Attorney Alan Dershowitz has been a Democrat for 70 years. He has only voted for Democratic presidents since JFK. But now, he no longer recognizes the Democratic Party. Dershowitz joins Glenn to explain why he left the Democrats behind to become an independent. After defending then-president Donald Trump in his impeachment trial, many Democrats distanced themselves from him. Since then, hatred of Israel and Jews has grown amongst their ranks, censorship has become the norm, and the Party has embraced the socialist leanings of Bernie Sanders and AOC. But Dershowitz tells Glenn that he’s not alone: liberals are fleeing the Democratic Party in droves! Dershowitz also comments on Republicans Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney’s endorsements of Kamala Harris and RFK Jr.’s endorsement of Donald Trump.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law professor. Emeritus.
Host of the Dershow.
And Get Trump author.
He came out this weekend, joining his voice to many others.
Saying, I am not a Democrat anymore.
He's an independent. He's not saying he is going to vote for Trump. But there is a problem in the democratic party, as we've been pointing out for a while now.
They're not your grandfather's Democratic Party. Your father's. Even maybe your Democratic Party anymore. They're not. Dershowitz is joining us now. Alan, how are you, sir?
ALAN: Well, I'm feeling really good as an independent. I've been a Democrat for 70 years. I started supporting the Democratic Party, in the early 1950s, as a kid, who went around in a sound truck, supporting Phillip Shuffler. The Democratic candidate, the assemblyman in Brooklyn.
And I haven't voted for single non-Democrats for president, since -- since John Kennedy in 1960.
But like Ronald Reagan said, the Democratic Party has left me, by having people like Keith Ellison, who was a supporter of the reverend -- and the Reverend Sharpton, who conducted an anti-Semitic pogrom, in the Bronx and in Brooklyn back in the day. And AOC, who says that Israel is a genocidal state. And -- and -- and people like Bernie Sanders. That's not my party. I can't support a party like that.
I'm going to be independent. And I'm hoping maybe some day, the Democrats will come back to their roots.
But until then, don't count on my support.
GLENN: This is really earth-shattering, I think to some people.
And the minute I read this, Alan. I thought of your children and your wife.
Because I know, I know decisions that you make. Like decisions I make. Affect the whole family.
How -- how is that going?
ALAN: Yeah. Terrible. Terrible. My nephew wrote to me yesterday, and said, you're now to the right of -- and then he mentioned, some of the people who -- you know, the old Republicans.
Cheney and others who are now supporting Harris.
And my family -- every -- my family is a Democrat.
And most of my friends.
I don't have that many friends left.
Because I have supported Donald Trump's civil liberties. Even before I left the democratic party.
I'm a civil libertarian first.
And I hate what the Democrats have done to Donald Trump.
You know, that New York case. And --
GLENN: But you --
ALAN: I've been on his side of the legal issues for years now.
GLENN: But what they're doing on censorship overall is terrifying.
ALAN: Yeah. Yeah.
GLENN: Really terrifying.
ALAN: Well, it's happening around the world. It's what's happening in England. They're putting people in jail for protests.
GLENN: I know.
ALAN: It's horrible. And they're applying a double standard on universities. You know, you can't say a word negative about protected minorities on college campuses.
But, you know, if you use the wrong pronoun, you'll get expended. But you can call Israel a genocidal country. And you can say, you know, Jews are destroying America. That's okay. That's first America protected speech.
And I don't mind that, as long as you apply the same standard to everybody. They're not. They're not.
They're applying a double standard.
GLENN: So, Alan, do you sense that this is more than just you?
ALAN: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
I've gotten hundreds and hundreds of calls and emails, from people who say, you know, used to be Democrats. We still support a lot of the democratic platform.
On abortion rights and gay rights. But we can't be members of a party, for 50,000 -- or AOC. Or people like that. You know, the Republicans have their problem too, with Tucker Carlson.
He platformed recently a Holocaust denier. And he ought to be ashamed of himself for doing that. Neither party is perfect. But I think Republicans have done a better job of marginalizing their extremists than the Democrats have done.
GLENN: Well, I mean, you know, it's -- it's hard when Kamala came out, this weekend, saying, you know, I understand the Palestinians. Those who are standing up for the -- for Hamas.
Or the Palestinian cause.
I have sympathy for them.
And that's why Israel, they have to offer a two-state solution.
They don't want a two-state solution.
Israel has offered a two-state solution.
They don't want one.
ALAN: There isn't a single protester. I will give a thousand dollars to Hamas, if you can show me protesters, protesters who are calling for a two-state solution. What they're calling for is the end of Israel.
GLENN: River to the sea.
ALAN: What they're calling for is a victory of Hamas. What they're calling for is the end of Israel.
They're not calling for a two-state solution.
That's ridiculous.
And they're not even calling for a cease-fire.
Because Israel is agreeing to the cease-fire. Even the State Department says, it's all up to Hamas now.
Has a single protestor ever said, hey, Hamas, agree to a ceasefire, maybe then you can save some lives?
Nobody is calling for that. These are just calls for the end of Israel.
And they're calls for the end of America.
Recently, some of the protesters were burning American flags. And saying, our real goal is the destruction of America.
Because Israel is a surrogate for America. Why is there so much focus on Israel?
Is there any focus on Darfur and the Sudan, where people are literally dying of hunger and thirst? No! Because that has nothing to do with being anti-American. So it's all about anti-Americans.
GLENN: So when you left the democratic party, it's more than just their stance on Israel.
ALAN: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's the whole movement to the hard left.
And look I'm a centrist Democrat. I'm a liberal. I'm an antiradical. I believe in civil liberties, and free speech. All the basic aspects of the Bill of Rights. And the Democrats aren't supporting that these days. To them, it's free speech for me, but not for thee.
GLENN: So Dick Cheney came out. Speaking of your nephew.
ALAN: Yeah. Yeah.
GLENN: Dick Cheney came out this weekend and said, there's never been a bigger threat to the republic. Or I think he probably said the democracy. Than Donald Trump.
What do you make of that?
ALAN: I don't know.
You know, he was a pretty tough vice president.
And pretty aggressive in his support, of American policies.
I don't know that it has to do with -- I don't know what it has to do with his feeling that the Republicans haven't give up him enough deference.
He hasn't quit the Republican Party.
As far as I know, he's still a Republican. But he will still vote for Harris and against Trump.
I know people like that as well. And I know people on the other side.
This is an election that is very much about personalities. You know, I don't know very many people who will vote for anybody in this election.
I think there are a lot of people voting against a candidate. And they haven't decided against the candidate they are voting against yet. The American people really were entitled to a better choice.
GLENN: Yeah. So if you were -- if you were talking in front of a jury. Let's make America 12 men and women.
ALAN: Yeah.
GLENN: And you had to make a case, that the Democrats are actually a bigger threat, at least the way they're currently put together. How would you change -- how would you approach the jury?
ALAN: Well, I would approach the jury, by be looking at the facts. By seeing what the Democrats have done. How they've abused the rule of law.
How they're violating the First Amendment. The Fifth Amendment.
The -- the Sixth Amendment.
They're using lawfare. And politics.
They're distorting democracy.
And look, I don't like the fact that President Trump claims he won the last election. He didn't win the last election.
Although, I think a lot of people think he did. But I don't like the way the world. And the country. And the Democrats have reacted to that.
He has a free speech where I can make that position. He shouldn't have been indicted for any of the charges that he was indicted for.
And I think if you would have singled out one case, it's the New York case, against him.
Where they made up a crime.
Has done more damage to the rule of law. And to democracy. Than anything Donald Trump has done.
GLENN: Alan, thank you so much.
I --
ALAN: My pleasure.
GLENN: I feel for your family.
Because I know what it's like. I know.
ALAN: It's tough for them. It's tough for them.
But look, they have to buy the whole package. They know who I am.
I stand up for principle. And, you know, I put family first. But I put principle first too.
GLENN: Yeah.
ALAN: And mostly my family has been supportive. Not everybody in the family. But mostly my family has been supportive.
GLENN: Yeah. Well, you're probably feeling a lot like Robert F. Kennedy.
Jr.
Right now.
ALAN: Well, Bobby is an old friend of mine.
I've known him since he was a young man.
Of course, I've supported the Kennedys, right from the beginning.
I tell you a funny story about that. I was at a dinner party. And they see this Caroline Kennedy next to me, and she said, I know you were -- I wouldn't have come because you defended Donald Trump.
And I said, yeah, but I also defended Ted Kennedy.
That's how I first came to Martha's Vineyard. Defending Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick. Would you have walked on me, for that? Well, she had no answer.
GLENN: Huh. What do you think of Robert F. Kennedy joining the Trump thing?
ALAN: I'm not advised. I mean, they have a lot in common.
And, you know, he has very strong views. Some of which I agree with. Some of which I disagree with.
And he's a serious guy.
And I have to tell you, he's a great volleyball player. I've played against him a couple of times. My nose still hurts.
Into my face. But I like Bobby.
GLENN: Yeah.
ALAN: And, you know, I like his spiciness. I don't agree with all of his politics.
But he shouldn't be attacked by his family. He's an individual. He should be entitled to his own opinions.
GLENN: Alan Dershowitz. Appreciate it. Good to talk to you.
