Alan Dershowitz has announced that he has left the Democratic Party. 

Or, rather, it would be more accurate to say that, in his view, the Democratic Party has left him.

Dershowitz, according to Fox News, has made national news headlines for announcing his departure in a recent radio interview that he did with Zev Brenner, on Talkline with Zev Brenner. 

For those less familiar with Dershowitz, he is a famous criminal defense attorney who has participated in numerous high-profile criminal cases over the past half-century.  He taught law at Harvard Law School for many decades, and he is also considered a constitutional law scholar.

"I'm not longer a Democrat"

For the purposes of this news story, rather than looking at Dershowitz' professional background, it may be more enlightening to look at his political background.

He is a life-long Democrat - or, at least, he was a life-long Democrat. Older readers may remember Dershowitz appearing on numerous episodes of the late William F. Buckley Jr.'s Firing Line. There, he would almost always argue the liberal viewpoint.

Over the years, not much has changed about Dershowitz. He still holds the same political points of view, which you can listen to him espouse on his podcast, The Dershow. 

But, what has changed, according to Dershowitz, is the Democratic Party, which is why he is no longer affiliating himself with it.

"I am no longer a Democrat. I am an Independent," Dershowitz said during his appearance on Talkline with Zev Brenner. 

"Absolute disgusted"

It would appear that what specifically drove Dershowitz away from the Democratic Party is party leaders' handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

He, for example, called the recently-held Democratic National Convention "the most anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist convention I've experienced." He said that he was "absolutely disgusted."

Dershowitz also took issue with the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, chose not to preside over a joint session of Congress during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent address.

Dershowitz is far from the only life-long Democrat to be departing from the party. Many, upon doing so, have announced their support for a Trump presidency. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would probably be the most high-profile example. But, just because Dershowitz is leaving the Democratic Party does not mean that he is going to vote for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

Despite all of the problems that he sees with the Democrats, he says that there is still a chance that he will vote Democrat. He said that he doesn't plan to make his final decision on the matter until early November.