Who will stand up to Trump?

73

To the Editor:
There was another embarrassing period of American history, a time of actual witch-hunts, of a crushing abuse of power, the utilization of mass hysteria: the astounding reign of Joseph McCarthy.

He was an ignorant man, lacking in intellectual curiosity, impaled by his own fear, a fear he infected the nation with, inciting a mob mentality that went on for years, an attack on liberalism, intellectualism, and any threat to the military-industrial surge of the early ’50s.

The first person to stand up to him was Margaret Chase Smith, in a speech that specifically targeted McCarthy, while omitting his name.

Both Chase and McCarthy were Republicans.

It wasn’t until four years later, when Joseph N. Welsh, in defense of the Army, McCarthy’s latest target, after a vicious attack on a young associate in Welsh’s law firm, spoke these words: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness; have you no shame?”

The audience of citizens, newspapermen, and TV cameramen burst into applause, the beginning of a tidal wave of relief and scorn that ended the scourge of McCarthyism, but not before untold damage had been done.

As toxic as McCarthy was, Trump and McConnell are an order of magnitude worse.

Trump’s assault on the environment at this critical time is genocidal.

His dismantling of the agencies meant to protect our way of life, carefully instituted by bipartisan cooperation, is shocking and criminal.

His assault on the integrity of our free and fair elections makes him illegitimate.

His simple inability to tell the truth renders him unfit.

Without Russian interference, he would not have been elected.

Where are the Margaret Chase Smiths, the Joseph N. Welshes of the present?

If just one Republican stood up and spoke with the force of honesty, this charade would collapse, and that man or woman would be a hero as long as our republic stands, but Chase Smith and Welsh didn’t stand to be heroes: They stood for decency, which is all the public ever asks for, what we rarely get, yet what we richly deserve.

 

Ted Box 

Vineyard Haven

73 COMMENTS

  1. Mr. Box, could you cite specifically where the late Senator Joseph McCarthy was incorrect in his assessment of Communist infiltration?

    • Seman, can’t you ask someone to show you how to look up stuff on the internet so that you don’t further embarrass yourself with your shameful lack of knowledge of American history?

      • Once again, I could suggest a few books for you to read and we could discuss, but given your response from my last similar offer, I don’t hold out much hope for that.

        • Seaman
          No liberal has ever read “”Witness”” by Whittaker Chambers. One of the best non fiction books ever. I was kept behind the iron curtain due to US naïveté of Communism and FDR agreements with Stalin at Yalta and Teheran. Of course Jackie would be happy if I were never released.

    • What’s TDS? The Republican decades long obsession with Hillary CLinton? How’d that “lock her up” thing go eh? Funny thing is…some “very fine people” from one side keep pleading guilty. Ghouliani is probably going to jail. Seems like everything Trump touches turns into an inmate.

      Why is that? Ha! Don’t worry, I won’t hold my breath for an answer!

  2. Explain why the Russians would favor a capitalist over a socialist especially when the socialist has a history of taking bribes.

    • Perhaps Mr. Box missed the part of $40 million Mueller Report which concluded that no American (including the President) colluded with Russia, and that “Russian interference” was in the form of $180,000 of Facebook ads, half of which appeared after the election, and none of which changed the outcome of the election.

          • I’m certain Jackie could post corroborating information from numerous articles. It’s funny how when conservatives don’t like the facts, they attack the messenger. Same thing going on right now in the Repuke Congress.

        • True, Vanadium. It becomes boring providing easily obtainable hard facts to those who need correcting when they repeatedly insist on posting untruths. When caught being wrong, for example, seman responds by offering to show me his reading list, lol. Attacking any messenger of truth is all they have left. Now they’re bent on attacking John Bolton, a firsthand witness to Trump’s attempts at illegal bribery of an ally, arms in exchange for announcing an investigation into a political rival. Their final say, though, is admitting Trump did it but shouldn’t be impeached for his crime. My thought is no Republican politician will stand up to Trump because they are all too busy lying down for him. Every one of them is a coward.

        • Jackie: I concede the ambiguity in my comment which suggested that the Facebook ads were the only tactic used by foreign governments in that election, including Russia. But the important point concluded by the Mueller Report, notwithstanding its role in this ongoing coup, was that no member of President Trump’s team colluded, conspired or cooperated with Russians. The NPR report you cited does not dispute that. Claiming that the campaign team or candidate Trump did so was the lie the corporate media and NPR and PBS promoted and fertilized, and no doubt I would bet you still believe to be true were I a betting man.

          • “But the important point concluded by the Mueller Report, notwithstanding its role in this ongoing coup, was that no member of President Trump’s team colluded, conspired or cooperated with Russians.”

            That’s not true and the media did not lie. Are you just another one of those delusional folks willing to cling to nonsense in order to justify your disdain for so called “liberals” and support of Autocrats?
            Dozens of the people who worked for the oranged faced messiah were indicted, plead guilty and/or went to jail. All thanks to the Muller investigations. There are dozens of photographs with these people and Russian assets. Muller wasn’t able to bring charges against Trump, but he certainly brought the hammer down on anyone else he could, and many of those people did in fact collude with Russians.

            Collude:
            “cooperate in a secret or unlawful way in order to deceive or gain an advantage over others.”

    • bs– You ask: “Explain why the Russians would favor a capitalist over a socialist”
      First– Both the republican and democratic candidates in the 2016 presidential election were capitalist. To suggest otherwise is to revert back to the McCarthy era of lies, fear mongering ,deception and abuses of power. The reason the Russians favored trump had to do with the fact that trump couldn’t find Ukraine on a map with both hands and a flashlight. trump was then and apparently still is profoundly ignorant of geopolitical realities. To think a person like Vladimir Putin would not seize upon the opportunity to get a profoundly ignorant narcissist into the presidency of the United States is naive, to say the least. To be able to convince American citizens to actually believe that Hillary Clinton is a socialist is testimony to the effectiveness of their propaganda machine.
      George Conway recently put together a pretty good reality check on trump’s awareness of the world.
      None of it is fake.
      https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/1/28/1914700/-George-Conway-unspools-long-thread-trashing-Trump-s-geographical-gormlessness?detail=emaildkre

  3. The writer seems to be suffering from a severe advanced case of TDS. The symptoms should go away in 4 years and 11 months.

  4. McCarthy was right about the State Dept infiltration by communists as was later affirmed by the Verona Papers. Alger Hiss came this close to being Sec of State until he was outed by Whittaker Chambers. This impeachment farce makes McCarthyism pale by comparison.. Liberals don’t want it to be true but there is undeniable evidence of Communists in our government during the McCarthy period. You may not like his tactics but he was correct.

  5. “As toxic as McCarthy was, Trump and McConnell are an order of magnitude worse.”

    I agree completely. Republicans don’t actually stand for anything, and their weird followers don’t ask them too as long as there is some mythological “liberal” boogieman to direct their hatred and anger.

    I think Republican David Jolly most recently said it best:
    “These are, in today’s Republican party, spineless politicians rotten to the core without virtue, without any level of human integrity, devoid of self respect, self reflection…Without courage and without the moral compass to recognize their own malevolence.

    One day maybe they will have the recognition of how they failed the country and themselves in this moment,…..But that would be giving them credit that somewhere down deep they have the goodness to recognize how to reconcile their own failings with what is right and just in American politics and frankly what is right and wrong in the eyes of adults and children alike.”

  6. White evangelicals claiming that McCarthy was correct even if you didn’t like his tactics, is like white nationalists saying Hitler was correct even if you didn’t like his tactics.

    • Jackie, don’t do it for me but just for curiosity look up Venona Papers which indisputably names people in our government who were soviet spies. Next you will tell me the Rosenbergs and Alger Hiss we’re not guilty. Look up Harry Dexter White and Laughlin Currie as just two very senior officials. When the Soviet Union fell we again learned from their declassified documents of the truth of soviet agents in our government. I can find you an African American atheist to confirm this if you don’t want my facts.

      • Andrew– of course there were soviet spies in the country at the time. No one disputes that– Including me. (are you reading this ? ) The problem was that anyone McCarthy didn’t like was a ‘spy” or a “commie sympathizer” . He trampled over truth, the legal rights of honest U.S. citizens and the constitution.
        We have the concept of due process in our legal system. He despised our system to protect individual rights so much so that we now have the word “McCarthyism” listed in our language as a noun, because of the profound abuses his policies perpetrated upon innocent American civilians.
        https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/McCarthyism

        And by the way, i don’t believe for a second any of your “facts” . How about a few links to a few repeatable web sites ? Info wars, and neo nazi sites are not reputable in my opinion.

      • Andrew– why don’t you cite the “Verona Papers” here, and in particular, the passages that are pertinent to the conversation here . There are thousands of pages in the Verona Papers.
        And by the way, how about Tesla? HA !

  7. Who will stand up to Trump? Not the phony religious blowhard and gasbag evangelicals! The lengths they go, to distract and avoid recognizing what they lie down for!

  8. The tone of your note is so despairing — if you don’t like the president get you and all you know to vote him out of office — our country is strong — “the home of the brave” — let’s lose the accusations, blame, obsessions and paralysis, — you don’t like the president? Fine— vote him out and may I suggest we stop conflating policy disagreements and personal dislikes into “end of the world” narratives? On all sides….

  9. Can someone tell my why singling out a group by their religious beliefs or by the color of their skin is not considered blatant racism or bigotry? Sure doesn’t seem to matter in the comment section of this newspaper.

    • 3d — I don’t see blatant racism and bigotry here. Yes, some people will accurately call out the hypocrisy of some followers of certain religious beliefs, and an occasional bigot complaining about certain people from various countries…. But is seems the editor here keeps it in check. –thank you George– If you want to see full on racism and religious intolerance, you can go to fox news, and read the comments there.

      • 3D, if you want to see a morally compromised group, (whose moral compromise matters a great deal), and one that represents blatant racism and bigotry, simply look to the pastor, Robert Jeffress, an evangelical leader invited to a Trump White House Chanukah party. Any white Evangelical who supports our racist President will do, actually.

        “At a sermon he [Jeffress] preached in 2008, he said: “Not only do religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism – not only do they lead people away from the true God, they lead people to an eternity of separation from God in hell. “Hell is going to be filled with good religious people who have rejected the truth of Christ.”
        Quoted from:
        https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-pastor-robert-jeffress-jews-white-house-hanukkah-a9243631.html
        Nothing like a little anti-Semitism at a Chanukah party.

        One of the problems with belonging to a cult that promotes racism, homophobia, anti-semitism, islamaphobia, female body goatscapism (is goatscapism a word?), while oppressively insinuating a delusional beliefs (even to mainstream Christians) into government and schools, is that a lot of people are going to notice and speak out against it.

        White Nationlists are always singled out as being white. Do you have a problem with that being biased, 3D? I’m always a little stunned when someone (a privileged, white someone, usually) brings up the concept of anti-white discrimination. “Increasing diversity is seen as increasing anti-white bias,” which is what your question seems to really be about. And maybe a bit of that fascist “war on Christianity” sect-of-victims nonsense.

        https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-truth-about-anti-white-discrimination/
        and
        https://www.salon.com/2014/07/29/fox_news_war_on_christianity_how_right_wing_hacks_created_a_sect_of_victims/

    • Carl–Scott Adams summed it up perfectly : “you can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public”

  10. isnt this what islanders talk is for? liberal bashing of conservatives I mean. seems that’s a great place created by a far left liberal to censor Republicans. try there

    • Lisa, political posts aren’t allowed on IT. They’re allowed here, though, just no name calling of fellow commenters. Conservatives are free to make their points here, as is everyone else. Posting easily debunked untruths from Conservatives does take up a lot of time and space, though, and frankly, it bores me. For instance, one guy on here doesn’t realize the Mueller Report did not exonerate Trump from obstruction of justice, which, coincidentally, is one of the articles of impeachment against the lying conman. It’s too tiring correcting lies and misleading half-truths because there are just so many!

  11. Carlmando . Trump is not legitimate, the senate acquittal today is not legitimate because there were no witnesses. The Senate lawyers working for Trump should be disbarred because they seek acquittal. Chief Justice Roberts should be ashamed of himself for not stepping in to decide in case of a 50/50 tie on the witness question. Voting should be removed from the people of the USA because they always vote incorrectly and are influenced by Russia. The fate of the US in every sphere of life should be decided by Pelosi Schumer Nadler and Schiff. Watch them sabotage Bernie when he wins Iowa and NH. Its time for Hilary to enter the race.

    • Carlmondo, what andrew meant to say is that Trump does not want the American people to know the truth and the Senate GOPers are too spineless, cowardly, scared and unpatriotic to stand up to him. There, fixed it for you, Andrew.

      • Jackie, you’re wrong as usual. the sleazebag Dumbocrats in the house had 17 cherry-picked witnesses and would not allow a SINGLE Republican witness. The Democrats are a bunch of cowards, spineless, and unpatriotic . There fixed if for you. They want to overturn an election and despite the efforts of the LIAR pencil neck shifty shift, its not happening. Lets have the whistleblower get under oath. Whats the problem with that?

        • Lets have Comrade Trump get under oath. Whats the problem with that? If Comrade trump has done nothing wrong, as he says he has, whats the problem with that? The whistle blower is irrelevant. If there were no crimes, there is no one on whom to blow the whistle. Whats the problem with that?

          • Unlike the socialist regimes where your Democrats/Socialists refer to each other as ‘comrade’, one has the right to hear from the accuser unless its some Kangaroo court like the US house of representatives. In this case, the phony whistleblower, a Democratic operative, COACHED by pencil neck Shifty Shiff and his cohorts is kept secret. And unlike socialist republics (which will happen if Bernie or AOC ever gets in charge) the burden of proof lies with the government and being accused does not require one to go under oath and testify to defend against baseless allegations. Russian hoax, ukranian hoax. whats next? . After the Mueller investigation failed they went this route. I would have preferred to see witnesses on all sides. And let the tentacles of subpoena go out further and get Hunter, Lying crooked Sleeping Joe, Crooked Hillary and the crooked FBI agents under oath. Lets hear about the lies to the FISA court to spy on the Trump campaign. Lets get Eric holder, Loretta lynch, B. Hussein Obama and the rest of the lying cheating dishonest Dumbocrats under oath…then prosecute those who will have been proven to be liars. This started the day Trump walked down the stairs and announced his candidacy and won’t end until the day he leaves office in Jan 2025.

          • Notnew, so much of your post is an attack, ” And let the tentacles of subpoena go out further and get Hunter, Lying crooked Sleeping Joe, Crooked Hillary …Lets hear about the lies to the FISA court to spy on the Trump campaign. Lets get Eric holder, Loretta lynch, B. Hussein Obama and the rest of the lying cheating dishonest Dumbocrats…” Let me give the alliteration a try: Dishonest, dumb, donald is on trial.I know you and chinless mitch mconnel, loser lindsay, and moron mean would rather change the subject. Nah. I am not going to insult my way out of this one. I am sure you will, though.

          • I’ll do you one better for witnesses you say you’re for. In fact, you need only one witness, the one who knows exactly how corrupt Trump is: the lying Idiot-in-Chief himself. PS, you eliminate yourself as an informed truth-teller when you say “the Mueller investigation failed”. Failed what, lol? Failed to clear Trump from his obstruction of the investigation?

          • Jackie, your ‘original thoughts’ consist of attacking people. You constantly post links to left wing fake news sites with their propaganda. Does that qualify you as an expert on ‘original thoughts’ when you copy and paste that nonsense on every thread? thanks for the laugh.

          • The only collusion the Mueller investigation discovered was the Clinton campaign using spies and a fake dossier and giving that to their friends at the FBI to get fake FISA warrants to spy on the trump campaign. Dumbocrats had the opportunity to call more witnesses of their choosing in their Kangaroo court and they DID NOT allow Republicans to call any. (This was certainly all part of a plan by these dishonest democrats who are UNABLE to win an election. )And now they want to change the Senate rules to suit themselves since they can’t make a case with their fake whistler blower. And just as the lying cheating Democrats were ‘outed’ as the source of the Mueller investigation, this whistleblower and Schiff will be too. I cant wait. Those are facts.

  12. Jackie you didnt fix it for me at all. Please continue fixing. He is impeached and he isnt really acquitted because there were no witnesses. Therefore he is guilty and is dejure removed from office. He occupies the White House but isnt really the President anymore. His lawyers are disbarred because they defended him when he is guilty. He cant be on the ballot for the election because no one is allowed to vote. Voting is inherently discriminatory because someone is picked in preference to someone else. We Pelosi and Schumer know what is best for you deplorables and for this country. We want higher taxes, open borders, free sex changes for inmates, felons can vote, close all coal plants and natural gas, free education and forgiveness of loans and anyone can use whatever bathroom they want. We also will take down statues we dont like, make everyone eat plant burgers and remove tax protections on churches that dont worship LGBTQ. On top of that we will permit abortions in the 9th month and even choosing to abort if the fetus isnt the kind you want. That would be fixing things Jackie.

    • Andrew– I am very impressed with your Jan 30 4:03 pm comment.
      20 lies in one paragraph.
      Are you looking for a job in the next trump administration ?

    • Andrew, As you have well encountered in the exchanges with more than a few in this forum, the level of lizard-brain, gut-hatred of President Trump is so fixed and fanatical that a productive and civil dialogue is impossible. Perhaps they can be the recipient of our prayers, but that would be about the extent of it.

      • Seman, turning to Andrew for succor does not defend the delusional untruths and your misunderstanding of the Mueller Report. When your conclusions are laughably and provably wrong and untrue, admit you misunderstood. Or make yourself look even more foolish and talk about “prayer”. Your choice.

        • Jackie: Your predictable personal attacks using your above-average command of vocabulary reminds of a young girl dressed in her first tutu prancing in front of her mommy’s mirror pretending to be a big girl. We know you hate the President of the United States with a kind of white heat. Your objectivity reading reports and assessing context is, shall we say, less than trustworthy. To be precise, the Mueller Report (which was really the Weisman Report, composed by Andrew Weisman, a rabid Trump hater who might even rival you) found that the evidence (which means anything or nothing) was “not sufficient” to claim that candidate Trump or any of his team or family colluded, cooperated or conspired with Russians or any other foreign government. That’s what partisan so-called investigators write when they find nothing.

  13. Andy, you needn’t get your lederhosen in an uproar. No republican has the sand to admit that Comrade Trump has ever made a mistake. He never apologizes, as he is blameless. His followers will never openly criticize him. It’s not people standing up to trump that are needed. What we need is people who will stand up to people like you.

    • bulk– you are correct. The fact that donald trump has been a corrupt scumbag his entire life does not entitle him to be the president of the United States. But ,he is not the problem. it is the low information ,undereducated and the poorly educated voters (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpdt7omPoa0) that find the simple narrative of blaming others and relishing in their willful ignorance comforting. They have no understanding of the long term consequences of the sham senate “trial”.
      Nor do they understand the long term consequences of putting 2.5 million pounds of co2 into the atmosphere every second https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/11/13/global-carbon-dioxide-emissions-reach-record-high/859659001/
      The problem is not the misogynistic racist that currently feels an occasional need to show up at the white house. It is the willfully ignorant and under educated citizens that buy into the hate radio and Russian bot narrative that liberals are the cause of all our problems.

      • dondondon. I am a ”willfully ignorant and uneducated deplorable citizen” as you put it above. If you and I had to interview with say, 25 serious intellectual capital employment offers. I would get all 25 of them and you would get none. Would you like to bet the 1000 dollars on that one? lol. My humility and arrogance notwithstanding.

        • And your devout “Christianity” notwithstanding, too, Andrew. Don’t forget that little bit of fakery when show you have wealth to flaunt, along with all the lies you tell about Democrats.

        • Andrew– there is a difference between uneducated and udereducated. If you are going to admit that you are in fact one of the people I describe in general terms, that’s your choice. But please try to use the same words I do.
          But I think it interesting that need to pump yourself up to impress me.
          So yes, you might get the job if we were being interviewed by “intellectual capital employment offers. ” whoever they are.
          But I can play that game also.
          let’s say we, for some bizarre reason were bidding to build houses for 25 “serious” people. I wonder who they would pick.
          But your example shines a bit of light on your thinking. Since you often tell everyone here what I am thinking, I will now take the opportunity to tell everyone what you think.
          You think your job, your profession, and your “morality” are somehow superior to mine, or other people you have contempt for.
          You think because you managed to get citizenship in the United States, have gamed the capitalist system and made a considerable amount of money, you are in fact superior to the rest of us.
          I will also tell you that are wrong. Every life is valuable, every life has meaning, everyone has a story and deserves respect.

  14. Don’t have to go any further than the comments on this page to find blatant racism/bigots. Its like trying to have a conversation with a brick wall (I’m sure you feel the same) We can’t even agree to disagree. To me it’s like the person handing a plant to someone and when asked why, the answer is “to replace the oxygen you are wasting”.

  15. 3D, what is racist on this page? Do you have an inability to use your words to defend Trump’s bigotry? You don’t like it when people provide you with facts backed up with proof? Why are so many Ttumpers so fearful of truth? Why do some need to lie about what Democrats want, like open borders and 9 month abortions? Why do they say the Mueller Report exonerated Trump when it didn’t? The truth is Trump is guilty of obstruction and abuse of power because he attempted bribery for his personal gain and then covered up the investigation, directing his minions to aid him. Defend that. You cannot. Donald Trump is an impeached conman.He is an amoral bum who is revered by fake Christians as “chosen” by their god that favors white Christians only. 75% of Americans wanted witnesses like John Bolton called in the Senate trial, but the gutless GOP was too scared of the truth. Who doesn’t want a first hand witness to back him up if he’s not guilty? A guilty liar, that’s who. What is your defense of that, 3D? Why would you object to reality? Conmen rely on the fact that there’s an American sucker born every minute. Everyone who rails against the facts presented to the American public is the problem. That is what you are so upset about— and yet so weirdly inarticulate about.

  16. As far as standing up to Trump and his corruption, it won’t be Dershowitz. He’s now saying that with the acquittal sure to come this week, history should not say Trump is an impeached President. I predict that when poor Alan holds lunchtime court on the Chilmark Store porch this summer, he will have an audience of three, and two will be blood relatives.

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