At Long Last, Have You Left No Sense Of Decency?

"Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"    

Special Counsel Joseph Welch

Boston law firm of Hale & Dorr

Army–McCarthy hearings

June 9, 1954

Over the last 8 years or so, I've thought a lot about that statement Joe Welch made to Sen. Joseph McCarthy back in 1954. Here in 2024, 70 years later, there are so many Republicans I would put that question to.  

At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

Last week, Nikki Haley announced she would be voting for Donald Trump this year. 

As you may recall, Haley was the last person still standing late into the Republican primary season looking to challenge Donald Trump for the party nomination for President.  

Haley made many serious and cogent arguments why Donald Trump should not be President again. She addressed issues of his cognitive decline, his many and sundry legal woes and the sheer chaotic nature of his approach to leadership.  

And yet...

She says she's going to vote for him. 

Nikki Haley, at long last, have you left no sense of decency?

Haley is not the only Republican to criticize Trump's worthiness to be President again.  Trump's former Attorney General Bill Barr questioned Trump's intelligence and his emotional fitness for the highest office in the land.

And yet...

He says he's going to vote for him. 

Bill Barr, at long last, have you left no sense of decency?

Decency is in short supply in the Republican party in the age of Donald Trump.   

Over Memorial Day weekend, Joe Biden was made fun of for "wandering" around a cemetery.  The cemetery where his son the war veteran who died of brain cancer 10 years ago is buried.  The cemetery where Joe's first wife and his daughter who died in a car accident in 1970 are buried.  

Making fun of a man visiting a cemetery and trying to score political points where 3 members of this family are buried, does that seem decent? 

Decency died when Donald Trump became the standard bearer of the Republican Party.  Who needs Decency when you're leading in the polls.  

Indulge me why I post this quote from a Doctor Who episode.

"Winning? Is that what you think it's about? I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because, because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun and God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do, because it's right! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind."

There is that word, "decent". 

I think the question for everyone in the Republican Party who thinks supporting a man of questionable character is a good idea:

At long last, have you left no sense of decency? 

I think I know the answer to that. 

And the answer is "no".