In 1954, a Republican hero toppled the Republican tyrant Joeseph McCarthy. We need another Republican hero to topple the most dangerous and corrupt President in American history. One is overdue.
The parallels between Donald Trump’s and McCarthy’s paths to pernicious power are undeniable. Both became the most visible public figures in America by spreading lies. McCarthy claimed communists had infiltrated the the entire Truman administration, the Voice of America, our universities, the film industry, the media and the U.S. Army.
McCarthy’s mendacity received wide credibility, and he was regarded as one of the most powerful men in government. Republican candidates feared that a confrontation with McCarthy would leave them vulnerable in upcoming elections (Sound familiar?). Even General Dwight D. Eisenhower who was running for President felt he had to support McCarthy’s reelection.
Truman’s Secretary of Defense, George Marshall, was the target of McCarthy’s most vitriolic attacks. Marshall was Army Chief of Staff during World War II, the architect of our victory and the post-war peace, accomplished by his Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Nevertheless, with audacious malevolence, McCarthy let go a tirade and authored a book charging Marshall with responsibility for the loss of China to Communism and of being part of “a conspiracy so immense and an infamy so black as to dwarf any of his [accomplishments] (admittedly, elegant rhetoric compared to Trump’s “shithole countries,” f***ing idiot,”“dumb son of a b****”). Marshall retired in outrage.
Both Trump and McCarthy hurled insults at the news media and their reporters who criticized him. Trump flooded social media with his rants while McCarthy used the Senate’ chamber, calling the press an “unwitting handmaiden of the Communist Party.”
Being labeled a “communist sympathizer” was enough to destroy anyone’s career as was the fallout from Trump’s false posthumous adulation of racist Charlie Kirk. Teachers and news reporters were fired for posting the truth.
McCarthy’s attacks led to a purge of diplomats, including experts who could have helped the U.S. avoid or mitigate the Vietnam War. Trump followed by purging several of our military generals.
By January 1954, Mcarthy’s 50% Gallup approval rating exceeded Trump’s highest ever. Then came the turning point.
In response to McCarthy’s charges of because communist infiltration into the army was losing the war and that we were headed for a nuclear crisis, the Senate convened hearings that became known as the Army-McCarthy hearings. McCarthy stepped down as chairman and was replaced by Senator Karl Mundt. Importantly, the hearings were broadcast on national television.
Enter Republican hero Joseph Welch, Chief Counsel for the Army. During the hearings, Welch demanded McCarthy’s lawyer, Roy Cohn, to provide the U.S. Attorney General with McCarthy’s claimed list of 130 Communists in the government “before the sun goes down.”
McCarthy menacingly retorted, if Welch was so concerned about aiding the Communist Party, he should check on Fred Fisher, a man in Welch’s law firm who had belonged to the National Lawyers Guild, allegedly a progressive organization.
Welch shot back “Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to Harvard Law School, …. came into my firm and is starting a brilliant career … Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad…. I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you.”
McCarthy resumed his attack and Welch interrupted, “Let us not assassinate this lad further. Have you no sense of decency?” Welch turned to the committee chairman and asked him to “call the next witness”. At that point, the gallery erupted in applause.
McCarthy’s bravado visibly dissolved in front of millions of viewers. And it didn’t take long for McCarthy’s 50% approval rating to plummet to 34% and his unfavorable rating to surge from 29% to 45%. America saw the liar without his clothes. Can it be the final blow to Trump?
It would be hard to get Trump questioned in front of the cameras. Even if Republicans joined Democrats in subpoenaing him, given the Trump-accommodating Supreme Court majority he probably would never appear.
But a televised joint meeting of Congress could be a forum where patriotic Republicans are forthright about Trump’s character and treacheries for all the TV viewers to watch.
There are signs Trump’s ship has begun to sink. The media turned against McCarthy’s in 1954 and it was followed by a sharp fall in news coverage. That history is repeating itself. 92% of Trump’s media coverage during his first 100 days was negative. The amount of his coverage has noticeably fallen. And Republicans are worried about losing their majorities in the midterms.
If enough Republicans are honest about Trump, it won’t be long before other Republicans compete to redeem themselves for supporting him.
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