Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith was the first U.S. Senator to speak up against the rhetoric and tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, in her 1950 “Declaration of Conscience” speech on the Senate floor. She will go down in history for it.
As of now, Maine Sen. Susan Collins will be remembered for saying that Donald Trump “learned a big lesson” from his (first) impeachment. Indeed he did; that people like Sen. Collins would let him get away with anything, even trying to overturn the results of an election through violence.
Sen. Collins said she was “shocked” by Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz for attorney general. She’s halfway home to Captain Renault’s “I’m shocked, shocked, to find gambling going on in here!” from “Casablanca.” How can she or anyone else still be shocked by anything Trump does?
There is still time for Sen. Collins to declare her conscience. I wouldn’t write this letter if I didn’t think that she couldn’t still stand up and follow the example of her illustrious and courageous predecessor – a hero to my Maine grandparents, by the way.
Phil Holland
Powell, VT
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