the wind.

The difference now is that many Democrats feel they have to abandon the euphemisms and embrace the stark words of bigotry.

Calling Gaza a genocide is never legitimate if Hamas is only mentioned as a footnote. Condemning Israel while ignoring Palestinian barbarity is a tell. Screaming about the rape of Palestinians while never even acknowledging that innocent Israelis were raped and then murdered by Palestinians is nothing less than repellent.

And then there are the 2026 blood libels, given a platform by The New York Times. You remember them, right?

They are the folks who let Walter Duranty write about the great Socialist state of Stalin, but didn’t blink when he covered up Uncle Josef’s forced Ukrainian famine. And, they held onto their Pulitzer.

Well, this year’s Duranty is a guy named Nicholas Kristoff, who never let the truth get in the way of a good liberal whitewash.

As someone who respects those who try to expose human rights violations, I’m particularly saddened by Kristoff. He’s done good work in the past, shining a light on famines and civil wars. But his recent op-ed on alleged criminal activity by Israeli soldiers is so devoid of facts, so skewed, so completely one-sided, and so laughably fantastical — dogs raping humans? — that he has destroyed whatever good reputation he ever had.

This is equally true for a Democratic Party in the thrall of bigotry. We know you can condemn Israel for political acts. We also know that this is not what is happening. Israel is a proxy for “the Jew.” Not sure why I, a Catholic, can see this and some Jewish Democrats cannot.

But some actually have.

One of the most high-profile is Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht, who recently announced he was leaving the Democratic Party. In a public statement, Wecht observed that “Increasingly, [antisemitism] has moved from the fringe to the mainstream. It is the duty of all good people to fight this virus, and to do so before it is too late.”

I’m sure a lot of people think that the Democrats are no worse than the fringe right-wing bigots like Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens and a slew of social media stars.

But here’s the difference. Very few of the Jew haters on the right are looked at as legitimate by other Republicans. Those who swallow their poison, including a scarily large percentage of MAGA, are not accepted in polite society.

But just look at a local race in Philadelphia for a vacant Congressional seat. One candidate, Chris Rabb, is openly courting the mediocre intellects of the “Gaza Genocide” gangs. His campaign advanced a theory that the Bondi Beach massacre was a false flag. And this guy is still a viable candidate.

Fortunately, there are still decent Democrats out there, like one of Rabb’s competitors, Sharif Street, a Muslim who courageously spoke out on behalf of his Jewish brothers and sisters when Jews were hung in effigy in a public park. I hope beyond all hope that he wins his race.

But these voices are too few and too rarely raised.

And now, even a state Supreme Court justice has noticed. I say, “Welcome to the club, Your Honor.”

Copyright 2026 Christine Flowers