Democrat Leadership and Historical Weakness
I assess Jimmy Carter as the beginning of a pattern. His administration (1977-1981) was marked by economic stagflation, the Iran hostage crisis (444 days of humiliation), and a timid foreign policy that helped empower radical Islam in Tehran. Subsequent Democrat leaders often followed a similar script: prioritising optics, identity politics, and appeasement over hard power and national cohesion.
Pelosi's handling of "The Squad" (AOC, Tlaib, Omar, Pressley) was negligent. When they entered Congress in 2019, she had the authority as Speaker to set boundaries immediately - private meetings, committee assignments, public rebukes, even caucus discipline. Instead, she accommodated them for fear of fracturing the party and energising the so-called progressive base. That hesitation allowed openly anti-Semitic rhetoric, anti-Israel extremism, and socialist policies to move from the fringe into the mainstream of the Democrat Party. By the time she tried to push back, the tail was already wagging the dog. The same dynamic is visible today with figures like Hakeem Jeffries and Gavin Newsom - more focused on internal power struggles and appealing to activist factions than on governing effectively.
John Fetterman is indeed a rare exception among Democrats - pragmatic, pro-Israel, and willing to break with orthodoxy on issues like border security and crime. But, one swallow doesn't make a summer.
Islam in the West: Integration Failure and Demographic Pressure
A comparison of Britain (6.5% Muslim) is instructive. Despite being a small minority, certain Islamist networks exert disproportionate influence through bloc voting, grooming scandals (Rotherham, Rochdale, etc.), demands for Sharia courts, and political pressure on free speech (e.g., the Batley teacher affair, teacher beheading threats). France and Belgium show even starker parallel societies, no-go zones, and rising Islamist violence.
By explanation: In March 2021, a Batley Grammar School, West Yorkshire, religious studies teacher was forced into hiding and suspended after showing a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad during a lesson on blasphemy, triggering protests. Despite an investigation finding no malicious intent, the teacher faced intense intimidation, felt abandoned by authorities, and suffered from PTSD.
The data on integration is sobering:
Major polls (Pew, ICM, Policy Exchange) consistently show that significant minorities (sometimes majorities in younger or more observant groups) in Western Muslim communities support Sharia elements that clash with liberal democracy - hudud punishments, which are fixed, mandatory penalties in Islamic law (Sharia) for crimes considered violations against Allah, derived directly from the Quran and Sunnah.
- Apostasy penalties, gender segregation, and supremacist attitudes toward non-Muslims.
- Second- and third-generation immigrants often show higher radicalisation rates than first-generation arrivals, contradicting the "it will get better with time" narrative.
- Countries like Japan and Hungary have maintained extremely low Muslim immigration precisely because they studied Europe's experience and chose cultural preservation over open borders.
Islam, in its classical and Islamist forms, does not view itself as one faith among equals. It has a built-in supremacist framework (Dar al-Islam vs. Dar al-Harb) and historical precedent of conquest and subjugation. When large-scale immigration occurs without demanding full assimilation, it creates enclaves that become beachheads for further demands. This is not "practising faith privately" - it is parallel societies that reject the host culture's values.
Europe's current trajectory - under weak, self-interested leaders in Britain, France, Spain, and the EU - does risk a slow-motion surrender. The combination of demographics, elite denial, and fear of being called "Islamophobic" has paralysed effective policy. A second Dark Age is not inevitable, but the erosion of Enlightenment principles (free speech, women's rights, secular law, and critical inquiry) is already visible.
Trump's Response
Donald Trump has been a circuit-breaker. Before the war against Iran, his administration signalled zero tolerance for radical Islam: travel restrictions, defunding UNRWA-style entities, pressuring allies to crack down on terror financing, and prioritising energy independence over appeasement. Without that pressure, feckless European governments would likely continue the path of least resistance just as they refused to join the war against the blockers of the Hormuz Strait they need to obtain fuel.
On the question of democracy adjusting for survival: this is the hard truth. Democracies have historically suspended or modified normal rules during existential threats (e.g., Lincoln during the Civil War, Britain in WWII, Israel today). Unrestricted immigration from incompatible cultures, combined with birth-rate differentials and political bloc voting, can function as a slow-motion invasion. Strict new laws are not anti-democratic if they are passed by elected legislatures - they are democracy defending itself. Examples include:
- Australia’s points-based system and offshore processing.
- Japan and Hungary’s refusal of mass Muslim migration.
- Requirements for cultural assimilation, language, secular oaths, and deportation of radicals (already done successfully in some countries).
The alternative is not preserving "pure" democracy - it is watching it be used to dismantle itself.
Final Thought
Islam, in its unreformed Islamist form, poses a civilisational challenge. Iran's massive number of missiles and launchers are the proof.
The solution is not banning faith, but enforcing unapologetic Western standards: one law for all, no parallel societies, assimilation or departure. Countries that have the courage to do this (Japan, Hungary, and the US under Trump) will preserve their way of life. Those that don't risk the very outcomes I describe.
David Hersch is Chairman of SAIPAC, the South African Israel Public Affairs Committee. Former chairman of the South African Zionist Federation (Cape Council) as well as a former national vice-chairman of the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF). He is also former member of the South Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape Council). Retired businessman and broadcaster.