Protesters Rally to Oppose Trump’s ‘Ethnonationalist’ Circuit Court Nominee
Published in Newsweek
Menashi has been under fire for dozens of editorials and blog posts he wrote in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Menashi criticized need-based financial aid, claiming it would hurt the wealthy and called recipients of such aid “grasshoppers.” In October 2000, when Menashi was editor in chief of the Dartmouth Review, the college paper ran an editorial railing against women’s marches and “Take Back the Night” rallies on college campuses. Another editorial from March 2001 appeared to compare affirmative action in college admissions to Nazi practices.
Menashi has also disparaged “ethnically heterogeneous societies” and argued that such societies “exhibit less political and civic engagement, less effective governing institutions, and few public goods.” These comments prompted the Council on American-Islamic Relations to demand Trump withdraw Menashi’s nomination and drew accusations that he was a white nationalist.
Roughly 150 protesters knocked on senators’ office doors Tuesday in Washington D.C. to rally against Menashi’s nomination, according to Huffpost. More than 10 people were arrested by Capitol Police during the demonstration, which was organized by progressive groups Demand Justice and the Center for Popular Democracy. Senators Chris Coons, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis and Mark Warner were all targeted by activists.