Debunking Trump

Here's a thoughtful article by Katha Pollitt in The Nation which debunks the claims of 'McCarthyism' from Donald Trump who falsely alleged that President Barack Obama wire-tapped his offices in New York ahead of the presidential election in 2016.

  

https://www.thenation.com/article/its-not-mccarthyism-to-demand-answers-on-trump-russia-and-the-election/

It’s Not ‘McCarthyism’ to Demand Answers on Trump, Russia, and the Election

Using the language of the anticommunist witch hunt for this moment is a mistake.

By Katha Pollitt - The Nation

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington DC, March 2, 2017. (Reuters / Yuri Gripas)

I was a small child in the early 1950s, but I remember the McCarthy years. I remember watching the Army-McCarthy hearings on our new TV with my mother in the living room, the drapes drawn so the neighbors couldn’t peer in, even though the window looked out on our garden. I remember her refusing to let FBI agents into our house (I was so proud of her). I remember looking out the dining-room window and watching them search our garbage. Some of the things that happened were funny—my parents used to roll their eyes over Cousin Victor, who would only call us from a pay phone. But some weren’t. My father, a lawyer, lost work, as did many others. McCarthyism harmed some 10,000 people—some of them Communists, like my parents, most not—and destroyed quite a few: There were divorces, nervous breakdowns, suicides. And, of course, it made the entire country more conformist, more fearful, and more stupid.