CHICAGO — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned of the rise of antisemitism in the US and urged Americans to vote for Kamala Harris or risk a “dark night” of a second Donald Trump term.
“This November, we can choose a brighter, fairer, freer future-or relive the dark night of Trump’s American carnage,” Schumer (D-NY) told attendees at the convention.
The New York Democrat also called Harris, who cast the deciding tie-breaking vote on major bills when the Senate was evenly divided during President Biden’s initial years in office, “the best partner Senate Democrats could ever have asked for.”
He said he believes that Senate Democrats can hold the upper chamber, despite polls suggesting otherwise.
Schumer then reflected on his status as the highest-ranking elected Jewish official in the US — as anti-Israel protestors clashed with police officers and burned American flags outside of the Israeli consulate in Chicago Tuesday night.
The demonstrators — chanting “Free, free Palestine” and waving Palestinian flags — tried to break through a line of Chicago police officers in riot gear outside the building housing the consulate, located about two miles from the United Center, where the DNC is being held.
Videos showed police officers shoving demonstrators and tackling some of them to the ground before taking them into custody. Multiple people were arrested, according to a Chicago police officer at the scene.
Some protesters burned the Stars and Stripes in the middle of the street.
“I want my grandkids — and all grandkids — to never face discrimination because of who they are. But Donald Trump — this is a guy who peddles antisemitic stereotypes. He even invited a white supremacist to Mar-a-Lago,” Schumer chided.
The senate majority leader was referring to Nick Fuentes, who went to Mar-a-Lago in 2022 alongside Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Trump later claimed he “had no idea what his views were” prior to the dinner.
“And his prejudice goes in all directions. He fuels Islamophobia and issued a Muslim ban as President,” Schumer went on about Trump.
Schumer later added that by voting for Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Americans can “keep the torch of freedom burning bright for generations to come.”
The Senate majority leader is set to release a book about antisemitism next February.
