GOP used to have the decency to stand up to a dangerous demagogue

Sixty-seven years ago, Republican senators took a principled stand to discipline their out-of-control colleague, Sen. Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin. For four years, McCarthy had run amok, accusing thousands of loyal Americans with being pro-Soviet Communists or fellow travelers. Many of these smeared people were fired, had their lives destroyed; some committed suicide.

McCarthy was waging war on American democracy for personal gain. But by early 1954, patriotic Senate Republicans had had enough. As the majority party, they introduced a resolution to censure McCarthy for bringing discredit upon the Senate.

Democratic Minority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson told his members to shut up and let the Republicans conduct the debate. McCarthy was so flummoxed that he accused his Republican colleagues of carrying Communist water. When the vote came down on Dec. 2, 1954, 22 Republicans — half of the 44 voting — joined all 45 Democrats to censure McCarthy. The GOP initiative and large bipartisan vote sealed McCarthy’s fate.

Seven decades later, House Republicans faced a similar dilemma with a crazed colleague, a newbie QAnon conspiracy supporter, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. She has been linked to death threats against Democrats and supported Donald Trump’s treasonous efforts to overturn his re-election defeat. In a closed-door party caucus, Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy (no relation to Joe), engineered a non-apology apology from Greene that kept his caucus from disciplining her. Some gave her a standing ovation.

Democrats moved to strip Greene of her committee assignments, essentially neutering her as an effective member of Congress. Just 11 of 212 Republicans joined all 219 Dems to certify Greene’s descent into congressional disgrace.

After the Dec. 2, 1954 vote, Republicans returned the party to the decency President Eisenhower demanded. On Thursday, Republicans voted to keep the Republican Party in the grip of Trumpism and the lunacy of QAnon acolyte Greene. Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn