I confess to being a history buff. Every time something happens in the political world, it reminds me of something similar that happened in yesterday’s political world. Back in 1954, the nation was focused on the actions of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. McCarthy was busy looking for people who he insisted were known associates of communist front organizations.
After harassing prominent people in the literary and entertainment worlds, he turned his attention to the U.S. Army. McCarthy alleged that the Army was weak in protecting the government from infiltration of subversive elements. To insulate itself from McCarthy’s wrath, the Army hired a well-known Boston attorney, Joseph Welch. When interrogating Army officials, McCarthy alleged that an attorney on Welch’s staff had Communist Party connections.
Welch, directing his fire at the firebrand senator, uttered the now famous words, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” It was only a short time later that the nation caught on to the fact that McCarthy was a demagogue, and his career went down in flames. But Welch’s put-down of McCarthy connected me to the reactions of some people associated with President Trump and how they related to the plight of the 800,000 federal employees who were out of work because of the president’s senseless campaign for a border wall with Mexico.
While the furlough is temporarily over, I can’t forget that from the president on down, there wasn’t the slightest drop of compassion for people who were caught in the middle of a campaign pledge that had nothing to do with their ability to work for the government. The president issued lots of tweets and made lots of speeches — including an Oval Office fiasco — during which he largely ignored the plight of the innocent federal workers. Last Friday, announcing that the government would reopen until Feb. 15, Trump made only passing reference to the workers who would soon be able to collect their paychecks.
The fact that the shutdown is on temporary hold in no way wipes away some of the stupid and heartless remarks of a handful of Trump people. Let’s start with Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He compared the shutdown to a vacation, saying it could leave workers “better off” because they didn’t have to use vacation days. Hit with a barrage of criticism, Hassett claimed his words were taken out of context.