Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine gave this, her Declaration of Conscience speech, before the U.S. Senate in 1950.
“I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear. It is a condition that comes from the lack of effective leadership in either the Legislative Branch or the Executive Branch of our Government… I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States Senator. I speak as an American…
“Today our country is being psychologically divided by the confusion and suspicions that…spread like cancerous tentacles of ‘know nothing, suspect everything’ attitudes. I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calamity – Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear…Surely we Republicans aren’t that desperate for victory…While it might be a fleeting victory for the Republican Party, it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people.”
“I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul searching — for us to weigh our consciences — on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America… I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution.”
The speech was a response to the fearmongering tactics employed by Senator Joseph McCarthy, who made accusations of subversion or treason without a shred of evidence. Smith passed away in 1995 at the age of 97. I don’t know if she’s looking down, but if she were still here, I’m certain she would be saddened and horrified at what has become of her Republican party: Trumpism, based on fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear.
Trump has told so many blatant lies and distortions and disparaged so many people it’s impossible to recount them all in less than a book-length column. But let’s consider one of his recent and most dangerous statements. “I’m not going to call this a prediction, but if I don’t win this election, and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens because at forty percent [of Jewish voters voting for Trump] that means sixty percent of the people are voting for the enemy.”
Let’s be clear. Jews are 2.4 percent of the population of the United State, with the largest numbers in New York, Florida, and California, which are not swing states. If sixty percent of Jewish voters vote for Harris, would that make a significant difference in who wins? No, it would not, despite Trump’s claim.
Trump blames the lack of support on what he described as “the Democrat hold or curse” on Jewish voters. “You can’t let this happen. Forty percent is not acceptable, because we have an election to win,” Trump insists that Jewish people who support Kamala Harris show “either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
In a statement, the Harris campaign pushed back on Trump’s remarks. “Donald Trump is resorting to the oldest antisemitic tropes in the book because he’s weak and can’t stand the fact that the majority of America is going to reject him in November. But we know that words like these can have dangerous consequences. As Trump has proven, including over the past few weeks with his lies about Springfield, Ohio, he will cling to fearmongering and intimidation, no matter the cost. When Donald Trump loses this election, it will be because Americans from all faiths, ethnicities, and backgrounds came together to turn the page on the divisiveness he demonstrates every day.”
We know what happens when Trump urges his supporters to “fight like hell.” His statements about Jews are an open invitation for more violence. In the years preceding Trump’s first campaign, there was an average of 868 antisemitic incidents – including assault, vandalism, and harassment – per year in the U.S. After his election, there was an average of 2,143 between the years 2017 and 2021, 3,697 in 2022, and 8,873 last year.
“President Trump, your words preemptively blaming Jews for your potential election loss is of a piece with millennia of antisemitic lies about Jewish power,” wrote Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, “It puts a target on American Jews. And it makes you an ally not to our vulnerable community but to those who wish us harm.” In a statement, the American Jewish Committee said, “Setting up anyone to say ‘we lost because of the Jews’ is outrageous and dangerous. Thousands of years of history have shown that scapegoating Jews can lead to antisemitic hate and violence.”
Mark Berg is a community activist in Adams County and a proud Liberal. His email address is MABerg175@Comcast.net.
Only Trump could go to a rally against antisemitism…..and then make antisemitic remarks.
Well said, Mr. Berg, and why is it that people are afraid to speak out about the dangerous, threatening remarks that have come out of donald trump’s mouth? and does the Republican party, once a respected, professional political organization, support all of this toxic rhetoric? Listen up republicans, your reputation, and your integrity is at stake.