Dershowitz: I'm Not Complaining; Column Misunderstood

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz has shot back at those offering him faux pity for the op-ed he wrote for the Hill in which he said he was being shunned on Martha’s Vineyard for his public positions on President Donald Trump, saying his column was misunderstood, MV Times reported on Wednesday.

"I couldn’t care less about being invited to a few parties," Dershowitz said. "I’m actually getting more invitations. People are saying, 'Come to my party. We don’t approve of what’s going on.'"

Dershowitz lamented that "If we’re going to start having Republican parties and Democratic parties, that’s not what the Island has been about. This has no impact on me. I’m not complaining. I’m not lamenting. This is a symptom of the divisiveness. It’s a tragedy that it’s come to the Island. This is supposed to be a place where you leave your politics at the door.”

In his op-ed in The Hill, Dershowitz writes about how bad the divisions have gotten over Trump. "I know this because I have experienced this firsthand on Martha’s Vineyard. I am not a Trump supporter, nor am I a member of the Trump administration. I have strongly and publicly opposed his immigration policies, ranging from the travel ban that was upheld by the Supreme Court to the zero-tolerance policy that led to the separation of parents and children at the border. I oppose other Republican policies as well. I voted for, and contributed handsomely to Hillary Clinton."

Dershowitz added, however, "that is not good enough for some of my old friends on Martha’s Vineyard. For them, it is enough that what I have said about the Constitution might help Trump. So they are shunning me and trying to ban me from their social life on Martha’s Vineyard."

Acquaintances of Dershowitz on the island, where he has owned a home for a quarter-century, confirmed that his increasingly vocal defenses of Trump have not been well received there, The New York Times reported.

Other regulars to the island, however, say that Dershowitz is exaggerating the sentiment, with one telling the Times that "He may be taking himself a little too seriously."

Dershowitz insisted that his support for civil liberties is something he has consistently fought for throughout his legal career, telling MV Times that "For me, it’s a red badge of courage. I’ve taken the same positions on Trump as I did with Clinton when he was impeached."

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