I weep for America and fear for where Trump is taking it

We all knew that America’s celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence would be tasteless and tacky once President Trump took charge. What we might have hoped is that he would have realised that as Head of State on such occasions his role should have been to unite and rise above partisan politics. As its says in the Declaration, some truths are self-evident: not to Trump.

He debased what should have been a joyful, unifying event by making a series blatantly political, deeply divisive speeches.

More than that, he reminded us of one of his country’s darkest eras – The McCarthy anti-communist witch hunts of the early-1950s.

In two speeches Trump foreshadowed a return to those evil times. People’s lives, careers and families were shattered when Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy whipped up anti-communist hysteria and turned a Senate committee into a vicious kangaroo court to denounce people on the basis of unfounded accusations of associations with communists and indulging in “unAmerican” activities.

Trump’s language over the weekend had chilling echoes of those times.

“You can be loyal to Karl Marx or you can be loyal to America. You can be a communist or you can be a patriot. You cannot be both”, he said in a speech at Mt Rushmore, calling communism a “mortal threat” to the country and insisting it posed a greater danger than “World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbour, or even 9/11.” He vowed the country would “vanquish communism quickly”. 

The next day he returned to this theme, saying communism is “like a cancer, you’ve got to cut it out and you got to cut it out fast.” He sees that cancer in the growing support for democratic socialism, a relatively moderate movement to European eyes.

Contrast that with the sight of masked fascists from the Patriotic Front marching through Washington brandishing Confederate flags, a symbol of another of America’s shameful eras.

Every country has a rich, chequered history, good and bad – and America has many great achievements to celebrate. Occasions such as the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence should be an opportunity to celebrate the best, not descend into hate filled, partisan politics reminding us of the worst.

Is this really the America its citizens want the rest of the world to see? Do they really want a return to the dark days of McCarthyism? If not, then speak out now. If you don’t I weep for the country you might become.