Since the 1950s, smearing someone through tenuous connections — guilt by association — has been labeled “McCarthyism.” The term was coined by the left, and named after a member of Congress, Senator Joseph McCarthy, who the left contended was too aggressive in rooting out communists in the government.

Hillary Clinton’s speech in Reno, Nevada, [Thursday] was McCarthyism on steroids. Donald Trump, who had a pretty good idea of what she was going to do, said earlier in the day, “Shame on you.” And shame is exactly the right word for Clinton’s disgusting speech.

Hillary Clinton began by attacking Trump for his remarks about America’s inner cities. Trump has noted that in urban centers like Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit and Philadelphia, black children are trapped in failing schools. Their streets are like war zones. (By the way, at least 35 people were shot in Chicago last weekend.) Youth unemployment is through the roof, and many communities are filled with despair.

Clinton accused Trump of “reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters.” But what Trump has been saying is exactly what the left has been saying for the past 30 years.

When rioting breaks out, Clinton and other progressives say, “Well, what do you expect? These cities are run down and people have no hope. They need more investments!” Trump is merely pointing out that the left has been running these cities into the ground.

Trump once went on a radio show with a host who has some wacky opinions. According to Clinton, this means Trump supports the host’s views.

The Trump campaign hires Steve Bannon from Breitbart and Hillary Clinton picks a couple of sarcastic headlines from the website and says Trump must agree with the content of the articles.

Some disgusting white supremacists say they support Trump and Clinton says that proves Trump is a white supremacist.

Someone on the Trump campaign uses what is clearly a sheriff’s star in a post about Clinton corruption and, because it is the same shape as a Star of David, Clinton says Trump is an anti-Semite. Never mind that Trump has a history of fighting anti-Semitism and bigotry.

After Nigel Farage addressed a Trump rally in Mississippi, Clinton did a twofer. She first marginalized Farage by saying he hates immigrants. In reality, the party he heads simply believes that the people of Great Britain, not European bureaucrats, should decide how many immigrants the country takes in. But then Clinton smeared Trump for having Farage on the stage with him.

Before her tirade was over, Clinton blamed Trump for bullying in our schools.

Two Can Play

Let’s subject Hillary Clinton to the same scrutiny. She totally embraces the Black Lives Matter movement, a group which has shouted down anyone who dares to say, “All Lives Matter.” Its anti-police rhetoric has contributed to the assassinations of police officers all over the country. So using Hillary’s reasoning, she must be in favor of police shootings. Of course, that is absurd.

The Black Lives Matter movement recently issued a scathing attack on Israel. So Hillary must be an anti-Semite. (By the way, she has top advisors who have regularly shared with her anti-Israel diatribes. Not once did she reject that material. In fact she has praised it.)

Hillary Clinton served in an administration that refused to take action against the New Black Panther Party for intimidating white voters in Pennsylvania. Oh, by the way, the American Communist Party is all in for Clinton, so she must be a communist.

If Donald Trump delivered a speech about Hillary Clinton that recounted the things I just wrote, the media would tear him apart. But [Thursday], the media regurgitated Hillary’s speech as if it was entirely rational instead of complete demagoguery. That includes Fox News host Shepard Smith, who sounded like he belonged on MSNBC.

Clinton continued the theme that Trump is unlike any decent Republican — George W. Bush, Mitt Romney and John McCain. Really? The left also tried to label Bush, McCain and Romney as bigots!

Having worked for Ronald Reagan, I can tell you the left has been doing this for decades. But I will concede that Hillary sank to new lows of disgust in the rawness of her appeal.

Why This Speech Now?

Hillary Clinton was supposed to give a speech on economic opportunity [Thursday], but instead delivered a vile speech that condemned Trump and his supporters as bigots. Why did she go nuclear now? Virtually every commentator insists the election is over and that Trump has no chance.

I believe the reason she delivered the speech is that she was trying to delete the worst week she has had in the campaign. There were more revelations about her emails, more red flags with her foundation, more talk about her health, more polls showing Trump rising. Clinton’s only road to success is to tear Trump down.

Here’s something else to consider: While the liberal media and progressive left are mocking Trump’s outreach to minority voters, privately there is a lot of nervousness. No Republican presidential nominee has made such a direct appeal to black voters as Trump has been making in the last ten days. And some polling suggests he might be getting traction.

For example, the poll I mentioned yesterday that had Trump leading in Florida found him winning 20% of the black vote. If that figure holds on Election Day, Hillary has no chance!

Another reason for Hillary’s attack may be the evidence that suburban Republican women are “coming home” to the GOP. The percentage of Republicans supporting Trump, which has been lagging, appears to be strengthening.

The speech could have been a preemptive strike against further GOP unification. The left knows that no one wants to be called a bigot. So Hillary is trying to make Trump radioactive.

By the way, the major #NeverTrump group backing the independent candidacy of Evan McMullin folded this week. Did you hear about that on the evening news?

One Final Thought

Conservatives and Republicans in and out of office, including people like Rush Limbaugh, are regularly accused of using rhetoric that leads to violence. Bill Clinton famously blamed the bombing of a federal government building in Oklahoma City on “hate radio” and conservative rhetoric against government.

When a Muslim gets bacon thrown at him, it is because Republicans are calling terrorists “radical Islamists.”

With that thought in mind, consider this: Hillary Clinton said [Thursday] that Donald Trump is the candidate of white supremacists, the KKK, Nazis and bigots everywhere. If that were true — and it is obviously not — there would be plenty of people who might think that Trump’s assassination would be justified. There has already been at least one attempt on his life.

Some progressives are justifying the kind of violence that we saw last week against Trump supporters in Minneapolis.

The left is playing with fire.