Oct 19, 2020 4 min read

After years of fear mongering, outright lies and mistruths, and a trail of ruined careers, lives, and even suicides, Sen. Joseph McCarthy was finally confronted by his peers and asked, “Have you no sense of decency?” The public had been captivated by the brash senator, spouting bile and autocratically disallowing testimony from the accused. It was a divisive “us versus them” mentality: if you weren’t right with him, you were a communist or socialist. Even the committee name – Un-American Activities – belied the purpose.

The media, trusted bastions of the truth at that time no matter their political leaning, were slow to expose McCarthy for who he was: a showboating media manipulator, lying, tearing down people and institutions, and fear mongering his base … does this sound familiar? But there was one journalist, Edward R. Murrow, who finally lay bare the divisiveness and havoc McCarthy had sowed.

Murrow’s TV show, “See It Now,” aired a report on McCarthy in March of 1954, calling out McCarthy’s tactics of lying and spreading fear of the “Red Scare.” Murrow said, “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty … journalists must call it out. That is true patriotism.” Although CBS aired the show, Murrow and producer Fred Friendly paid for the advertising themselves; they were not permitted to use the CBS logo. The expose’ garnered tens of thousands of responses, 15 to 1 in favor. The show eventually led to McCarthy’s downfall. It was a turning point in journalism.

Now we are at a turning point as Americans. Do we succumb to the racist and divisive rhetoric of this president or look to our better angels to find common ground, to come together as one America united to fight our common enemies – the virus, unemployment, and racism?

It’s interesting that Roy Cohn was a ruthless attorney for both McCarthy and our president. Trump wished Cohn would have lived to defend him. More than 1,000 federal prosecutors agreed that if not for Office of Legal Counsel guidelines followed by the Mueller Report, our president would most certainly have been indicted for multiple felony charges of obstruction of justice. The disgraced and impeached president was handed a get-out-of-jail-free card by the power-hungry Republican Senate. Now, the just-released bipartisan Senate Intelligence Report indicates multiple contacts with the Russians and the Trump campaign. Seven of Trump’s closest aides have been criminally charged, some jailed. If there was nothing illegal, doesn’t commiserating with Russian intelligence smell and look bad to you? Is this not collusion? It’s all in the semantics.

Trump’s lack of leadership and pathetic response to the pandemic, record unemployment, and social inequities that afflict our country need to be first and foremost in the minds of voters, especially the young and disenfranchised, this November.

We need more journalists like Edward R. Murrow to stand up to this president. The Fourth Estate is needed now more than ever. Bob Woodward is a good example. His book “Rage” is actual proof of Trump lying and misleading the public during this deadly health crisis. This is a dereliction of duty that has undoubtedly cost thousands of lives. To abdicate responsibility for nationwide testing is abominable; he admitted as much. Leaving procurement of testing and purchasing of PPE up to individual states and governors is an abject failure. Trump had the power of the federal government to make this all happen, and refused to act. It’s like going to war with 50 different armies and commanders. The confusion and delays we are still seeing six months on is costing even more American lives.

Hopefully even more journalists, as well as those who worked with Trump, and maybe even a few Republicans will grow a spine, stand up, and speak out against this president, his policies, and his actions. This is not being radical or far left, only truly seeing things the way they are. It is a moral obligation and civic duty – true patriotism is, as Murrow said – to dissent. Know that to oppose Trump and his fascist and autocratic tendencies is not socialism. It is our social responsibility.

B. Kuhn is a resident of Canonsburg.