Americans have seen this "enemies of the people" trope before. "I have here in my hand a list of 205...members of the Communist Party," said Joe McCarthy, who "are still working and shaping policy in the State Dept." But McCarthy was merely a U.S. Senator (Feb. 9, 1950)

One gigantic difference between McCarthyism and today, of course: the two great presidents who overlapped that era - Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower - each thought (correctly, of course) that McCarthy was a jerk, a simpleton and a moron. But he wasn't in the White House

McCarthy was convinced that communists were everywhere, as Trump seems to think that terrorists are everywhere today. They apparently are: one has a white van and the other was in a Pittsburgh courtroom this morning