The Left's Disingenuous Red Scare

Liberals pride themselves on having opposed Cold War era Republican Senator Joe McCarthy’s “red scare”, where he made often baseless accusations of various people being communists. Since McCarthy’s rise and fall, Democrats have accused Republicans of engaging in “McCarthyism” at various points. Lately Democrats have mimicked the tactics that they decried in the past. Democrats have accused just about anyone who opposes their agenda of being Russian assets. The hypocrisy in Democrats use of McCarthy scare tactics shows that their allegations are nothing more than hypocritical political attacks. 

The left leveled similar attacks against Republicans throughout the rest of George W Bush’s presidency. During the 2004 presidential election, when Bush would say that America needed to stay the course in Iraq and the War on Terror, to stay safe, Democrats claimed that Bush was taking a page out of McCarthy’s book. When the Bush administration would accuse anyone who wanted to withdraw from Iraq, of “cutting and running”, liberals again responded that the Bush administration was using McCarthyism.  

Liberals renewed these claims in the 2008 election when Republicans raised concern about Barack Obama’s ties to controversial figures, such as William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, and when Republicans cautioned against Obama’s far left policies. Democrats’ allegations of McCarthyism continued into Obama’s presidency. First when Republicans attacked Obama’s policies as too far left, and then when Republicans, like Mitt Romney, raised concern about how the Obama administration was handling Russia.

Democrats started their own “red scare” in 2016 when they accused Donald Trump of being “Putin’s candidate”. After the election, they refused to accept Trump as a legitimate president, and used a, now widely discredited, dossier to claim Russia fixed the election.

This election cycle, Democrats have used the attack as a last-minute scare tactic. After former Democrat Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard campaigned for incumbent Democrat Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger’s Republican opponent, Yesli Vega, Spanberger tweeted “[w]hat do Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, and Yesli Vega have in common?

Tulsi Gabbard supports them”. Gabbard is a veteran, and Vega is a former police officer, to attack their patriotism is like attacking Cleland’s.

When Gabbard campaigned for Republican incumbent Senator Mike Lee, the opponent of Lee, Democrat endorsed independent candidate, Evan McMullin, tweeted “[w]ho knew that the Kremlin Class of 2022 was holding its orientation here in Utah?”

Recently House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that if Republicans retake Congress, they would apply more scrutiny to aid to Ukraine. Democrats responded by labeling GOP members “Putin Republicans”.

Liberals have claimed that incumbent Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson is “an enabler of Russia”, even though his Democrat opponent appeared on Russian state television. In Ohio, Democrat nominee for Senate, Tim Ryan, made the ridiculous accusation that his Republican opponent, JD Vance, has profited from Russia propaganda through a venture fund.

Even outside the issue of Russia, Democrats have accused Pennsylvania Republican Senate nominee, Dr. Mehmet Oz, of having more loyalty to Turkey than the US, just because Oz is Turkish American.

With less than two weeks left, Democrats’ desperation will likely make them step up these attacks. Democrats exhausted the allegation of McCarthyism, so now they are using the accusation of Republicans being in the pocket of Russia. As the Democrats’ attacks continue, the public should ignore these hypocritical allegations.

Todd Carney is an international lawyer and a frequent writer on international issues. He earned his juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.