My take on shunning, the political divide, invites to Martha’s Vineyard dinner parties, and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz. Before you say it, yes there are many other more serious issues to discuss, but this drama keeps unfolding right in my backyards--I live in Cambridge and I spend as much time as possible on Martha’s Vineyard. I don’t care about keeping up with the Kardashians, but a headline grabbing kerfuffle starring Greater Boston bold-facers and their out of town friends? I’m all in.
Just to remind you, Professor Dershowitz wrote an essay a couple of weeks ago for The HIll website. Dershowitz’s piece opened with a criticism of Congresswoman Maxine Waters whom he said encouraged “rude extremists.” Dershowitz complained that being “for Trump or against him” is “all some people need to know to make judgments about you,” noting that he was being shunned and disinvited from dinner parties on Martha’s Vineyard because he championed “Trump’s civil liberties.” The avalanche of reaction to what many called whining stirred up long held personal antipathy, and recently rising political distaste for Dershowitz.
I can attest that everywhere I went during my latest visit on the island, lots of Vineyarders were still fuming about his equating being dropped from social gatherings to McCarthyism. To be clear, his summer circle has never been mine, but I do know some who’ve long been part of dinner parties, and events where the well-known law professor was center stage. Until now. One noted, “It’s going to be a long hot summer.”
But don’t cry for the professor. As he happily shared in a follow up commentary, he’s gotten invites from new friends and old fans. And why wouldn’t he? There seems to be a misperception that only wealthy elite live on Martha’s Vineyard, and that all of them are in political lockstep as progressives and liberals. Wrong. I saw the Trump yard signs all across the island during the presidential campaign. And even now I can spot the folks proudly wearing red hats proclaiming Make America Great Again. Millionaire Ernie Boch, Jr. for one, held fundraisers for candidate Trump at his estate in Edgartown. However, Dershowitz who says he is a longtime Democrat and Hillary Clinton supporter, turned down an invite to dine at Boch’s home this summer.
Last week, Professor Dershowitz spoke to an overflow crowd at Tisbury’s Katherine Cornell Theater. He was inviting feedback and discussing his latest book, “The Case Against Impeaching Trump.” A book he rushed into print just a few months ago. I’ll point out that Professor Dershowitz wrote about being shunned just as the book was available. He told the New York Times he wanted to be “part of the debate.” That he is. I imagine this may guarantee that he’s not likely to do the one thing in this moment I fervently wish for — stop talking.
