Liberals eat their own, harass Scott Wiener over Gaza stance

Opinion>Opinions - Robby's Radar The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill Liberals eat their own, harass Scott Wiener over Gaza stance Comments: by Robby Soave, opinion contributor - 06/29/26 11:34 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Robby Soave, opinion contributor - 06/29/26 11:34 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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The revolution always eats its own.

This is one of the most central and frequently recurring themes in far-left radical organizing. And make no mistake, the far-left is feeling ascendant, as victories for democratic socialists in New York City have empowered the activist wing of the Democratic Party.

These activists now feel comfortable showing who they truly are. Their masks are slipping, and what a sight to behold. Consider this video footage of crazy far-left protesters confronting and harassing, of all people, Scott Wiener.

Wiener is known to conservative audiences as an extremely progressive Democratic state legislator in California. He has sponsored some of the most culturally progressive legislation there is: For instance, he sponsored legislation to decriminalize intentionally exposing someone to HIV, and to reform the sex offender registry.

Nor is Wiener a John Fetterman-esque moderate on Israel. On the contrary, he has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, and even eventually came around to calling it a genocide.

But here’s the key thing: Wiener did not immediately and fervently condemn Israel as complicit in genocide from the outset of that country’s response to October 7th. This led a group of deranged activists to confront him recently at a Pride event in San Francisco.

There’s so much profanity in the following clip that it’s difficult for us to play it on TV, but basically the activists scream at Wiener that even though he’s a good progressive on LGBT issues and has been a major ally to other gay people and trans people. They reject him as one of their own because of his stance on Gaza.

Wiener is gay and also Jewish, and says that harassment was partly due to his Jewish identity. He said in a statement:

“As I walked through Dolores Park to participate in a trans-led Pride Shabbat service in connection with the trans march, a group of people began screaming at me, ran up to me, surrounded me, and began harassing me, both verbally and physically, including physical contact. They made statements about my ‘Israeli handlers,’ among many other inaccurate, extreme, and vile statements. They were so physically and verbally aggressive that it was impossible for me to safely remain in the park. As a result, I left the park and, for the very first time, did not participate in the trans march.”

Let me be very clear: The people who harassed Scott Wiener are acting insane. Unfortunately, they are broadly representative of the activist far-left on this issue. It is not enough to be super pro trans, super pro LGBT, extremely progressive on a variety of social and economic issues, and for what it’s worth, to also be totally opposed to what Israel is doing. What these people really want to hear, I guess, is that Scott Wiener renounces his Jewish heritage and supports Hamas. I think that’s what it would take.

You’d think Dems who want to win nationally would be running as far in the other direction as possible from these lunatics. They are not. Consider Brad Ladner, who beat incumbent Dan Goldman in a House primary. Ladner previously left the Democratic Socialists of America because he thought their anti-Israel talking points played into stereotypes about Jewish people. Now, he’s back with the DSA. NewsNation’s Batya Ungar Sargon called him out to his face.

See, even comparatively normal Democrats feel pressured to join up with the far left — and that’s because they don’t want the mob to come for them. But it will. Just give it time.

Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.

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