‘My grandmother would be rolling over in her grave’: Dershowitz unloads on today’s Democrats

For nearly 70 years, Alan Dershowitz was a Democrat. Not a casual Democrat. Not one of those voters who occasionally checked the “D” box depending on the candidate. We’re talking about a lifelong liberal Democrat whose political roots went back to Franklin Roosevelt, working-class Brooklyn and a family where voting Democratic was basically part of the furniture. Not anymore,

Dershowitz’s new book, "Why I Quit the Dems: And So Should You! (confessions of a reluctant Republican)," comes out this week, and the title pretty much tells you where this is headed. The longtime Harvard Law professor says he didn’t leave because he suddenly became a conservative on every issue. Far from it.

Dershowitz still supports abortion rights, gay rights, environmental protection, racial equality, etc. The book describes him as a “reluctant Republican” whose decisive break with Democrats came largely over what he views as the party’s growing hostility toward Israel.

When I spoke with Dershowitz, he made it crystal clear that Israel isn’t some secondary issue for him. It’s the issue that broke the relationship. “You can’t be undercutting America’s strongest ally in the Middle East, and expect decent centrist Democrats like me to go along with you. No, we’re not going to do it,” Dershowitz told me.

He argues that the Democratic Party he grew up supporting is no longer the Democratic Party he recognizes. That transformation accelerated quickly after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, particularly when it came to Israel and the political left’s response to the war that followed.

For Dershowitz, this isn’t just about foreign policy votes in Congress. He believes it’s about who is gaining influence inside the party and what that could eventually mean if today’s progressive lawmakers move into positions of greater power.

“Can you imagine AOC being chairman of a committee…or the new guy who might get elected to the Senate side, who pals around with somebody who thinks America deserved 911 and Israel deserved October 7th?”

Dershowitz clearly sees the ideological fight inside the Democratic Party as much bigger than one election cycle. He sees it as a fight over what the party actually stands for. This is personal for him. Dershowitz doesn’t describe his political history in abstract terms. He talks about his family. His grandmother. His parents.

“My grandmother would be rolling over in her grave,” Dershowitz tells me. “She had a picture of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in her living room, and she taught me the pledge. She made me go to the Statue of Liberty on July 4th and sing the national anthem and pledge allegiance. She was the most patriotic American. My father was a working man. My mother worked as a bookkeeper. My parents naturally supported the Democrats, but no more. Now, the Democrats are an elite party of extreme leftist socialists.”

Dershowitz’s story is not one of political conversion, as if he woke up one morning and discovered Ronald Reagan. His argument is that the Democratic Party changed while many traditional Democrats remained where they were. Comedian Bill Maher is echoing the same sentiment weekly on his HBO television program.

Dershowitz did indeed try for years to push back against what he viewed as left-wing extremism from inside the Democratic Party, but eventually, he concluded that the battle could no longer be won from within.

Dershowitz is especially frustrated with Democratic politicians and activists who place primary responsibility for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Israel. He argues that Palestinians repeatedly rejected opportunities for statehood and that Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza ultimately led not to peace but to Hamas taking control.

“The Palestinians created their own problem. They were offered a state, then turned it down. They were offered Gaza. They gave Gaza control. And what happened? They turned it over to Hamas. And Hamas killed all the other leaders and took over. That’s not what the Democratic Party should be supporting.”

His broader argument is that Democratic criticism of Israel has gone beyond legitimate disagreement with the Israeli government and, in his view, has turned into hostility toward the Jewish state itself.

“Because Israel’s the nation-state of the Jewish people and because there’s a long history of antisemitism throughout the world, it was easy for Democrats to turn against Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East and the only ally of America, an ally that supplies America with great intelligence. And also technological advantages, like Iron Dome – and now members of the House and the Senate from the Democrats want to cut back on aid – will help Israel protect its civilians and American civilians. No, I can't; I can't belong to that party. I oppose that party.”