As we rapidly tumble toward the 2024 election, I thought it might be best to frame the presidential choice in terms of two figures who did not live to see the 21st century but who are key to understanding Donald Trump’s approach to life, and Kamala Harris’ approach to democracy. They respectively are the malicious lawyer Roy Cohn, and the anti-blacklisting hero John Henry Faulk.
continued...
In a moment of dissatisfaction with his first Attorney General, Donald Trump reportedly cried out “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” Cohn was Trump’s mentor, fixer and legal mouthpiece in the 1970s and 1980s, but Cohn first came to public attention as the chief counsel for Senator Joseph McCarthy, the demagogue who prompted the Red Scare and blacklisting.
Cohn, who ruined the lives of people by threatening to reveal their homosexuality, died of AIDS-related complications in 1986, shortly after being disbarred for attempting to defraud a dying client.
John Henry Faulk led a very different, more noble and more courageous, life. Faulk was a Texas storyteller with a knack for accents, character voices, and homespun messages. After leaving the Army in 1946, he began a successful radio show at WCBS. In 1955, he and Charles Collingwood and Orson Bean won leadership roles in the union American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Their approach was simple, concentrate on jobs and security; drop cooperation with AWARE, a for-profit group selling to advertisers and networks “clearance” of people. The effect could be job-destroying information about real or believed communist sympathies.
AWARE’s reprisal was to blacklist Faulk. He had the courage to sue the group, learning that one of his “communist” activities was attending a dinner at the Astor Hotel in 1946 with a prominent communist. It turns out the dinner was a one-year birthday party for the United Nations Security Council, and the prominent communist was the Soviet Representative. The other claims were just as flawed or outright false. The harrowing details of the blacklisting can be found in the book Fear on Trial. The book climaxes when the jury returns, and asks the judge if it can award more than the million dollars Faulk requested.
The trial was stalled for five years by AWARE lawyers, including Roy Cohn. The large jury verdict was reduced on appeal, and by other costs. Faulk spent much of the rest of his life as a roving ambassador and guest speaker for freedom and civil liberties. I met him briefly during this period and was astounded by his joy and energy, and our mutual respect for Faulk is how columnist Molly Ivins and I became friends. Faulk died in his hometown of Austin in 1990.
Stephen Whitfield, an American Studies professor at Brandeis University, made clear the Trump-Cohn-McCarthy triumvirate. He wrote, “The two most notorious demagogues in recent American political history (1945–2019) are linked through the unscrupulous lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn, who worked for them both. His career suggests an entree into a biographical effort to compare Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and President Donald J. Trump, both of whom demonstrated an aptitude for arousing popular fears and animosities and for sowing discord and divisiveness. Both were mendacious.” Whitfield added that Trump, unlike McCarthy, added a toxic mix of bigotry and nativism.
Now, I admit the connection between Kamala Harris and John Henry Faulk is more tenuous, but can be found in the joy, humor, and freedom themes Harris is bringing to the current campaign. It fits well the closing lines from the late Molly Ivins in a column she wrote about Faulk. She implored, “So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
|
|
Discussing:
- Trump: U.S. takeover of Gaza Strip, "Riviera of the Middle East" (2 replies)
- U.S. Treasury Dept. data breach? (1 reply)
- Let them eat cake... (2 replies)
- How an arcane Treasury Department office became ground zero in the war over federal spending (6 replies)
- TN Voucher bill contracts with Arkansas reject (1 reply)
- Are Meta/Zuckerberg paying a bribe? (3 replies)
- Plane crash in the Potomac (3 replies)
- Maryville Jan. 6 felon, pardoned, faces sentencing for conspiracy to murder federal employees conviction (3 replies)
- Google Maps will change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America (2 replies)
- Bridgestone closes a tire plant in Tennessee with 700 layoffs and other reductions (2 replies)
- If illegal immigrants are freeloaders.... (1 reply)
- Tim, Tim, Tim...Sigh... (1 reply)
TN Progressive
- It's Time to Call For the Arrest of Elon Musk! (RoaneViews)
- Books (RoaneViews)
- Tennessee Legislature...Theme Park or Rocky Horror? (RoaneViews)
- Sunday Sermon (RoaneViews)
- (Whitescreek Journal)
- Lee's Fried Chicken in Alcoa closed (BlountViews)
- Alcoa, Hall Rd. Corridor Study meeting, July 30, 2024 (BlountViews)
- My choices in the August election (Left Wing Cracker)
- July 4, 2024 - aka The Twilight Zone (Joe Powell)
- Chef steals food to serve at restaurant? (BlountViews)
- Blount County, TDOT make road deal for gun mfg ignoring town of Louisville,TN, (BlountViews)
- Winter at the Big Rocks (Whitescreek Journal)
TN Politics
- U.S. Department of Justice backs out of Tennessee transgender care case (TN Lookout)
- Tennessee speaker’s bill would defund local governments for violating state law (TN Lookout)
- Stockard on the Stump: Old hands, not dark money, push vouchers to passage (TN Lookout)
- U.S. Senate confirms Russ Vought, a Project 2025 author, to manage the nation’s budget (TN Lookout)
- Seattle judge is second to indefinitely block Trump’s birthright citizenship order (TN Lookout)
- “A horrible idea”; under a new law, older teens charged with murder will be tried as adults (TN Lookout)
Knox TN Today
- Breaking: Knox schools to close Monday-Tuesday (Knox TN Today)
- Lady Vols upset No. 5 UConn for signature win (Knox TN Today)
- Tennyson, RSV and horses (Knox TN Today)
- ‘How Baking Soda Helped Save Our Birds’ (Knox TN Today)
- Elite Chance Frye: Special match, special cousin, special community (Knox TN Today)
- Authentic Mexican fare at Mariscos Pacifico Nayarit (Knox TN Today)
- Knox the Fox shares James Beard Award semifinalists (Knox TN Today)
- Service highlight: Paws to Visit (Knox TN Today)
- Zakai Zeigler to visit Food City Deane Hill (Knox TN Today)
- Fast-Charging program moving ahead in Tennessee (Knox TN Today)
- Badger goes cold to find his waterfall (Knox TN Today)
- Sphere weather (Knox TN Today)
Local TV News
- NWS ranks fatal Morgan County tornado as EF-2 preliminarily (WBIR)
- Man pleads guilty to murder in decade old Knoxville missing persons case (WATE)
- Megan Boswell Trial Day 3 | Defense questions evidence after prosecution shows edited text exchange (WBIR)
- Knox County Schools Board of Education approves new K-8 school (WATE)
- EF-2 tornado confirmed in Morgan County by National Weather Service (WATE)
- National Weather Service confirms tornado touched down Grainger County (WATE)
- Here are the 14 Big Lots stores staying open in Tennessee (WBIR)
- PHOTOS: Severe storms cause damage in East Tennessee (WATE)
- Heart of the Matter: Blount County Sheriff James Berrong (WBIR)
- Mother, daughter dead, others injured after tornado in Morgan County (WATE)
- KCS naming facilities committee to consider naming Gibbs High School baseball field after Morgan Wallen (WBIR)
- Sevierville releases statement after 'comments, emails and phone calls' targeting city staff over RV dealer's overly-tall flagpole (WBIR)
News Sentinel
State News
- Bill would ban most popular hemp products in Tennessee - Chattanooga Times Free Press (Times Free Press)
- Dear Abby: Man’s delusions put brother in a difficult spot - Chattanooga Times Free Press (Times Free Press)
- James Willis Adams Obituary - Chattanooga Times Free Press (Times Free Press)
- First-quarter struggles doom UTC women vs. UNC Greensboro - Chattanooga Times Free Press (Times Free Press)
Wire Reports
- Musk Says He’ll Rehire DOGE’s Marko Elez After Racist Posts: Here’s What To Know About Agency - Forbes (US News)
- Searchers in Alaska scour frozen tundra and icy seas for missing plane with 10 aboard - The Associated Press (US News)
- Federal election commissioner says Trump is trying to improperly remove her - NPR (US News)
- U.S. Steel Stock Is Dropping. Trump Is Altering the Deal With Nippon. - Barron's (Business)
- Trump tells Ishiba at the White House that he wants to slash the US trade deficit with Japan - The Associated Press (US News)
- Trump administration suspends $5bn electric vehicle charging program - The Guardian US (Business)
- Gold poised for sixth week of gains on safe-haven demand - Reuters (Business)
- Trump delays tariffs on small packages from China - BBC.com (Business)
- Trump says he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week - Reuters (US News)
- Trump administration agrees not to publicly identify FBI agents on Jan. 6 cases without advance warning - POLITICO (US News)
- Stock Market Mixed Amid Trump Tariff Fears: Weekly Review - Investor's Business Daily (Business)
- How Many Federal Worker Resignations Would Be a Lot? - The New York Times (US News)
- Not 1. Not 2. Not 3. Not 4. 5 winter storms could deliver more snow than the last two winters combined - CNN (US News)
- White House calls mixed jobs numbers 'weak,' blames Biden - CNBC (Business)
- Consumer inflation fears spike in February as tariff worries hit sentiment - CNBC (Business)
Local Media
Lost Medicaid Funding
Search and Archives
TN Progressive
Nearby:
- Blount Dems
- Herston TN Family Law
- Inside of Knoxville
- Instapundit
- Jack Lail
- Jim Stovall
- Knox Dems
- MoxCarm Blue Streak
- Outdoor Knoxville
- Pittman Properties
- Reality Me
- Stop Alcoa Parkway
Beyond:
- Nashville Scene
- Nashville Post
- Smart City Memphis
- TN Dems
- TN Journal
- TN Lookout
- Bob Stepno
- Facing South
Thanks so much. This made my
Thanks so much. This made my day.