Republican leaders must step up

I again woke to a headline in The Post reporting something disgusting, immoral or antithetical to our American form of government from former president Donald Trump [“Trump takes aim at Haley’s birth name,” front page, Jan. 20]. It’s sad but not surprising.

This particular incident was regarding racist name-calling. Other days, it has been shameless lies, attacks on the fundamental principles of our democracy or shocking personal behavior. I keep hoping the Republican leadership or the Republican electorate in general will finally act, as they finally did against Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) during the “Red Scare” of the 1950s. Just like today, in McCarthy’s time, elected officials were reluctant to act because they feared reprisals. It took the courage of prominent journalist Edward R. Murrow, Sens. Margaret Chase Smith (R-Maine) and Ralph Flanders (R-Vt.), Army counsel Joseph Welch and others.