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Leadership on Trump

I was surprised to read in Friday’s (April 29) Butler Eagle that U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly was confounded by the “Stop Trump” movement within the Republican Party. “I don’t understand,” he is quoted saying.

I hope Kelly will seek understanding by reading the editorial by New York Times columnist David Brooks, also published April 29.

Brooks calls the Donald Trump candidacy a Joe McCarthy moment for the Republican Party. That’s a reference to Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who in the early 1950s gained popularity by claiming that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies inside the federal government and elsewhere. His efforts are sometimes called the” Red Scare.”

By the mid-1950s his tactics, and the inability to substantiate his claims, led him to lose popularity and be censured by the United States Senate. The McCarthy era, with its witch hunts and wild accusations, became a time of darkness for American justice and the Republican Party.

Noted journalist Edward R. Murrow, in 1954, reported on McCarthy’s abuses and scare tactics stating: “This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent. The actions of the junior senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies.“

Jump to the present and David Brooks writes: “People will be judged by where they stood at this time. Those who walked with Trump will be tainted forever after for the degradation of standards and the general-election slaughter.”

I can understand average voters jumping on the Trump bandwagon, especially if they are angry at their current situation in life and at the state of our representative democracy, where problems are ignored and little is accomplished.

But Kelly has neither of these excuses. We expect a leader like him to see beyond where the current wind is blowing, and take the long view of what is best for our country and for the party founded by Lincoln.

Donald Trump’s wild accusations, taunts, and lack of realistic solutions can hardly be considered what’s best for country or party.

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