Politico accused Stephen Miller in a new article of being a Soviet anti-Semite following his exchange with Jim Acosta on Wednesday. Entitled “The Ugly History of Stephen Miller’s ‘Cosmopolitan’ Epithet,” Jeff Greenfield goes on to explain how ‘cosmopolitan’ was originally a term used by Josef Stalin that served as an excuse “to purge the culture of dissident voices.” This, of course, leads him to caution readers to beware of the evil, nationalistic voices within the Trump administration seeking to stamp out the freedom-loving opposition to them. This accusation is particularly ironic given the fact that Stephen Miller is, in fact, Jewish.
Greenfield writes:
“So what is a “cosmopolitan”? It’s a cousin to “elitist,” but with a more sinister undertone. It’s a way of branding people or movements that are unmoored to the traditions and beliefs of a nation, and identify more with like-minded people regardless of their nationality. (In this sense, the revolutionary pamphleteer Thomas Paine might have been an early American cosmopolitan, when he declared: “The world is my country; all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”). In the eyes of their foes, “cosmopolitans” tend to cluster in the universities, the arts and in urban centers, where familiarity with diversity makes for a high comfort level with “untraditional” ideas and lives.
For a nationalist, these are fighting words. Your country is your country; your fellow citizens are your brethren; and your country’s traditions—religious and otherwise— should be yours. A nation whose people—especially influential people—develop other ties undermine national strength, and must be repudiated.
One reason why “cosmopolitan” is an unnerving term is that it was the key to an attempt by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to purge the culture of dissident voices. In a 1946 speech, he deplored works in which “the positive Soviet hero is derided and inferior before all things foreign and cosmopolitanism that we all fought against from the time of Lenin, characteristic of the political leftovers, is many times applauded.” It was part of a yearslong campaigned aimed at writers, theater critics, scientists and others who were connected with “bourgeois Western influences.” Not so incidentally, many of these “cosmopolitans” were Jewish, and official Soviet propaganda for a time devoted significant energy into “unmasking” the Jewish identities of writers who published under pseudonyms.”
So, Stephen Miller’s chastisement of Jim Acosta for not understanding past U.S. immigration policy and equating it with a century-old poem amounts to him being in the same camp as Stalin? The same Stalin who systematically murdered millions of Jews just like him? It’s insulting, frankly, how often members of the Trump administration are accused of being anti-Semitic despite President Trump being the first President to have a Jewish daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. The fact that men like Greenfield continue to do so showcases their intellectual dishonesty and complete disregard for facts while in the pursuit of their liberal agenda.
