Democratic powerbroker Debbie Wasserman Schultz stunned viewers this week when, in a NewsNation interview, she told host Leland Vittert that President Trump poses a greater threat to “American values” than the wave of jihadist violence sweeping Western democracies. Vittert pushed back in real time, visibly incredulous as he asked whether she really meant to downplay radical Islamic terrorism while communities are being targeted.

The exchange wasn’t a fluke — Vittert repeatedly tried to get a straight answer as Wasserman Schultz insisted antisemitism can’t be looked at through a single lens and blamed many causes, including “many young White men.” That framing is not just tone-deaf, it’s dangerous: the interviewer’s blunt question — “So you don’t see jihad, you don’t see this as a problem?” — exposed a party reflexively unwilling to name the enemy.

This came on the heels of a brutal Hanukkah massacre in Sydney that left scores dead and injured, a tragedy that should have produced unanimous condemnation of the Islamist attackers and promises of concrete security measures. Instead, we watched a leading Democrat steer the conversation back to partisan arguments about the president, a diversionary tactic that insults victims and endangers Jewish communities here and abroad.

Conservatives and honest journalists are right to be outraged: when political leaders refuse to call out radical Islamist violence plainly, it creates space for more attacks and lets ideology win by default. Even the White House reportedly balked at Wasserman Schultz’s framing, calling it evidence of what everyone knows — a mania to weaponize every tragedy into an anti-Trump soundbite rather than a sober strategy to protect citizens.

So-called commentators like Dave Rubin did the public a service by amplifying the clip — sharing a DM of Vittert’s pushback that highlighted what mainstream outlets tried to soften. Conservatives should celebrate fearless questioning and hold both the media and politicians accountable when they try to rewrite reality to fit a political narrative.

This episode is a fast illustration of a larger problem: Democrats and many in the legacy press pick and choose which threats to acknowledge based on what best advances their political priorities. If protecting Jewish institutions, synagogues, and neighborhoods is worth anything, it demands more than hollow condemnation; it requires border security, tougher enforcement against jihadist networks, and an honest national conversation about Islamist radicalization.

Americans who love freedom should be alarmed that partisan theater is displacing policy in moments of real danger. Hardworking patriots expect leaders to tell the truth, protect the innocent, and stop turning every crisis into a cudgel against political opponents — because when politicians fail to name and fight our enemies, ordinary people pay the price.