https://thefederalist.com/2019/06/26/cory-booker-says-hes-listening-racist-louis-farrakhan/
Recently, at a faith breakfast doubling as a campaign event, 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) announced that he would be willing to meet with infamous anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, acknowledging that he was “very familiar with Louis Farrakhan and his beliefs and his values.”
Booker’s comments, while alarming, serve as a steady reminder that the American Democratic Party does not regard anti-Semitism as a form of ethnic hatred, but as a mere difference of opinion. Indeed, Booker’s speech at the breakfast in Columbia, South Carolina provides a roadmap for the type of Farrakhan whitewashing we might come to expect from 2020 Democrats attempting to justify their continued correspondence with Farrakhan (outlined here are numerous connections between Farrakhan and the Democrats).
“I live in Newark so we have famous Mosque 25, we have Nation of Islam there,” Booker stated at the breakfast. “As mayor I met with lots of folks talking to [Farrakhan]. I have heard Minister Farrakhan’s speeches for a lot of my life, so I don’t feel like I need to do that, but I’m not one of these people that says I wouldn’t sit down with anybody to hear what they have to say. But I live on a neighborhood where I’m getting guys on the streets offering and selling his works. I am very familiar with Minister Louis Farrakhan and his beliefs and his values.”
Booker’s blasé discussion of Farrakhan reminds American voters that Democrats are wholly unserious about tackling anti-Semitism within their own ranks. Booker had been responding to an audience member who had specifically asked whether Booker would reject speaking with Farrakhan on the basis of Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism.
Instead of using his response as an opportunity to offer a full-throated condemnation of Nation of Islam leader, Booker took the opportunity to normalize the rabid anti-Semite, referring to Farrakhan’s “beliefs and his values” as if they were a matter of philosophical debate.