By Suzanne Bowdey

You’d think after a while that Democrats would get tired of schlepping around the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) baggage. But after a decade and a half of blockbuster scandals, the party isn’t going to let the latest — an 11-count indictment from a federal grand jury — come between their cozy relationship with the hate machine. Not even when that machine is paying the very extremists it claimed to expose. 

The ongoing love affair between SPLC and the Democratic Party was nauseatingly apparent at Wednesday’s House Judiciary hearing, a disturbing event that highlighted just how eager leftists are to prop up the criminal enterprise, no matter how deep their corruption runs. In a baffling display, the party of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) seemed determined to paint the group charged with sending millions of dollars to groups like the Ku Klux Klan as bona fide heroes, a misunderstood organization whose only fault is caring too much about America’s oppressed. 

Despite six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of money laundering to finance the hate it was supposed to fight, SPLC’s wrongdoing didn’t give the Democrats a second’s pause. Instead, they launched into a passionate defense of the group that’s spent years embroiled in lawsuits, shady financial dealings, multi-million-dollar settlements for defamation, embarrassing retractions, workplace uprisings, and links to domestic terrorism in court. 

This is an organization whose own employeeswent public about their toxic work environment of deep-rooted racism (irony alert), sexism, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and discrimination in 2019 — ultimately triggering the resignations of top leadership. “…Were we complicit,” one staffer wondered, “by taking our paychecks and staying silent, in ripping off donors on behalf of an organization that never lived up to the values it espoused?” 

Yet in four hours, not one Democrat disavowed SPLC, whose “hate map” had already inspired the shooting at Family Research Council, of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), and the assassination of Charlie Kirk. One after another, they praised the group’s work as absolutely vital to fighting the radicals they were secretly bankrolling.

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.): “Maybe the real issue is simply [that] SPLC has been effective at exposing white supremacists and extremist organizations for decades. … How is that bad?”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md): “[I]f a fraud is being perpetrated on the public right now, it’s not an SPLC fraud. SPLC has been an enemy of the Klan and neo-Nazi groups for more than a half-century. It’s been unswerving and steadfast.”

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.): “This is about white nationalism and a direct attack on black Americans in this country. And it comes from the very top. That’s why we need groups like SPLC, because the president is systematically taking us back to the darkest chapters of American history.”

Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.): “Remnants of [the KKK] have been planting seeds that have been cultivated by this president. That’s why the continued work of the Southern Poverty Law Center and its allies is so essential.”

Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.): “Americans deserve a voice in our democracy, representation of their interests, and should not have to fight for their basic civil rights again and again and again. The Southern Poverty Law Center [is] an organization built to defend the rights of Americans.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.): “SPLC has been winning. That’s why Donald Trump wants to target them. That’s the problem.”

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.): “What has changed is not the Southern Poverty Law Center, but the way that this administration — with its embrace of white nationalist rhetoric and groups — has decided to rewrite facts and history. Nonprofit groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center are a threat to their extremist agenda.”

One of the most stunning counterattacks the party used was to hold up SPLC as a leading defender of the Jewish people. Several Democrats leaned into that messaging, probably because — apart from the blame-shifting they did to Donald Trump, the January 6 riot, or the administration’s new weaponization fund — they had very little evidence to support their unqualified enthusiasm for an organization whose credibility has been in tatters since the era of Barack Obama. 

“I want to talk about the important work that the Southern Poverty Law Center does to take on one of the most maligned forces in our society, and that is anti-Semitism,” Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said. “Unfortunately, anti-Semitism in America is not a relic of the past. It is a present and growing threat. The FBI has consistently documented Jewish Americans as the most targeted religious group for hate crimes. Year after year, we have seen it erupt into mass violence.” Pointing at FRC President Tony Perkins, he noted, “Another one of our witnesses, Mr. Perkins, has called the SPLC ‘a partisan smear machine.’ I certainly hope he does not believe that it is a partisan smear to call out neo-Nazis and to make them pay for assaulting Jews and harassing black children.” 

Then, with stunning hypocrisy, Nadler added, “So why is it so hard for Republicans to call out the anti-Semitism …? The Southern Poverty Law Center is on the front lines fighting anti-Semitism.”

This is rich coming from the Democratic Party, which has done nothing to tamp down the exploding Jew-hatred in America. In fact, most people would argue that these same members have actually inflamed it with their cheerleading for Hamas and a Palestinian State. A whopping 80% of the party is now openly anti-Israel, polling shows, and yet these Democrats were suddenly very concerned about a trend that’s gripped America in frightening ways since October 7, 2023. Where were these congressmen when Jewish students were afraid to walk to class at the height of the pro-Gaza protests? Where has their condemnation been for the spike of assaults against the Jewish people, which is now at a 46-year high? If they’re such great friends of the faith, why are they platforming men and women who demean and threaten Jews? We’re living in an era when a Democratic congressional candidate in Texas feels comfortable calling for American supporters of Israel to be sent to concentration camps — hardly the pinnacle of civility, let alone pro-religious sentiment.

As for SPLC being a bastion of anti-Semitism, it’s a ridiculous suggestion, experts say. “You look at the filter for anti-Semitism on their hate map,” The Daily Signal’s Tyler O'Neil underscored on the “Outstanding” podcast last year, “and it’s very sparse.” He’s right. Of the 1,400 organizations listed, only a small handful are anti-Semitic. “They have zero credibility [on this],” O'Neil stressed. Which is ironic, he points out, since “The real anti-Semitism is on the Left with their allies like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). … [T]hese groups are working to promote goals that are abetting this anti-Semitic movement.”

And, O'Neil reminded people, “When October 7th happened, it was crickets at the SPLC. It was so bad. The SPLC’s union released a statement about October 7th before the SPLC did. And then, when the SPLC finally released a statement, they falsely accused Israel of targeting Palestinian children. And this is supposed to be from the arbiter of hate that’s exposing anti-Semitism? I’m sorry. They have zero credibility. And I mean, they didn’t even have credibility before that. But that also reveals just how empty they are.” 

At the end of the day, no one in their right mind understands why the Democratic Party has decided to hitch its star to such a vile, corrupt, and hypocritical has-been. Maybe, Perkins speculated, it’s as simple as money. “There are members of this committee [who] were endorsed by SPLC. They had a c4 [that] was involved in the election.” That in itself is its own problem, he emphasized, because it means “they were not just an umpire. They were a player on the field as well. So how can they be objective in determining who is a purveyor of hate and who is not? … They had a stake in this.”

At the very least, it will give Americans some comfort to know that Republicans aren’t letting this go. SPLC needs to answer for its crimes, starting June 9 at another House Judiciary Committee hearing, where the CEO Bryan Fair has been subpoenaed to testify.

Like a lot of Christians and conservatives who’ve been in the line of SPLC’s fire, Perkins hopes a reckoning is finally coming. But, he clarified, “We’re not here for revenge. We’re here for justice. And what they have inspired [is hatred], not just to[ward] us, but to thousands of Americans who love this country and happen to believe the Bible as a definitive way to live. They want to silence us,” he argued. “And I stood on the street the day after the shooting, and I’ll say it again: We will not be silent. We will not shrink back. We will not apologize for biblical truth. We will continue to stand for it.” 

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

This article originally appeared here.