GOP silence on Trump's false election claims recalls McCarthy era

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

The silence of congressional Republican leaders as President Donald Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud grow wilder and more venomous increasingly resembles the party's deference to Sen. Joe McCarthy during the worst excesses of his anti-Communist crusade in the early 1950s.

In McCarthy's era, most of the GOP's leaders found excuses to avoid challenging conspiracy theories that they knew to be implausible, even as evidence of their costs to the nation steadily mounted. For years, despite their private doubts about his charges and methods alike, the top GOP leadership -- particularly Senate Republican leader Robert A. Taft, the Mitch McConnell of his day -- either passively abetted or actively supported McCarthy's scattershot claims of treason and Communist infiltration. A significant faction of Senate Republicans didn't join with Democrats to curb McCarthy's power until the senator immolated himself with his accusations, in highly publicized 1953 and 1954 hearings, that the Army was riddled with Communists during the presidency of fellow Republican Dwight Eisenhower.

In many respects, the congressional GOP response to Trump has paralleled the party's response to McCarthy. Whatever their private concerns about Trump's behavior or values, the vast majority of congressional Republicans have supported Trump since his 2017 inauguration at almost every turn, brushing aside concerns about everything from openly racist language to his efforts to extort the government of Ukraine to manufacture dirt on the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden.
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Just like congressional Republicans now with Trump, GOP legislators then found themselves following McCarthy into deeper and deeper waters of conspiracy theories. An early indication of how far McCarthy might go came in June 1951, when he delivered a 60,000-word attack on George Marshall, the brilliant Army chief of staff in World War II and later secretary of state for Truman. It was in that speech that McCarthy famously (or infamously) declared that he was unraveling "a conspiracy ... so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/01/politics/gop-silence-trump-false-election-claims-mccarthy/index.html

The silence of the Congressional Republicans regarding Trumps's sedition has drawn a canyon sized line in the sand. Clearly, they favor a one party authoritarian fascist dictatorship over a free and healthy democracy.

All the decent people in the United States must unite, and quarantine Republicans from power, by voting them out of power, everywhere we possibly can.

Beginning with the Georgia Senate runoff on January 5th, 2021, and the forced lawful eviction of Donald Trump, the aspiring fascist dictator, from his bunker in the People's White House, on January 20th, 2021.

[patricia92243]

1. Thanks for posting this. I did not realize how bad the McCarthy era

was. We lived through that, and hopefully we will live thru Trump - except I think Trump is WAY more dangerous.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I wonder if even secretly the GOP is hoping that the Democrats

can topple Trump and reduce his influence as they feel they aren't in a position to do it themselves. It could be cowardice. It could be self-preservation. It doesn't matter. The GOP can't or won't confront Trump -- at lease while his base is rabidly devoted to him.

[tanyev]

3. Kick.

[keithbvadu2]

4. While he is still Prez, they are afraid of his wrath.

While he is still Prez, they are afraid of his wrath.

Whenever/however Trump is finally gone, many republicans/evangelicals will have a retroactive epiphany.

Some will still be afraid of his violent militia/terrorist followers.

[MerryBlooms]

6. I don't think they're afraid, I think they're sucking every dime

out of the nutters while the gettin' is still good.

[keithbvadu2]

7. Opportunity. That too.

[dalton99a]

5. They are his willing accomplices.