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In the 1950s, a junior senator from Wisconsin blanketed America with lies and conspiracies. The “Red Scare” he created led millions to believe that communists had infiltrated the federal government, and he persecuted those who stood up for the Constitution.

The cycle repeats with a former president who continues to lie and spread conspiracies as easily as he breathes. And millions continue to believe him at the cost of those who stand by the legal system and the Constitution.

It’s time to take a harder look at Donald Trump’s statements over the last six months and the danger he presents to all of us.

“If I happen to be president, and I see somebody who is doing well and beating me very badly, I’ll say, ‘go down and indict them.‘”—November 8, 2023

“I have five lists that I’m ready to go, List number one is fire. I’m gonna fire as many people as I can, and list number two is an indictment. Frankly, I could indict a ham sandwich and these goofball Democrat prosecutors like Alvin Bragg and Jack Smith and Fani Willis and the civil fraud prosecutor Tish James up in New York, and we may have two other goofballs, Michigan attorney general and this Arizona attorney general.”— November 8, 2023, Mike Davis, former aide to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Donald Trump’s prospective “interim” U.S. attorney general,

“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”—November 13, 2023

“Nobody has ever seen anything like we’re witnessing right now … [Immigrants] poisoning the blood of our country.”—December 17, 2023

“… an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”—September 22, 2023, Trump posted on Truth Social responding to former joint chiefs chairman Mark Milley, who said in his retirement speech, “We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution. . .  and we’re willing to die to protect it.”

“I would be a dictator only on day one. After that, I’m not a dictator, OK?”—December 6, 2023, in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. He repeated a version of the statement on January 20, 2024, at the Young Republicans Club in New York.

“IF YOU GO AFER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”—August 4, 2023, posted on Donald Trump’s social media service, Truth Social. It was said in response to charges brought by Department of Justice officials regarding his alleged actions on January 6, 2020.

“In the end, they’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you — and I’m just standing in their way.”—June 10, 2023

“I am your justice . . . I am your retribution.”—March 4, 2023

Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was aided and abetted in his red scare tactics by many willing colleagues until he collapsed under the weight of his lies in the Army-McCarthy hearings.

When will Donald Trump meet a similar fate?