Harvard historian Heather Cox Richardson recently reminded me that June 1, 1950, was the day that Republican former U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith decided to stand up and confront and rebuke a different bully: fearmongerer and fascist Republican Joe McCarthy, a fellow senator.
Joseph McCarthy created a Red Scare in the 1950s by blacklisting and attacking those whom he claimed were communists, which damaged many people’s reputations and livelihoods. Nearly four years later, the Senate voted to condemn McCarthy’s actions and showed us that Margaret Chase Smith was early and correct in calling him out. Here we have an example, someone that Susan Collins has honored over the years, a member of the same party, calling out anti-democratic and unethical behavior by a fellow senator.
Does Sen. Collins fail to call out the modern McCarthy, bully and democracy threat, Donald Trump, because she fears for her job? Or … would she prefer to be on the right side of history and ethics by being a leader in declaring Donald Trump unfit for the office of president of the U.S.? This is a man found liable by a jury for sexual abuse, who led an insurrection at the Capitol, who stands accused of conspiring to rig the Georgia election, and who was recently convicted of covering up payments to commit election fraud on 34 counts.
I suggest that it is time for Sen. Collins to stand up to our modern bully.
Craig Donnan
Bowdoinham
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