North Texas Daily

“Will and Grace” actress Debra Messing made news after requesting a full disclosure on Trump’s supporters. Messing feels that the public has the right to know who donates to Trump’s campaign for 2020.

As one would expect, Trump immediately blasted her on Twitter for her remarks. He called her a “bad actress in hot water” for wanting to create a “blacklist” for Trump supporters.

The likening of Messing to McCarthy even drew a heated debate on the show “The View” when host, Whoopi Goldberg, said that Messing’s demand is comparable with McCarthyism in the 1950s.

That is simply ridiculous.

According to millercenter.org, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin felt that there had been “world Communist domination” in America and that anyone could have been a communist, from school teachers to politicians. This caused widespread paranoia in America and subsequently caused a lot of people to lose their careers based solely on suspicion. Specifically in the entertainment industry, ten directors and screenwriters were blacklisted in the 1950s for being suspected of communism.

The first difference between the dilemma of Trump, Messing and McCarthyism is that Messing never called out for Trump supporters to be blacklisted from the entertainment industry. It was just assumed so but never confirmed by Messing or anyone else for that matter. While Communism is a legitimatized political party, many Americans view it negatively as a political and social ideology because it comes from an enemy nation.

Even if Messing called for Trump supporters to be blacklisted from the entertainment industry, I feel that social media would stop that from happening. Trump has enough supporters in the country backing him that could prevent that from actually happening.

I’m not saying that Debra Messing is in the right for wanting names of Trump supporters to be released to the public, and as a Democrat, I don’t want to make any unnecessary excuses for her.

However, people are entitled to their political views and they shouldn’t have to feel that there is any type of “witch hunt” conspiring against them. I mean, it is a God given right that is supported by the Constitution to vote freely for you want to be in office.

If Clinton had won in 2016, and a Republican actor/actress requested names of her supporters to be released to the public, we would feel we were being violated of a constitutional right.

Even though Messing did call out supporters of Trump, I believe she did so because she sees Trump as unprofessional. Trump has been a very unorthodox president and while his supporters find it refreshing, he’s too unpredictable for others outside of his political party. He also doesn’t seem interested in maintaining professionalism as a president.

A president shouldn’t name call or go out of his way to respond to those who negatively criticize him. There has to be boundaries between the president and the people and what is appropriate for a president to do. If Obama had done this during his presidency, Republicans would have immediately pointed a finger at Democrats for electing an immature leader who wasn’t fit for his position.

Language is everything in today’s climate and that is why I find it odd when Trump says that Messing is “outing” his supporters. First off, “outing” is a term that describes an LGBTQ person whose sexual orientation is disclosed without their consent. His supporters cannot be “outed” because their political beliefs have nothing to do with their personal sexuality. It simply does not align with the same meaning that LGBTQ people experience with that word.

There are many words in the English language Trump can use to describe his feelings so he should be more mindful of his selection. The term “outing” is not remotely compatible with his situation at all, especially when it’s not going to go anywhere.

Featured Illustration: Thomas Strimpel