( CNN) “Study the late Joseph McCarthy, because we are now in period with Mueller and his gang that stimulate Joseph McCarthy was like a newborn! ” President Donald Trump tweeted from the final days of his golfing vacation at Bedminster, New Jersey. “Rigged Witch Hunt! “
Lord knows we could use some more civic education in our country, and so I’m delighted to see the President has suggested we analyze the McCarthy era more closely. But the parallel won’t work the style he aims.
As it turns out, McCarthy and Trump shared an infamous aide, a widely reviled but nonetheless influential lawyer named Roy Cohn. In Jon Meacham’s excellent new book, “The Soul of America, ” he recounts McCarthy’s advice to Cohn before one of their contentious broadcasted hearings: “‘People aren’t going to remember the things we say on the issues here, our logic, our common sense, our facts, ‘ McCarthy told Cohn. ‘They’re only going to remember the impressions.'”