Politics

Here’s how it works: In areas of Michigan with large numbers of Arab and Muslim voters, Future Coalition PAC is running digital ads about how Vice President Kamala Harris is a staunch and unyielding supporter of Israel.

“Kamala and Doug, America’s pro-Israel power couple,” the narrator of one of the group’s ads declares after discussing Israel’s “noble fight against the radical terrorists in Gaza.” One mail item from the group says Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, “leans on Jewish husband Doug Emhoff to advise on high-level pro-Israel policies.”

Many Jewish Democrats have argued that, among other qualities, the ads’ focus on second gentleman Doug Emhoff is antisemitic.

That component of the advertising blitz reprises a well-known, though not exactly common, bit of campaign dark arts: Highlight a quality you claim to see as positive or negative, knowing the intended audience will have the opposite takeaway.

But it’s the second component of Future Coalition PAC’s advertising that really raises its cynicism to new heights. The group is simultaneously targeting Pennsylvania’s Jewish voters with advertisements claiming Harris has been “pandering” to Palestinians.