word
McCarthyism
Public accusations of disloyalty or subversion without solid evidence.
Origin
Named for U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who in the early 1950s led a campaign against alleged communists in government, Hollywood, and academia. His Senate hearings ruined careers on flimsy or fabricated evidence. The era ended in 1954 when McCarthy was censured, but the term outlasted him.
Modern usage
Levelled at any political campaign of public accusation, blacklisting, or guilt-by-association — by all sides, often loosely.
In the wild
Cancel culture is a new kind of McCarthyism, the columnist argued.— op-ed cliché
Tags
paranoia
accusation
cold-war