Raise your hands if you saw this one coming.

The third annual Women’s March is getting ready to kick off this weekend, but not all women will be marching or speaking at the event. Close on the heels of the DNC pulling out as a sponsor, Senators Kamala Harris (D-California) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), both of whom are in the processing of forming presidential campaigns, pulled out. They were a bit soft on the details of why, but it’s obviously the rank stench of antisemitism surrounding the organization that drove their decisions. (Washington Times)

The DNC will not serve as a sponsor and no DNC leaders will speak at Saturday’s march, a Democratic source confirmed to the Washington Times, after sending two prominent officials to address the 2018 Women’s March, including DNC chair Tom Perez. Meanwhile, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat, and Sen. Kamala Harris, California Democrat, who both spoke at the 2017 Women’s March, are not expected to attend Saturday’s march, according to BuzzFeed News.

That turned out to be pretty good timing on the part of the senators. Only the day before, Women’s March national co-chair Tamika Mallory decided to do an interview and clear up all this Jew-hating talk, but it definitely backfired on her. On Monday, Mallory showed up on The View to discuss the matter but was quickly asked if she was finally willing to condemn Louis Farrakhan and his lengthy history of antisemitism and hate. But while she said she “disagreed” with some things Farrakhan believes, she couldn’t bring herself to abandon him.

Ms. Mallory refused to condemn Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in an appearance Monday on ABC’s “The View” under tough questioning from co-host Meghan McCain, who asked about Mr. Farrakhan’s past comments on “wicked Jews, “false Jews,” and homosexuality. “We did not make those remarks,” said Ms. Mallory. “What I will say to you is that I don’t agree with many of Minister Farrakhan’s statements.” Asked about his remarks about Jewish people, Ms. Mallory repeated, “As I said, I don’t agree with many of Minister Farrakhan’s statements.” “You condemn them?” asked Ms. McCain. “I don’t agree with these statements,” said Ms. Mallory, prompting Ms. McCain to retort, “You won’t condemn it.”

McCain went after Mallory repeatedly, giving her every chance to finally do the right thing and distance herself from the hatemonger, but she simply wouldn’t go there. She was also asked if she was considering stepping down, putting some space between the organization and the charges of antisemitism. She has no intention of doing that either.

What’s missing here so far is a clear statement from the two POTUS candidates as to why they won’t be attending or addressing the march. Thus far, all Kamala Harris has said is that she’s staying in Washington in case she needs to vote on the shutdown. Gillibrand hasn’t said anything at all and when Buzzfeed asked her for a comment she declined to answer.

Is it really that hard to just come out and say that you condemn Farrakhan’s hatred of Jews and gay people and that you won’t attend an event with antisemites? If you can’t even be bothered to take a principled stand on something this easy, perhaps you shouldn’t be considering a run at being leader of the free world.