Fear is a powerful tactic and McCarthy did this best by isolating people and inspiring paranoia in the US. Looking back to the Salim Witch trials you can see this fear and paranoia as well. The fear of being something you are not and the fear of dying or being sent to jail is something present today in a different form.
Trump (along with many conservatives) fear mongering strategies on de-humanizing immigrants works in similar ways. The conversation about stopping people for minuscule crimes and then deporting them or targeting neighborhoods for undocumented immigrants shares some similarities with the anti-communist agenda McCarthy had. And although there are some clear differences revolving in political and even social aspects; fundamentally, Trump's harmful rhetoric can be seen as similar to that present in the Salem Witch Trails and through the Cold War.
If you think about McCarthy himself; his message spoke to a lot of people. Republicans at the time were ok with him, because even though they knew what he was saying wasn't completely accurate, he supported the party as a whole (or so they thought). Donald trump is similar in the sense that he got elected (one could argue) because many wanted a conservative cabinet and supreme court nominee, and not for his over the top rhetoric. You can even see the parallels in through Trump's Muslim ban, which pushed even some republicans against him. This is similar to when McCarthy lost popularity.
The message of fear can be used in powerful ways; and it was interesting to find such a connection to modern context and what we are learning in class. Although I think Trump has made his own category in history because of his over the top and de-jhumanizing rhetoric, it can also be patrolled with that used of other political leaders like McCarthy.
I found your post very interesting. While I completely agree with you about certain parallels, it is important to consider the prevalence of fear politics on both ends of the political spectrum. I believe that currently both sides of the political spectrum use fear in order to promote action. In addition, while researching my blog post, I found that Roy Cohn, one of McCarthy's close aids, was Trump's attorney for 13 years and had a significant influence on his politics today.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/donald-trump-roy-cohn.html
I like this post because it ties history to present politics, which shows that there are many historical patterns. Both Trump and McCarthy changed their party during their time, forcing their party to move with them and force their support. I agree that both McCarthy and Trump use fear (arguably) to gain support for their policies. Even though Trump's statements on immigrants have been proven false, like McCarthy's claims, people keep supporting it.
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