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Does anyone know U.S. history well enough to remember Joseph McCarthy? He was a Republican U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957, but he is best known for his campaign against communism in America. He alleged that communists, Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated many institutions within America. He even claimed he had a list of 200 communist spies and sympathizers within the U.S. State Department.
The McCarthyism era died when, in court, Boston lawyer Joseph Welch addressed McCarthy, stating,
“You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?” With that proclamation, McCarthy’s career effectively ended and McCarthyism faded away. His claims were simply lies; his whole career was built on stoking fear.
Have you listened to today’s GOP campaign ads? They are almost uniformly based on the same concept. Nowadays, the lies are directed toward the Chinese, immigrants, homosexuals or any other group that can be blamed. But it is still basic McCarthyism, just dressed up in other clothes.
The modern-day term for this strategy is fearmongering, and it has been frequently wielded by President Trump. Trump often incites fear over unsafe elections, which he did in his July 16 national address, concentrating on his defeat in the 2020 election.
More than 60 court cases have been dismissed for lack of evidence that Trump had enough votes to beat former President Biden, and two Trump-appointed commissions designed to investigate those claims have failed to release even a final report. Yet Trump continues to proclaim that we must fear election fraud.
Who will be the patriotic American today who will say, “Mr. Trump, You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?"
Kenneth Tatum, Tullahoma 37388
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Trump's election fraud claims are just modern McCarthyism | Letters
