The Daily - The Plan to Defeat Critics of Israel in Congress

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

A powerful group supporting Israel is trying to defeat sitting members of Congress who have criticized the country’s deadly war against Hamas.Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics for The Times, explains why it appears that strategy may work in today’s Democratic primary in New York.Guest: Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics and government for The New York Times.Background reading: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee unleashed a record $14.5 million bid to defeat Representative Jamaal Bowman, a critic of Israel.What to know about Mr. Bowman’s bitter Democratic primary race.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. A powerful group supporting Israel is trying to defeat sitting members of Congress who have criticized the country's deadly war against Hamas. In today's Democratic primary in New York, it appears that strategy may work. My colleague, Nick Fandos, explains. It's Tuesday, June 25th. Nick, by the time people listen to this episode, voting will have begun in this congressional race,

that Democrats across the country are watching really closely. Because in a way, it feels like it's become a test of what a Democrat in office, in Congress, can or can't say about the war in Gaza. So let's start at the beginning with the congressman who is at the center of this race. So we're talking here about Congressman Jamal Bowman. He represents the district just north of New York City that includes parts of the Bronx and cities like Yonkers and Mount Vernon, but also suburbs like Larchmont and Scarsdale. He's a former middle school principal, lifelong educator who was never

in politics until 2019 and 2020 when he decided, I'm going to take on a big, powerful incumbent in my district. Why run for Congress? The simple answer is I want to do everything in my power to meet the needs of my students and families beyond the classroom. And he did it from the left. When you look throughout the district, you see pockets of the district where poverty is higher than 20 percent. Right. You see pockets where the rent burdens are as high as 57 percent.

While in other parts of the district, you see incredible wealth and incredible affluence and incredible opportunity. So remember, this was right at the height of the COVID pandemic. The election actually took place in the weeks after the killing of George Floyd. And the whole country was up in arms, was really thinking about race and equity, was thinking about power and whether the United States was moving quickly enough towards the goals that it professes to have. I want to put my run for Congress on the side for a moment and just speak to you as a black man in America

and as someone who's lived there his entire life. And Bowman was really able to capture that energy as a younger black man who was not in politics, speaks like a real person. I never saw anyone that looked like me, that sounded like me, that came from the places that I've come from, that spoke the language that mattered to me. For Bowman, the race was about race and policing and Donald Trump and the feeling that the Democratic Party was not fighting hard enough, fast enough on all of these issues.

I never saw anyone centering poverty and the working class and immigrants and those who are most vulnerable in our country. And his slogan was jobs and education, not bombs and incarceration. Thank you so much. My name is Jamal Bowman. I'm running for Congress in this district, the 16th district. Please go out and vote, and thank you for considering us as your next congressman. Now, his opponent, Eliot Engel, was in his 70s. He'd been in Congress more than 30 years. Wow. He's a committee chairman who was definitely more moderate than Bowman. So in a sense, this becomes a perfect distillation of the outsider versus the

establishment insider at a moment, like you just said, where that is the question of the moment. Exactly. And Bowman was really able to capitalize on a couple of instances where Engel looked out of touch. In one case, he was caught having stayed in Washington for the early weeks and months of the pandemic. Instead of in his district.

Far away from his district. Yeah, far away from his district. And then when he does show up, he's caught on a hot mic begging for a speaking slot at an event. And it's just too many folks here. If I didn't have a primary,

I wouldn't care. Say that again? If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care. Don't do that to me. I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care. Say that again? If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care. Don't do that to me. We're not going to do this. We're not going to do this. Saying something to the effect of, I wouldn't care except I've got a primary.

Hmm. Right. I remember that moment. It was incredibly embarrassing because here's a congressman already under fire for being MIA from his district in the pandemic, saying, I need to talk at this news conference, not because I necessarily care, but because I'm in a primary battle against Jamal Bowman, and I need voters to see me speaking and to think that I care. Right. That's certainly what it looks like. And Bowman, on the other hand,

seems so in and of this moment that come election day, he sails. He beats Engel by double digits. And it's received at the time as kind of proof of the left's ascendancy. This is only a couple of years after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her seat. The squad formed in Washington, that far left group of lawmakers. in Washington, that far left group of lawmakers. And when Bowman arrives in Washington, he reinforces their ranks and adds to this kind of growing progressive block that in the early days of the Biden administration seems to be exercising a lot of power. And one really emblematic moment where Bowman and the squad try and flex their muscle is around President Biden's signature infrastructure

bill. Remember, this is a big trillion-dollar program to build roads and bridges and replace lead pipes. And originally, there had been a Democratic proposal to pair it with another bill, more focused on climate change and some social policy that progressives really liked. And the two get split apart, and the left is really upset about that. So in order to try and get negotiating leverage to get that other climate bill passed, Bowman and a bunch of the squad and other progressives vote against the infrastructure bill, vote against one of Biden's biggest legislative priorities, and say, it's not that we're against it, but we need to have both. So far, Nick, all of this very much feels in keeping with the way Bowman campaigned.

He's governing as the outsider progressive that he said he would be. Yeah, I think that's right. He's pretty consistent and, frankly, is getting along all right in Washington. I mean, some people don't like those positions, but generally speaking, he's in good standing until two very consequential weeks last fall. And what happens in those two weeks? So let me just set the scene here. It's late September. Conservative Republicans are pulling Congress towards a government shutdown. They're in on a Saturday. Things are a total mess. Nobody

knows if the government's going to be able to pay its bills or find a solution. And in the middle of all of this, Jamal Bowman is trying to rush to the Capitol to get to a vote. He gets to a door that he usually expects to go out. It's locked. He tries it. And then what does he do? He pulls a fire alarm. New York Congressman Jamal Bowman, the former school principal, caught red-handed pulling the fire alarm inside a house office building. It sends the Capitol basically into chaos, becomes a two-day news cycle. He's a principal in my schools. We did fire drills. You know exactly what happens when you pull a fire alarm. All these national cameras are already paying attention. And now here's this crazy sideshow. All these national cameras are already paying attention, and now here's this crazy sideshow.

He violated the exact same law that January 6th defendants are being prosecuted for every single day, interrupting an official proceeding. He said after the fact that he was trying to open the door, but generally you don't pull a fire alarm to open a door. His explanation that he did this by accident, also false. It's the reason that I've asked the House Ethics Committee to review this. And eventually, Bowman is actually charged and pleads guilty to a misdemeanor for a false fire alarm. Listen, you know, I pulled the fire alarm. I did not do it to disrupt a court proceeding, like I said.

I was trying to get out the door. I was rushing to a vote. I'm thankful that, you know, we have an agreement in place. I'm thankful in three months it's going to be dismissed. And now let's move on. He has to pay a fine and apologize. And so it's just a real kind of black eye on his public image. Right. Embarrassing, ill-advised, but at the end of the day, not anything that's going to necessarily endanger his career.

Yeah, no, that's right. I think if it had just been that alone, he gets past it. But almost exactly a week later is October 7th. When Hamas attacks Israel brutally, takes hostages, leaves 1,200 Israelis dead, and really ushers in a new moment in American politics, and particularly for Democrats, who have been divided on Israel for quite a while, particularly this kind of the left-wing squad from the rest of the party. And those divisions are just kind of blown up in the days and weeks after October 7th. And Bowman, of all people, throws himself right into the middle of the wreckage.

We acknowledge the trauma and the pain and the fear. He condemns Hamas's attack on October 7th, but then, just days later, calls for a ceasefire in the region, essentially saying Israel should not defend itself. And that's a position, I should note, by the way, that is way out ahead of President Biden, who hadn't even gone yet at that point to Israel to give Benjamin Netanyahu that famous hug and say that the United States was sanding with Israel. You're calling for some weird ceasefire

that isn't going to accomplish anything other than give Hamas, give Hamas, which is basically an ISIS organization, time to regroup and kill more Jews. Never say ever that I'm okay with the killing of Jews. Ever say that. Ever. Because no one, this is insane. Now, from Bowman's point of view, this is consistent with the way that he views international politics remember the no bombs part of his

slogan right he wants israel here to not meet violence with violence to find some sort of diplomatic or political solution let me just be very clear it's one thing to support israel which the u.s has always done and will continue to do it's another thing to support Israel, which the U.S. has always done and will continue to do. It's another thing to never hold Israel accountable for their behavior, whether it's related to the occupation, the open-air prison that is Gaza, or the war crimes that are taking place right now during this siege. Bowman sees this as a clear moral case. And he relates what's happening in Israel to the racial justice struggle in the United States that he's familiar with, to the economic struggle. Israel to him is a powerful nation that is not making good on its

own promises as a democracy and is oppressing Palestinians. And the Muslim community, the Arab community, and Palestinians receive that as erasure and even further receive it as dehumanization. So it sounds like in this moment, Bowman is becoming the public face of left-wing congressional Democrats' weariness and skepticism of Israel at an exceptionally sensitive moment. Yes. And in the weeks that would follow, he goes there again and again and again. So he's one of the first lawmakers not only to call for a ceasefire,

but then to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza once its counteroffensive begins. He begins calling for the United States to cut off all military aid to Israel, which is one of its closest allies in the middle of this war, saying basically American taxpayer dollars shouldn't be going to bombs. At one point, he's caught on video saying that claims that Hamas used sexual violence against women around October 7th is, quote,

propaganda. Later, he apologized for those remarks. And all of this really adds to Bowman's prestige on the left. He becomes a big figure, a galvanizing figure, really, in this energized anti-war movement around Gaza. But at the same time, he's taking a huge political risk. His district, which, remember, is just north of New York City, is quite diverse. It's got a big black and Latino population. But it also is home to one of the largest Jewish populations in the country. And many of his constituents in that community feel betrayed. And not only that, back in Washington, pro-Israel groups who exercise a huge amount of power are furious at Bowman. They look at everything that's

happening and they think, he's got an election coming. We might be right back. So, Nick, tell us about this well-funded effort by supporters of Israel to try to make an example of Congressman Bowman. To answer that, Michael, let's take a little bit of a step back in time and talk about AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is a bipartisan group that's been around for a long time, whose mission really is to advance Israel's interests in the United States. Traditionally, they've had very strong relationships with presidents and legislative leaders in both parties. They've been really effective, frankly, at creating a consensus in Congress and in Washington more broadly to send military aid and defense to help protect

Israel and the Middle East from its neighbors. They pay for lawmakers to travel to Israel and see the country. And they've long endorsed candidates they see as friends of Israel and even made small donations. And then more recently, they began to take much bigger, overt political steps. A couple of years ago, they formed a super PAC for the first time. And they're doing it because they're watching that consensus that they worked so hard to build start to crumble.

And particularly on the left, among young voters, and particularly young Democratic voters and Democratic voters of color, who no longer see Israel in the way that maybe their parents or grandparents' generation did. And for AIPAC, the embodiment of that change is the squad. Then October 7th happens and

intensifies all of these dynamics. And AIPAC senses a real existential threat. And so they go and they survey the electoral landscape. They look at all the members of the squad and other progressives in Congress who are critical of Israel and are trying to change the American relationship to it. And they figure out, OK, where could we go in electorally and could we knock some of these people out? And how do they end up zeroing in on Bowman, of all people? So beating incumbents is not the easiest thing to do. So in many cases, they look at some of their biggest critics, people like Rashida Tlaib or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and they simply can't find a viable challenger.

These guys are smart. They've run political campaigns before. They don't want to put good money after bad and waste it. But Bowman, they look at him and think, this guy's beatable. Not only do they not like what he's saying about Israel, but in this case, they are able to find a primary challenger who is not only credible, but is deeply popular in the district. And who's that? I'm George Latimer. The opponent is George Latimer. I've served in my local city hall. I've served in the county and the state legislature.

And now as Westchester County Executive to focus on getting results, not just rhetoric. A well-known Democratic fixture who first entered politics in the Reagan era and now serves as the county executive of Westchester County, which is the biggest county in the district. We've seen Israel created 75 years ago as a valid country. It has a right to exist and it has a right to exist on defensible borders. And he's also, importantly, staunchly pro-Israel. I think the Israeli people need to see that they have a partner for peace.

And they don't see a partner for peace right now. A Democrat, frankly, in the mold of that old consensus model, who is willing to stand by United States ally Israel through thick and thin. And I have taken the position for a legislator to take a future legislator, is to work through your legislative bodies and try to influence the president in that fashion. So in the fall, he starts getting outreach from local rabbis and Jewish leaders in the district to jump in. And AIPAC gives him some encouragement as well. So in a sense, AIPAC is helping to recruit Latimer to run against Bowman.

Right. And not only do they help to recruit him, but once he does get in the race and establishes, I'm a supporter of Israel, they begin raising very large amounts of money directly for his campaign. And in time, their super PAC starts spending far, far more to advance his candidacy. And what does it look like for APAC's super PAC to advance Latimer's candidacy in this primary? So since mid-May, APAC's super PAC has spent upwards of $14.5 million in this race. That's a lot of money. That's just over a month.

Yeah, it's a huge amount of money. Something like almost $17,000 an hour at one point. And if you add it all up, it's actually not only more than APAC has ever spent in a single race, it's more than any outside group, any super PAC has ever spent in a house race. George Latimer is putting people ahead of personal agendas

and delivering real progressive results. So some of that money actually goes towards a positive ad trying to improve Latimer's image as a good progressive who stands by President Biden. George Latimer will take on MAGA extremists and he'll work with President Biden to keep delivering progressive results. But most of it is reserved for attacks on Bowman.

Here's the deal. I used to be for Jamal Bowman, but not anymore. Bowman put his extreme ideology ahead of us. One of only six Democrats to oppose the historic infrastructure bill. So they bring back that infrastructure vote. And the idea is basically to try and paint Bowman as a disloyal Democrat, somebody who's attacking the president and is a chaos agent in Washington. Bowman called President Biden a liar.

Jamal Bowman has his own agenda, and he's hurting New York. Now, notably, notice I have not mentioned Israel because none of these ads, at least none of the ones on TV, mention Israel. Why would that be? Why would AIPAC, which is clearly in the business of protecting Israel, run a bunch of TV ads against Jamal Bowman,

who they object to because of his views on Israel, and not mention those views about Israel in the ads? Yeah, it's a great question, and it's one that's inspired Bowman and his supporters to be like, what gives? So from AIPAC's point of view, the logic is that voters in the district who really care about Israel, no matter which side they're on, have probably already made up their mind about Jamal Bowman. They're not going to be persuaded. But there's a big bunch of primary voters who may not be following the war that closely, but they are loyal Democrats. They like President Biden. They're interested in beating Trump this fall. And they are susceptible to seeing ads about a guy who seems to be bucking the president, who's out of the mainstream and not representing them.

Israel in this campaign, but to talk about the way that a Democrat, Jamal Bowman in this case, is letting down his party's president, is letting down his party, is basically being disloyal to the Democratic Party, not necessarily Israel. Yes. And so far from what we can tell, it seems to be pretty effective. Explain that. So when I'm out in the district talking to voters, a really interesting thing has started happening. Explain that. this is a sign of real success. Voters are thinking about infrastructure. They're thinking about loyalty. They're thinking about Bowman as a chaos agent. And I don't think it's an accident that they're thinking about those things.

It's not an accident because they're getting those views you're suggesting from these now ubiquitous ads. Exactly. So ubiquitous that some households are getting dozens of mailers a week reinforcing these points. And some of these APAC ads

have been viewed upwards of 180 million times. Wow. 180 million. I mean, it's astonishing. It's complete saturation. What you're describing here is anecdotal reporting that you've done in the district.

What are the polls telling us about the state of this race between Bowman and Latimer? There has not been as much credible polling in this race as we would like. But what we have seen in polls that have come out is that Latimer has opened up a very large lead, double digits. And while it's hard to exactly attribute cause and effect here, I think everyone would agree that you spend $15 million is going to have an impact on the way voters think and eventually poll on the ballot.

A.K.A. these ads do seem to be very much hurting Jamal Bowman. They're certainly not helping. Okay. What does Bowman have to say about the fact that he has become the target of a group like AIPAC in this race? Bowman's response has been really interesting because where other politicians, I think, faced with this set of circumstances who want to get reelected might kind of pull back or moderate some of their harshest positions. pain, arguing that they are the representation of everything that's wrong with big money in American politics, that they're coming in and have basically not only bought his opponent,

but are now trying to buy an election. And oh, by the way, they may be a bipartisan group, but they're doing it with big checks from Republican mega donors. And they're coming after me, not just because of my position on Israel, but because those donors don't like the other things I stand for, the progressive values, my out on Israel, but because those donors don't like the other things I stand for, the progressive values, my outspokenness as a black man. He's really made this a kind of referendum in his words of the money versus the many. And by what he means by that is all this money versus the people who don't have that much money, but are fighting against entrenched corporate interests. He's basically taking it back to his original 2020 Democratic primary when he was running on

a message of me versus the establishment. Exactly. And he says, the establishment never liked me. And this strategy has really worked to kind of galvanize the national progressive movement. They've really rallied around him. They've donated money. Groups like Justice Democrats have emptied their bank accounts to try and save him. What's up? What's up? What's up? And all of this came together this past weekend

at a rally in the Bronx. What's up, New York? Where Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders joined Bowman and a bunch of other progressives, some of whom flew in from as far away as Florida. And Bowman was really fired up. And because they see the power of our movement, they are spending more money than has ever been spent in American history, y'all. He framed it as if their whole movement was on the line.

AIPAC is scared to death. We are not going to stand silent while U.S. tax dollars kills babies and women and children. And profanely, again and again, ripped into AIPAC and what they're doing in this race. People ask me why I got a foul mouth. What am I supposed to do?

You coming after me. I just want to say, Michael, because I was there, Bowman very well may keep this seat. But the man on that stage was certainly acting like he was up against the wall and had nothing

to lose. He was letting it all rip. Nothing that 8-pack can do is gonna stop our liberation. Nothing! They have already lost! Nick, if Bowman does lose,

and we have to be really clear on the if-ness of that question, it's a summer primary. Turnout's going to be, who knows? We're in the middle of a heat wave here. The polling's been kind of subpar. But if Bowman loses, I have to imagine AIPAC

will claim this as a big victory for its cause, will say, we have made an example of this member of Congress. But taking out a lawmaker, I have to think, is very different than rebuilding a consensus around support for Israel, which is AIPAC's real goal, isn't it? AIPAC's real goal, isn't it? Absolutely. This is such an important point, Michael, because as we've said, AIPAC's real goal here is to maintain or reinstate a consensus support for Israel in the United States. And that has to do with both who's in Congress and who the people electing them are. And you can take people out of Congress, and they may succeed in taking out Bowman. They may succeed later this summer in another primary in Missouri in taking out Representative Cori Bush.

Another member of the squad. Exactly. But if they're not changing the minds of the people who elect them, if they're not actually running ads that are trying to change those people's minds or running candidates that are trying to change those people's minds, who's to say that in the future, when circumstances are different or candidates don't have the flaws that Bowman maybe did, that those voters aren't just going to keep electing more politicians that AIPAC doesn't like. And it seems to me that in this race, not only have they missed an opportunity to try and move voters in the direction they want,

they may actually be spawning a bigger backlash that could cause them further problems down the line. The very people that they're trying to win back, I think, have only seen their distrust for AIPAC grow. Right. And perhaps by proxy, Israel itself. Exactly. And in the long term, that seems to make the problem worse, not better. But at the same time, for AIPAC, a win's a win. And they seem to be saying that they are willing to let that longer term battle over democratic hearts and minds play out another day. Because right now they have a much more urgent question and problem in front of them. And that is the war that's going on with Hamas and the need for American military aid. And so the composition of this Congress matters a lot to Israel right now, and it matters a lot

to AIPAC. And a defeat of somebody like Jamal Bowman not only takes out one of their critics, but it sends a message to everybody else in Congress who may be considering voting to cut off aid or criticizing Israel in other ways, that you're either with us or we're coming after you next. And that chilling effect for AIPAC may be the most important victory of all. Well, Nick, thank you very much.

Always a pleasure, Michael. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count of illegally obtaining and disclosing U.S. national security material in exchange for his release from a British prison where he spent more than five years. The deal would end Assange's long standoff with the U.S.,

which began after he released highly sensitive American secrets, including documents about military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan and confidential cables shared among diplomats. Under the deal, Assange will serve no additional prison time. And for the first time, the Supreme Court has agreed to decide the constitutionality of state laws banning medical treatments for transgender youth. The court will examine a Tennessee law that prohibits three types of transgender medical care

for minors, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender transition surgeries. Its ruling, expected next year, could have broad ramifications for the roughly two dozen states that have enacted similar bans. Today's episode was produced by Muj Zaydi and Jessica Chung. It was edited by Liz O'Balin, with help from Rachel Quester. Contains original music by Marian Lozano, Rowan Emisto, and Dan Powell, with sound design by Alicia Baetube,

and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansford of Wonderly. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.