And the Trump conviction …

Margaret Chase Smith in 1964 (Image by Universal Studios, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

So much has been said, written, what can I add? Little, except this:

There’s a wonderful piece by Helen Cox Richardson elsewhere in Substack, one that doesn’t mention the former president and convicted felon whom the Republicans are likely to present for election again to the American people. Richardson tells instead the story of the 1950s and the Republican senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith. As a kid, I remember reading stories about Senator Smith in the Chicago Daily News during the 1960s – and admiring her.

Richardson’s history lesson makes only an oblique reference of contemporary events. It begins:

Today, as MAGA Republicans attack the rule of law and promise to prosecute their political enemies if they get back into power, it’s easy to forget that once upon a time, certain Republican politicians championed reason and compromise and took a stand against MAGAs’ predecessors. On June 1, 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican from Maine, stood up against Republican Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin and his supporters, who were undermining American democracy in a crusade against “communism.” …

Please take the time to read the rest and learn more of this extraordinary woman and by extension the times we live in.