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MaddowBlog-Laura Loomer, a Trump confidant, sees McCarthyism as worth celebrating
“Joseph McCarthy was right,” the right-wing activist said. “We need to make McCarthy great again.” On the right, she has a fair amount of company.
Laura Loomer wants to rewrite history and make Joe McCarthy “great again.†The White House’s Monica Crowley said the same thing last year. So did Steve Bannon.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-08-22T17:00:56.241Z
And then there were those weird comments Ted Cruz made about McCarthy when he first got to Congress. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/laura-loomer-trump-mccarthyism-rcna226607
If this sounds familiar to a dark chapter of American history, you’re not alone. The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer reported:
“Joseph McCarthy was right,” Loomer responded without missing a beat. “We need to make McCarthy great again.”
Given the activist’s perspective, the comments were provocative, but not surprising. What’s just as notable, however, is the frequency with which other Republicans suggest McCarthy and his demagogic campaign deserve to be rehabilitated......
Even some GOP members of Congress have gone in this direction. It was shortly after Sen. Ted Cruz began his congressional career that a reporter for The Dallas Morning News told the Texas Republican that he’d been compared at times to McCarthy. Cruz said that criticism “may be a sign that perhaps we’re doing something right,” which seemed like a curious response given the context.
Asked specifically, “Is McCarthy someone you admire?” Cruz wouldn’t answer.
In 2014, after his failed Republican Senate campaign in Missouri, then-Rep. Todd Akin compared himself to McCarthy — and he meant it in a good way.
Trump will occasionally complain about his perceived foes engaging in “McCarthyism,” but given how many of his allies like McCarthyism, he might need to change his rhetorical focus
I suggested at one point that her effort to get federal employees fired for supposed disloyalty to Trump recalled the Red Scare of the early 1950s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin exploited the private musings and personal associations of alleged communist sympathizers to end their careers. She loved that.
“Joseph McCarthy was right,” Loomer responded without missing a beat. “We need to make McCarthy great again.”
Given the activist’s perspective, the comments were provocative, but not surprising. What’s just as notable, however, is the frequency with which other Republicans suggest McCarthy and his demagogic campaign deserve to be rehabilitated......
Even some GOP members of Congress have gone in this direction. It was shortly after Sen. Ted Cruz began his congressional career that a reporter for The Dallas Morning News told the Texas Republican that he’d been compared at times to McCarthy. Cruz said that criticism “may be a sign that perhaps we’re doing something right,” which seemed like a curious response given the context.
Asked specifically, “Is McCarthy someone you admire?” Cruz wouldn’t answer.
In 2014, after his failed Republican Senate campaign in Missouri, then-Rep. Todd Akin compared himself to McCarthy — and he meant it in a good way.
Trump will occasionally complain about his perceived foes engaging in “McCarthyism,” but given how many of his allies like McCarthyism, he might need to change his rhetorical focus