Israel occupies a strange place in American politics. It is treated as a foreign country, a military ally, a religious symbol, a domestic political cause, a test of loyalty, and sometimes a subject too dangerous to discuss without immediately being accused of something terrible. That combination makes the relationship feel mysterious when, in reality, it is the product of several powerful forces all pushing in roughly the same direction. Most people think they know why Americ

There are some words in American politics that are not meant to inform. They are meant to activate. They are not definitions. They are alarms. And for years, one of the right’s favorite little red buttons has been “Sharia law.” Say it with enough dread, add a grainy image of a mosque, toss in a few vague warnings about “creeping” this or “infiltration” that, and suddenly millions of people are convinced the Constitution is being held hostage in the basement of a halal grocery