Into the Crucible Again!
- mrymntcpw
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Trump ironically uses the term "Biden witch hunt" especially when he wants to divert the conversation away from some egregious act that he has committed.
Before moving on, let's define "crucible".
crucible: a container in which materials or other substances can be heated to very high temperatures
crucible: a severe test
In the 1980’s, I became closely associated with a Pulitzer prize winning opera (The Crucible) by Robert Ward based upon a play by the same name by Arthur Miller. I sang roles in two productions; interviewed Robert Ward and his librettist, Bernard Stambler; and wrote my doctoral document on The Crucible. Then in the first decade of the 21st Century, I directed the courtroom scene at OSU (see photo above).
The play points to two of the darkest periods in American history: the Salem Witchcraft trials, and McCarthyism of the 1950’s. In 1996, the play was made into a full length film directed by
Nicholas Hytner and starred Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder.
The Crucible is a powerful drama based upon actual events of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 where innocent people were falsely accused of witchcraft and were found guilty and hanged. Within this repressive community, those questioned reverted to name-calling that was considered a guarantee of sincerity and a sign of spiritual redemption.
Arthur Miller intended his play to be a statement opposing McCarthyism when the House Un-American Activities Committee began a campaign against Communists in prominent positions within American society, and began interrogating persons associated with the film and television industries that resulted in many actors and writers being blacklisted and barred from working while other “friendly witnesses” (who accused others) continued to work. Miller, himself, was called before the committee, and he refused to name people he had met who were said to be members of the Communist Party.
An AI overview states:
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the courtroom symbolizes the perversion of justice and the triumph of hypocrisy over truth, serving as a powerful metaphor for the McCarthy-era witch hunts of the 1950s. It represents a corrupt legal system where fear and mass hysteria, and religious dogma replace reason and impartiality, leading to the persecution of the innocent and the abuse of authority.
Now, the Trump Administration through its Justice Department, FBI, the “Department of War,” and through social media are once again targeting Americans whose ideology is different from those of MAGA.
Opinion columnist, Tressie MacMillian Cottom writes, “Whether you want to call it authoritarianism or not, the president is criminalizing dissent, from regular people and comedians to political rivals. The culture of retribution breeds a natural but regrettable human impulse to self-censor in our public squares.”
Trump has directed his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to target his enemies and dissenters. Writing to her, Trump commanded, “Pam, I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, and no action.' Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done…There is a GREAT CASE…We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!We can’t delay any longer.”
On Thursday, 9/25, Comey was indicted, and on 10/9/25 Leticia James was also indicted.
James, in a public statement said, “These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties…I am a proud woman of faith, and I know that faith and fear cannot share the same space. And so today I am not fearful, I am fearless, and as my faith teaches me, no weapon formed against me shall prosper. We will fight these baseless charges aggressively, and my office will continue to fiercely protect New Yorkers and their rights. And I will continue to do my job.”
Senator Alex Padilla of California was recently interviewed about his mistreatment at a news conference:being held by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. When asked about what drew him into politics, he cited Proposition 187 in 1994. “Just one final note on the proposition [Proposition 187] itself to underscore the cruelty of it. There was a clause that would have required school personnel to report to the authorities anybody they suspected of being undocumented. Turning teachers and counselors and school personnel into immigration officers...It was popular. It was deemed unconstitutional. And what prevailed? The Constitution. That’s an important lesson."
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NYT 10/03/25
Last month, Jane Fonda and hundreds of members of the entertainment industry have revived the Committee for the First Amendment, a free-expression group that was originally formed by Hollywood stars including her father, Henry Fonda, during the McCarthy era.
The original group was formed in 1947 to oppose the work of the House Un-American Activities Committee, whose investigations into the film industry led to the blacklist of actors, writers and directors who were suspected of Communist sympathies. The original Committee for the First Amendment included Mr. Fonda, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and others who rallied to defend free expression.
In announcing the revival of the group, Ms. Fonda and the other new members recalled the “dark time when the federal government repressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs” and warned that “those forces have returned.”
“The federal government is once again engaged in a coordinated campaign to silence critics in the government, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the entertainment industry,” they said in a statement, which was signed by Ms. Fonda, Spike Lee, Billie Eilish, Pedro Pascal and more than 800 others.
In conclusion, in these trying times, I applaud Fonda and her committee's courage to speak out against irrational, repressive authority. In the opera, the protagonist, John Proctor, when faced with being hanged, refuses to accuse others and sings, “Show a stony heart and with it sink them!”
CPW