Catherine Almonte de Rasta resigned as appointment director for mayor-elect Zoran Mandani after anti-Semitic posts she wrote as a teenager surfaced. TJ Walker examines how this case fits into 2025's rising antisemitism and compares Mandani's response to other officials who kept appointees despite similar past statements.
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Zoran Mandani's appointment secretary has had to step down after revelations of anti Semitic posts. She said in her youth. Catherine Almonte de Rasta resigned from her brand new position as director of appointments after the Anti Defamation League found comments she made that I think by any stretch of the imagination can clearly be labeled as anti Semitic. She once, once she was confronted with the quote, she did in fact step down. She resigned. She said, quote, I spoke with the mayor elect this afternoon, apologized and expressed my deep regret for my past statements. These statements are not indicative of who I am. I'm the mother of Jewish children. She's as a Jewish husband. But the resignation was accepted. Now, what were the quotes that got her into trouble? She, she said, quote, money hungry Jews. SMH stands for shaking my head. Now, she made these comments when she was 18 years old in 2011. She also wrote about Far Rockaway train is the Jew train. Okay, for those of you not familiar with various tropes of antisemitism, one of the things anti Semites really like to stress is that Jews are somehow especially greedy. So when you talk about money hungry Jews, it's playing into a vicious, nasty Jewish stereotype. And for this to be coming out this week of all weeks when so many people were murdered in Australia simply for being Jewish at the start of Hanukkah, it's. People are on edge, especially in New York City, which is the largest home to Jewish people in the United States and is something where people take this very seriously. They should take it seriously everywhere. There's rising antisemitism around the world. And to put someone in a position of power who has taken the time to write publicly anti Semitic tropes, I think is troublesome. Look, I'm all in favor of saying, okay, people can say stupid things when they're teenagers and maybe they shouldn't say, see their entire careers ruined. But this is an issue that is a little too raw. The stakes are too high. There are too many people getting slaughtered in 2025 simply for being Jewish. Now, one of the big criticisms of Mandani during the election, during the campaign, was that he was somehow anti Semitic. He has said some things that are obviously not the first thing most Jewish voters and lovers of Israel want to hear from a candidate and a mayoral elect in New York City. I won't rehash all of those, but it certainly looks like he did the, the smart thing today and the thing that the Anti Defamation Anti Defamation League would want him to do, the thing that those opposing anti semitism would want him to do. He did in fact decide to accept the resignation of Catherine Almonte Dasta for her pretty clear cut anti Semitic post, even though they were said when she was 18 years old. Now thank goodness there was no Twitter around when I was 18 years old. I don't think I was posting anything like this, but I'm sure I could have said something stupid. Now I say that not to defend her, but to point out a lot of people say stupid things and write stupid things and offensive things that they don't really believe once they become a full fledged adult. Why is this significant? Now again, we were told over and over again that Mandani is an anti Semite. Many in the mainstream media persist in saying this. Certainly those on the right, conservatives, MAGA Republicans, those on the far right have been attempting to scare all of America, suggesting Mandani is the future of the Democratic Party. And everyone in the Democratic Party is allegedly intolerant and willing to foment hatred of various groups such as Jews. We're told that over and over again. And so here's a good case study. This was the the designated he's not even mayor yet. He hasn't been sworn in yet. So this was the designated appointments director. He could have said, well, I'm just going to ignore it. People don't like that. Too bad. Maybe they're being too sensitive. That's not what he said. He accepted her resignation and he's done nothing but say comforting things to people who are disgusted by the rising anti Semitism seen around the world this very week. Let's compare and contrast that with other recent high level government officials who have been caught saying nasty, vile things in their past. Darren Batty said, competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. That's his quote. That's a Trump appointee. Eric Blankenstein, a Trump hire at The CFPB and HUD related post he made posts on his blog in 2004 questioning whether the N word is inherently racist. Reverend Jamie Johnson, the DHS appointee, blamed urban decline on, quote, laziness, drug use and sexual promiscuity allegedly of black communities. Carl higby, a CNCS AmeriCorps related Trump Point he said, I don't like Muslim people. David Bossy, another former Trump aide and surrogate, told a black commentator, you're out of your cotton pick. In mind. Those of you who might not be up on things, cotton picking is sort of a trope, a slur, because black people supposedly weren't good for anything but picking cotton in the old cell and it's considered a bit of a slur. So let's look. There is a lot of people in the past who've said nasty things, things that you would consider racist, sexist, vile that many people would think I would hope would disqualify them from high ranking political office. Well, apparently it does disqualify you from the mayorship of Zorant Mandani. It doesn't seem to disqualify you from other high ranking positions in government. So Mandani not sworn in yet. So far you're not reacting to the stereotype. We were told again and again and again that this guy is sort of a raging anti Semite. Well, if so, he's not being a very good anti Semite because if he truly was an anti Semite, I don't know why he would be bothered by an appointee's anti Semitic post. So maybe, maybe he's someone who is critical of policies of the country and the leadership of Israel, but is not an actual anti Semite. We'll see more when more of his appointees come in. And I will say Mandani, you and your team need to do a better job. Whoever is in charge of appointments needs to spend about five minutes combing through the social media post of anyone and everyone you're thinking of appointing to a high level position.
