Was it a time warp? I was a little kid in the 50's and I remember Joe McCarthy. Prototypical RW GOPER, spewing conspiracy theory bullshit about commies in the State Dept, waving around a list of phony numbers.
Throwing around words like comrade, using the word progressive as an epithet, it's so f'ing 50's.
And it is SO f'ing current GOP, with a treasonous insurrection sweetener thrown in for good measure.