Return to McCarthyism under Trump

A modern-day political inquisition is unfolding in “digital town squares” across the United States.

- SHANNON BRINCAT, FRANK MOIS AND GAIL CRIMMINS

The slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk has become a focal point fora coordinated campaign of silencing critics that chillingly echoes one of the darkest chapters in American history.

Individuals who have publicly criticised Kirk or made perceived insensitive comments regarding his death are being threatened, fired or doxed.

Teachers and professors have been fired or disciplined, one for posting that Kirk was racist, misogynistic and a neo-Nazi, another for calling Kirk a “hate-spreading Nazi”.

Journalists have also lost their jobs after making comments about Kirk's assassination, as has the late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel.

Awebsite called “Expose Charlie’s Murderers” had been posting the names, locations and employers of people saying critical things about Kirk before it was reportedly taken down. Vice President JD Vance has pushed for this public response, urging supporters to “call them out... hell, call their employer’.

This is far-right “cancel culture”, the likes of which the US hasn't seen since the McCarthy era in the 1950s.

The McCarthy era may well have faded in our collective memory, but it’s important to understand how it unfolded and the impact it had on America. As the philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Since the 1950s, “McCarthyism” has become shorthand for the practice ofmaking unsubstantiated accusations of disloyalty against political opponents, often through fear-mongering and public humiliation.

Theterm gets its name from Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican who was the leading architect ofaruthless witch hunt in the US to root out alleged Communists and subversives across American institutions.