In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy was the most feared politician in the country. His communist witchhunt destroyed the careers of dozens of politicians, actors, political enemies, and even random bystanders unexpectedly caught in his crosshairs.
He was bluster and fire and left pure destruction in his wake.
In 1954, Joseph Nye Welch, an attorney for the Army, grew disgusted at Senator McCarthy’s endless, reckless investigations. It was he who dealt McCarthy the final coup de grace. “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” And soon after, McCarthy had no sense of power, either. (And no sense of liver. He’d drink himself to death in 1957.)
Are there any parallels to be made in the meteoric rise of a hate-filled, divisive politician fanning the flames of rage to hold the country in his cruel control?
Probably not, but we’re going to make them anyway.
Trump is largely touted as the anti-woman monster, the billionaire everyman, the conscienceless rapist, the drainer of the swamp, the end of times and the biblical savior, those last two often in the same sentence. He is all that is evil in the world. Or maybe all that will save the world. He is this, that, a big deal–but never between two big things.
Are you starting to find this … kind of boring?
The deepest hit Trump ever received rhetorically was that he is … weird. He is, right? He said he’d date his daughter. To her face, on national television. He doesn’t really laugh with people. Does he even know how to? He’s kind of sensitive about having small hands. That was a good clip, ngl.
But he will harness the power of American desperation to destroy what little is left of our Republic.
Except … if there’s something more interesting to watch on television*.
(*TikTok)
Consider Trump stand-in Mike Lindell, the only grown-ass man who was schooled by a literal twelve year old child … and then continued to fight as the child walked away. In boredom.
Seriously, and this isn’t even half of their interaction.
https://en.as.com/videos/watch-mike-lindell-in-disguise-debates-a-12-year-old-on-georgia-election-results-at-the-dnc-v/
Trump will take this election tonight into the courts. Likely, for the next month or two, the American public will watch in terror as Trump and Co. push through conspiracy after conspiracy to land the election in the hands of the Supreme Court.
Or maybe he’ll win the vote by tomorrow anyway!
Regardless, people have been walking out of Trump rallies halfway through. They go home, bored, tired, probably get gas on the way back and kiss their spouses and go to sleep early to work the next day.
But, and maybe it’s my own incredibly misguided hope for entertainment, I suspect the public at large is getting Trump Exhaustion. I think we’re going to cheer him or jeer him or both–for all of five minutes– and click the channel to the weather so you can see if those shorts are a good choice today.
See what I see: six months after Trump is in office, what do you think will happen? Another pandemic? Shit, I watched this episode five years ago. Let me see how the Saints are doing.
(Yes, in our very near future people will be desperate enough to catch up on the worst NFL teams “just because.”)
Those who ignore history are doomed to reruns. He’ll likely be president, through fraud and maybe even a fair vote. But I think he’s going to hit his McCarthy moment soon, and that moment is going to be plastered all over Twitter/X/whatever it’s called when it’s bankrupt. I think Trump will scream murder at a middle school kid until the child yawns and walks away, grabs some candy from a vending machine. Goes back to lol’ing on TikTok. And we’ll kinda realize the emperor didn’t really have any clothing at all. Just a ton of spray tan.
I think I saw this episode. But I kinda can’t wait to be honest.
-Mgmt