How A Second Trump Presidency Would Bring Back McCarthyism - 'Red Scare'

[appalachiablue]

Daily Kos, July 5, 2024.

- Photo: Republican presidential candidate former President Trump speaks to supporters, rally at Dayton Internatl Airport, March 16, 2024, Vandalia, Ohio. Rally host, Buckeye Values PAC.
----------
It’s impossible to view this Monday’s Supreme Court decision to grant immunity for all acts that Donald Trump performed in his official capacity—whether legal or not—through any lens but that of the 2024 election and the strong possibility of Trump regaining the Oval Office.

As journalist Adam Serwer observes in The Atlantic, “With this ruling, the Trump Court is saying that Trump is entitled to immunity from prosecution for crimes he has already committed, and for the ones he intends to commit in the future.”

American citizens, however, don’t have to wait to understand the results of this court’s new edict. The people who would make up Trump’s second administration have provided the country a clear template, one drawn from a dark chapter of our history that Americans have all but forgotten.

Most Americans alive today have no memory of McCarthyism. In the 1950s, Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy weaponized and exploited the anti-communist hysteria sweeping the nation, creating what would become among the ugliest and most shameful eras in our nation’s history...

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/5/2250160/-How-a-second-Trump-administration-would-bring-back-McCarthyism
---------
- Wiki. McCarthyism, also known as the Second Red Scare, was the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s.

After the mid-1950s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had spearheaded the campaign, gradually lost his public popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false. The U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren made a series of rulings on civil and political rights that overturned several key laws and legislative directives, and helped bring an end to the Second Red Scare...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism

[BOSSHOG]

1. Thank You for this enlightening Article AB

Let me add a lil something extra.

CBS News Correspondent Eric Sevareid said after McCarthy died on 2 May 1957 (in an incredibly understated way)

“IF HISTORY FINDS THAT MCCARTHY USED HIS STRENGTH IN A WRONGFUL MANNER, IT WILL FIND THAT THE WEAKNESS OF OTHERS WAS PART OF THE FAULT.”

How many hundreds of “others” surround and enable trump? He doesn’t want to lead, govern and manage money. He wants to hurt people. That is turning into a conservative value.

Source of Quote: American History Magazine, August 2020

[appalachiablue]

4. I've read some about the McCarthy era Red Scare although I was too

young to understand it at the time. The desire for revenge and wanting to harm people is extremely serious.

I hope Americans have the sense to understand the dangers and turn out to vote for Biden and Democrats in huge numbers. I think they will.

The alternative could be a large scale crisis that damages people and our democratic institutions for years to come. Thanks for posting and here's to a big win for democracy this fall.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Think it won't be you? Guess again.

During the McCarthy Era, my uncle received a visit from the FBI.

He was living quietly with his wife and children, bothering nobody.

But the FBI interrogated him for hours because 20 years prior, he had joined a college communist club. He and his wife were members. They didn't overthrow the U.S. government. They just had their beliefs.

And because the FBI came calling, his brother/my father distanced himself. Back in those days, relatives/friends/neighbors were all investigated as well, facing losing their jobs, etc.

So, you think you're safe now, posting on DU. How do you know that a Trump Agency won't subpoena the records of DU members (which means your real names) and follow up?

[appalachiablue]

3. A terrible period IK, I've read about it. I hope we avoid another

witch hunt like that by strengthening people's commitment to democracy in spite of powerful elements working to destroy it. With so many uninformed, gullible Americans it's real work but I hope Biden and the democrats win in November to stave off anti govt and anti democratic forces. Thanks for the post, the warning about an enemies list and sharing your family's story.

[Blue Full Moon]

5. They are the red scare

[AllaN01Bear]

6. the rs keep re hashing the same ole stuff year , after year after year.