Breckenridge Texan

Trump’s McCarthy-like tactics are tired.

Editor’s Note: This column originally appeared in The Dallas Morning News, where Glenn Rogers is a contributing columnist.

By Glenn Rogers

In 1973, I learned to two-step with a West Texas rancher’s daughter, a skill that served me well in my days in Aggieland and beyond. Ironically, the venue was in Waco, then the dancing capitol of Texas, while attending a Texas Farm Bureau citizenship seminar at Baylor University.

The leadership conference focused on patriotism and fighting communism. The guest speaker was W. Cleon Skousen, and we each received a copy of his book, The Naked Communist. Skousen, an attorney, taught at Brigham Young University, worked for the FBI and served for four years as chief of police in Salt Lake City. He lectured at John Birch Society events throughout the United States for many years. He claimed that President Dwight Eisenhower was a communist agent and asserted that bankers, including the Rockefellers, were conspiring to create a one-world government.

While some of Skousen’s theories were wildly conspiratorial, this seminar provided an informative look into the belly of the communist beast. As I learned at the seminar and still believe, communism is a serious potential threat to the freedoms we enjoy as American citizens.

Likewise, McCarthyesque conspiracy theories and weaponization of the ominous moniker “communist,” too often applied to basically anyone that does not pass a loyalty test or is willing to think critically, is equally dangerous.

From 1950 to 1954, during the Cold War Red Scare, Sen. Joseph McCarthy occupied the spotlight as he accused hundreds of State Department officials and other influential citizens of being communist infiltrators. In 1954, the American public watched nationally televised congressional inquiries known as the Army-McCarthy hearings. For many weeks, the public observed McCarthy’s bullying tactics and unproven accusations, ultimately leading to his popular decline and censure by the Senate.

The chief counsel to McCarthy’s committee was Roy Cohn. Cohn first gained notoriety as a young, brilliant and vicious lawyer in the Rosenberg spy trial of the early 1950s which resulted in the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. He rode the wave of anti-communism to become one of the most feared legal guns in New York and beyond.

Cohn was considered a master manipulator and legal magician. He recognized the political value of constantly wrapping himself in the flag and ending every public comment with “God Bless America!” The perpetually tan Cohn was a master at leaking strategic information and manipulating the press. While representing a stream of high-profile Mafia clientele, including the likes of John Gotti, boss of the Gambino crime family and Carmine “Lilo” Galante, head of the Bonanno crime family, he managed to stay connected by a glamorous, larger-than-life persona to both legitimate and illegitimate clients. Cohn was known for no rules, no scruples, no boundaries, and was considered the attorney to hire to beat the system.

Fast forward to 1973. A young real estate developer named Donald Trump and his father, Fred, had been sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for housing discrimination against Black apartment seekers. It was reported that Black applicants were labeled with a “C” for colored, to indicate their race, and promptly denied housing.

Against advice to quietly settle the suit, Trump hired Cohn, who advised him to aggressively attack the government and file a $100 million countersuit. The countersuit failed, but the case eventually settled without an admission of guilt, and Cohn publicly declared it a victory.

A close relationship developed between Trump and Cohn and remained until 1986, when Cohn was disbarred. He died from AIDS shortly thereafter. Cohn looked at Trump as someone cut from the same cloth as him. For his part, the future president once stated, “Roy is my greatest friend.”

Leaders are molded by their mentors and the people they spend the most time with during development and career experiences. More than one observer has postulated that Trump learned his propensity for feint-and-dodge strategy, rabble rousing appeals to patriotism, a perpetual tan and personal denigration of opponents from Cohn.

The scorched earth tactics used by Cohn, adopted by Trump and more recently employed by Gov. Greg Abbott have laid the groundwork for paranoid politics and created a divisive political chasm throughout our country. The political style of constant attacks, no apologies and never admitting wrongs has become more pervasive than ever.

Echoing Cohn’s Red Scare of the 1950s, Trump utilizes “communist” frequently as a label to attack his domestic political opponents and to rally his base. Ideological contrasts are accentuated and political opposition is framed as an existential threat to the nation. Downballot Trump sycophants seem to be adopting similar tactics at an alarming rate.

My prediction is that every opponent to a Trump-endorsed candidate will be labeled a “communist” between now and November. After all, insults and personal attacks grab headlines quicker than substantive arguments.

In the late fall of 1973, while I was busy studying The Naked Communist, a streaking trend emerged. Running naked in public occurred mostly on college campuses, with intense competition to set the record for the most streakers. The next year, Ray Stevens’ song, “The Streak,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart and gave rise to the oft-repeated phrase, “Don’t look, Ethel!”

The number of streakers that were Naked Communists is still unknown. But we do know that communism did not win the day over capitalism. And I pray it never will.

Today, the best way to keep communism down is not by name-calling and fearmongering, it is by going out there and proving to young people that grit, determination and faith will keep the American Dream alive.

Trends like streaking and the Democratic Socialists of America come and go, but the true American Way, well that is here to stay.

Glenn Rogers is a rancher and veterinarian in Palo Pinto County. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 2021 to 2025, representing Stephens County. He is a Dallas Morning News contributing columnist.