Source: CounterPunch
by David Rosen
“American’s first Red Scare took place from 1917 to 1921. Pres. Woodrow Wilson’s terror campaign against American radicals, dissidents, immigrants and workers makes the current Trump-Rubio effort look like a pathetic puppet show. Wilson jailed his charismatic Socialist opponent, the 63-year-old Eugene Debs, for opposing America’s descent into the carnage of the First World War. … The second Red Scare dragged on between 1947 and 1954. In 1954, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-W) was at the height of his campaign against ‘communism,’ alleging that hundreds of Communists had infiltrated the State Department and other federal agencies. … Today’s Red Scare 3.0 is driven by the growing opposition to Trump’s foreign and domestic policies. Trump needs a new front to contest the opposition and give him – and his Republican Party backers, especially in Congress — a wedge they can use to fight the challenges they face. Nothing is better than an ill-defined yet omni-threatening enemy.” (07/29/26)