In “The Democrats and Anti-Semitism” (Wonder Land, Nov. 2), Daniel Henninger examines the rupture in the Democratic Party that has pit pro-Israel liberals against an ascendant progressive wing that accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing and genocide. He provides a brief history lesson on the Nazis and the Holocaust that began 90 years ago and implies that members of the party under Franklin D. Roosevelt then would be appalled by today’s anti-Semitic views.

But let’s not give the Democratic Party of the 1930s a pass on anti-Semitism. Jonah Goldberg’s 2008 book “Liberal Fascism” is a useful primer for understanding the thin line that separates fascists from the far left. Adolf Hitler and many Nazi leaders were socialists before they began prioritizing nationalism and racial purity. Wilsonian progressives earlier in the 20th century were also fixated on race, and former Ku Klux Klan members were at home in the Democratic Party. Democrats have a sordid history of playing the race card for or against groups based on prevailing political winds.