How Doug Emhoff became the White House’s voice against antisemitism

WASHINGTON — Second gentleman Doug Emhoff was furious.

Kanye West, now known as Ye, had spent weeks giving Americans a crash course in antisemitic lies. He posted on Instagram that the rapper Diddy was being “controlled” by Jews. He tweeted that he planned to go “death con 3 on Jewish people.” He told Piers Morgan he was “absolutely not” sorry.

Then, on Oct. 22, members of an antisemitic group in Emhoff’s hometown of L.A. extended their right arms in the Nazi salute and unfurled a banner over the 405 Freeway that read “Kanye is right about the Jews.”

Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president, knew he had to act.

“When it’s happening in my city, in my neighborhood, on my freeway, it makes it really personal,” he told the Los Angeles Times.

In the two years since becoming the United States’ first second gentleman, Emhoff, 58, has become an emissary for his trailblazing wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, crisscrossing the country to push COVID-19 vaccines and traveling to Tokyo to represent the U.S. at the Paralympics. A former entertainment lawyer, he initially intended to focus his attention on gender equity and access to legal services.

But as he settled into his new life in Washington, Emhoff found the accidental spotlight. No longer just a supporting character for his barrier-breaking wife, Emhoff emerged as an ambassador for his faith and heritage.

He had highlighted his identity in obvious ways: He lit the first candle at the National Menorah lighting ceremony to mark the start of Hanukkah, visited synagogues (including his own childhood temple in New Jersey) and in March 2021 held the White House’s first virtual, open-to-the-public Passover Seder for thousands of Jews who were