Of course, Carlson’s insinuation relies less on technical genetics than on a visual cue: many Ashkenazi Jews have lighter skin than many people in today’s Middle East. They can often pass as white.

I’m neither a morning person nor a night person — I’m just this crazy kind of aimless, sleep-deprived New Yorker. But usually I’m awake, and I normally wake up at my home in the West Village very ...