In recent months, hysterical opponents of Donald Trump have stoked fears about his candidacy by likening the billionaire to Hitler, raising questions about his mental health, attempting to tie him to the Ku Klux Klan, claiming he may pose a nuclear threat, and warning that a Trump presidency will disrupt international diplomacy and the world order.
While these sentiments might seem novel to most political observers, the template for such attacks may have been set more than five decades ago. All these claims were deployed against Senator Barry Goldwater during his 1964 presidential campaign, which was widely considered a threat to the political establishment.
Countless commentators have compared Trump’s candidacy to Goldwater’s insurgent presidential run. But largely missing from the debate is how Goldwater faced some of the very same attacks made against Trump.
Psychiatrists
In a rare appearance on Fox News on Sunday, Rush Limbaugh noted that Mitt Romney’s father was involved in an attempt to paint Goldwater as a crazed extremist.
Limbaugh stated: “Well, it’s all that and more, but it’s not unprecedented. His dad did much the same thing against Barry Goldwater in a cabal with Republican establishment guys back in 1964. The establishment, this isn’t new. The establishment not wanting outsiders, not wanting conservatives, it isn’t anything new.”
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