Trump did just that – the branding of Harris “Comrade Kamala” – and he won in November. More than 77 million Americans who vote (49.9% of votes) agree, and Trump is carrying that strategy into his second term.
“What he’s talking about isn’t actually communism.”
In 2025, Communism will have a major influence in countries such as China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba. But it’s not the US.
“The heart of communism is the belief that governments can do better than the market when providing goods and services. There are very few people in the West who seriously believe that,” said Raymond Robertson of Texas A&M University of Bush Government Public Services. “Unless the government insists we should run steel and Tesla, they are not simply communists.”
On the other hand, the term “communist” can still carry great emotional powers as a rhetorical tool. In a modern flash of social media and misinformation, it is more powerful as all light jordy – often inaccurate and even dangerous, but it is even more powerful. After all, the fears and delusions of the Russian Revolution, the “red fear,” World War II, McCarthyism, and the Cold War have declined in the 20th century past. But Trump, 78, is famous for labeling people he considers as obstacles.
“We cannot allow a few radical communist survivors to prevent our law from enforcing,” Trump celebrated his first 100 days on Tuesday in Michigan. The White House did not respond to the meaningful demands that Trump called someone “communist.”
The timing of his use of “communists” is remarkable.
Trump’s Michigan speech came during a week of dangerous economic and political news. A few days ago, the Associated Press Civil Service Center issued a poll showing that more Americans disagree with Trump’s priorities.
After the speech, the government reported that the economy had contracted in the first quarter of 2025 as Trump’s tariffs disrupt business.
On Thursday, Senior Presidential Advisor Stephen Miller stepped onto the White House podium and uttered the same C-word four times in about 35 minutes while denounced past policies on issues of transgender, diversity and immigration.
“These are some of the regions where President Trump fought against the cancer that is destroying the country, the communist awakened,” Miller told reporters.
His collection of words provided the choice of ClickBait for social media users and terms that could attract the attention of older Americans. Voters over the age of 45 voted slightly for Trump in 2020 and 2024 against his democratic rival.
Slaps in the middle of Miller’s verdict: “Communist.”
“We’ve seen a lot of experience in political communications at the University of Buffalo,” said Jacob Nasel, a political communication expert at the University of Buffalo.
“Applying emotionally stacked terms to political enemies is a way to minimize their legitimacy in the eyes of the public and portray them from a negative perspective.”
The appearance of the “red terror” era influenced young Trump
The threat that communists could influence or erase the United States has been around for decades and has driven some of the nation’s most glimpse into chapters.
A few years after the First World War in 1917 and the Russian Revolution, along with a wave of immigration led to what was known as the “Red Fear” of 1920.
“McCarthyism” after World War II meant the supposed Communist hunt. It is named after Sen. Joseph McCarthy, a Republican of Wisconsin, who held a hearing that aired at the dawn of the Cold War, which drove anti-communist horrors to new heights with a string of threats, allusions and impuberty.
Culturally, a proposal that someone means “soft” to communism can end a career and ruin a life. The “blacklist” of suspicious communists has multiplied in Hollywood and beyond. McCarthy fell into disgrace and died in 1957.
Roy Cohn, the lead lawyer for the senator during the hearing, became Trump’s leader and fixer in the 1980s and 1990s when Trump rose to become a New York real estate mogul. The Cold War was over 30 years old. The threat of nuclear war was widespread.
Communism began to collapse in 1989, and the Soviet Union dissolved two years later. Currently, it is Russia led by President Vladimir Putin.
But communism — in at least one form — lives in China, and Trump is fighting a trade war in the United States that could bring less expensive products.
By the end of the week, Trump had acknowledged the potential consequences of his government intervention. Americans may not be able to buy what they want right away, and they may be forced to pay more. He argued that China would be more damaged by tariffs.
According to Robertson, the real modern debate is not between capitalism and communism, but about how much governments need to intervene. He suggests that Trump is not actually discussing communism and capitalism anyway.
“To call out people who defend a little government-involved communist” is a typical misleading political rhetoric that works very well with busy voters who don’t have much time to think about technical definitions or economic paradigms,” he said in an email. “It’s inflammatory and it really helps because it makes people angry (for Trump).
