On June 9, 1954, Joseph Welch, in his role as chief counsel for the U.S. Army, brought to the American public and press the reality of the anti-democracy demagoguery of U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his supporters.
During the Army-McCarthy hearings, Welch stated: “Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” In his comments Welch asked a question which became a seminal point in bringing to an end the nationally destructive actions of McCarthy.
As we find ourselves, seven decades later, in the grips of cruel and reckless democracy destroying demagoguery, I repeat Welch’s question of 1954, asking Donald Trump, JD Vance and the 2024 Republican Party: “Have you left no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”
Peter Colomaio, Bradford
