By C J WaldronThe question “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” was leveled at Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy as his House Committee on UnAmerican Activities” came crashing down upon him. It was both a question and an accusation put to a Repulbican senator who sought to destroy the Democratic Party by falsely claiming the party had been infiltrated by Communists. It gave rise to the term “witch hunt” as many compared it to the Salem Witch Trials centuries before where being accused was enough to condemn anyone.
Looking at our current situation, it’s almost impssible not to compare the machinations of McCarthy to the current demonization of the Democratic Party by the Trump administration and his loyal minions throughout government. Calling peaceful protests “Hate America” rallies, using racial profiling to attack immigrants, both legal and illegal, destroying government property in order to erect a garish monument to your own vanity, sending the military into Democratic run cities to intimidate its citizens, refusing to answer legitmate questions posed by the media and instead belittling them with cries of Fake News and laveling them “The enemy of the people” while stripping away their First Amendment rights, vowing to ignore the Constitution in order to remain in power, calling members of the democratic Party domestic terrorists, and using the government shutdown as a weapon to hurt the most vulnerable by taking away their access to basic nutrition are some of the many ways this administration has abandoned any semblance of decency.
It’s hard to imagine a more frightening time in our history. Even in wartime, there was a sense of unity. The nation united behind a front of patriotism. This type of harmony was what allowed us to survive the 9/11 attacks that had sought to bring the nation to its knees by destroying America’s financial centers. It was seen during World War II as millions of Americans joined together to combat Fascism. And it was this cohesiveness that held us together as we were under the spectre of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War.
Decency is a long-ago memory. It has been replaced by AI images of a Commander in Chief, who was too cowardly to serve his country in wartime, piloting a fighter jet to dump feces onto peaceful protestors.
In his most recent attack on decency, Trump is trying to weaponize the government shutdown by ordering a halt to SNAP (The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits to needy Americans. Despite having multi-year carryover funds, that would allow the payments to continue, Trump has ordered all benefits to cease.
His goal is to get the Democrats to capitulate to his demands that would further enshrine the laws implemented in his Big Bogus Bill which includes cutting $793 billion from Medicare over the next decade, raising healthcare costs for 20 million Americans and extending tax breaks to billionaires. It passed with no Democratic support because Republicans decided to “go Nuclear”, which means a simple majority was required for the bill to pass.
Trump and his minions are attempting to cast blame for the shutdown on Democrats by ignoring the Hatch Act, which prohibits the use of government services for partisan purposes. Furloughed government employees were sent an email telling them their jobs were being put on hold, or even eliminated, because of Democrats. Airports around the country are playing a video where the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, is blaming Democrats for airport delays.
And now, Trump has cut off SNAP benefits while also blaming Democrats in the hope they will vote for the current Continuing Resolution (CR) to get the government up and running again.
But unlike past government shutdowns, there is no negotiating going on. Like the BIG Bogus Bill, the CR passed with no input from Democrats. The so-called master of the “Art of the Deal” will settle for nothing less than total submission. There has been no bargaining going on. Trump is insisting it’s “my way or the highway”, meaning there is no end in sight.
Even if Democrats voted on this tomorrow, it would only be a short-term solution. The current CR is due to expire by the middle of November, meaning we would be back to square one.
If Trump had any idea what the role of a president is in this situation, he would be hard at work hammering out a solution. Instead, he is in Asia being met by carefully selected “adoring crowds”.
If you asked him if he had any sense of decency, the honest answer would be a resounding “No!”
Chris Waldron is a former public school educator in New York State and adjunct English professor in Conway, SC. He is co-author of Hijacked Nation, Donald Trump’s attack on America’s Greatness, published in three volumes and available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. He is a regular contributor to Lean to the Left and all of his articles are archived here.
