Thread by @FidelisToJusti1

1/ Rise and fall of Joe McCarthy is instructive in understanding today's GOP. McCarthy epitomized the ascension of toxic mediocrity. He was an intel officer for a dive bomber squadron in WWII. Although his claims of heroism were exaggerated ... (Cont)
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2/ McCarthy was promoted to major. He was elected a WI senator during a GOP 1946 wave. Initially, McCarthy gained little traction or attention. Simply put, he wasn't very good at his job. But in February 1950, McCarthy's fame skyrocketed when he claimed to have a list of (Cont)

3/ communists in a spy ring working in the State Department. His claims were bullshit. But McCarthy got off on the attention, and his lies kept coming with claims of communist infiltration of the Truman administration. McCarthy also accused various politicians of communist (Cont)

4/ sympathies and even sex crimes (sound familiar?). He also exploited America's 1950s homophobia. Until 1954, McCarthy's demagoguery dominated the center of political gravity. Even Dwight Eisenhower, the winning general of WWII, pandered to McCarthy in 1952 to secure the (Cont)

5/ GOP nomination. Indeed, Eisenhower remained silent as McCarthy attacked his mentor, George Marshall. That's how much this mediocore narcissist was feared. Thankfully, a combination of Edward R Murrow's expose of McCarthy on CBS and highly publicized Army-McCarthy (Cont)

6/ Hearings took him down in 1954 as well as courageous politicians such as GOP senator Margaret Chase Smith. The Senate voted to censure McCarthy in December 1954, and his influence faded until his death in 1957. Today's GOP is dominated by toxic mediocore Joe McCarthy (Cont)

7/ assclown wannabes. Jim Jordan is especially reminiscent of Joe McCarthy in his liar based crusade against the guardrails of our democracy. Hell, he's worse than McCarthy because he actually participated in an insurrection! And

8/ Jordan is further amplified by a media ecosystem that profits from his depraved treasonous demagoguery. Bottom line is this time, we don't have an Edward R Murrow. The Jan 6th Hearings last year did help. Jack Smith is on the job and Biden is in the WH. But saving our (Cont)

9/ country is really up to each of us getting involved and engaging with our friends, family and neighbors.