Differences between crackdowns on dissent now and in the early Cold War period

First, the similarities: 1. Government actors are directly threatening both private citizens and government employees to suppress dissenting speech. 2. The attacks on free expression are notable but they’re still very rare. Most people in this country can still say what they want in public without threats. 3. The pressure from the government is coming down against what are perceived to be left-leaning views, and the government is attacking left-leaning individuals and organizations, along with non-political individuals and organizations that the government is portraying as aiding the left. 4. Joe McCarthy in the 1950s had a lot of similarities with Donald Trump in the past decade. See my post from 2016 discussing this point. Now, some differences: 1. Back in the Cold War period, there was a direct threat from the left. The Communist party and related organizations were allied with the Soviet Union, a rival power. Far-left groups in the U.S. were generally nonviolent (late 1960s and…