Doug Emhoff, to Jewish Dems: ‘I’m Gonna Continue to Talk About the Brisket’

CHICAGO, Illinois — Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff promised a gathering of Jewish Democrats on Thursday that “I’m gonna continue to talk about the brisket,” reiterating his commitment to fighting antisemitism from the White House.

Emhoff spoke a few hours before his wife, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), was set to address the Democratic National Convention to accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

Emhoff, spoke at the opening of a panel on the fight against antisemitism, and his remarks were generally nonpartisan, save for his proud endorsement of his wife’s candidacy — on what was also their tenth wedding anniversary.

He said that Vice President Kamala Harris had encouraged him to take an active role in leading the fight against antisemitism.

Emhoff added that while his own Jewish practice was not as observant, perhaps, as that of other Jews, it was no less proud and authentic.
The reference to “brisket” came from his speech to the convention on Tuesday night, when he talked about his wife’s cooking, which he said reminded him of his Jewish grandmother’s “plastic-covered couches” Brooklyn. He stressed his connection to Judaism — more cultural than religious, but still strong.

The panel that followed — after Emhoff left — was sharply partisan.

Participants claimed that the major threat to Jews in the U.S. was “white Christian nationalism”; that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) flew the “white Christian nationalist flag” (the historic Pine Tree Flag, flown by George Washington, which was not identified) outside his office; and that antisemitism began rising after the Charlottesville riot in 2017 (rather than in the last two years of the Obama administration, as acknowledged by the Anti-Defamation League).

The threat of Islamic antisemitism was never mentioned.

It fell to Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) to point out that the “shock” within the Jewish community had been that the new antisemitism was coming from the left.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.