President Donald Trump is clinging to a new line of attack on Democrats ahead of the midterms, and according to a new piece from The Guardian, he is only doing it because he is “out of cards to play” as his presidency continues to flounder.
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The piece, hailing from former Labor Secretary and outspoken political activist Robert Reich, argued that Trump is “scrambling” for a new approach to midterm messaging in response to “the economy, foreign policy and immigration all going poorly” for him. This, Reich explained, is why he has taken to repeatedly labeling his Democratic opponents as “communists.”
“He can’t talk about the economy because prices continue to rise faster than wages, which means most Americans are getting poorer,” Reich wrote. “He can’t talk about foreign policy because his war in Iran has been a debacle, his tariffs an utter failure, and he obviously hasn’t settled the war in Ukraine on ‘day one.’ He can’t talk about immigration because his raids and mass deportations have become so unpopular.”
He continued: “So, facing the midterm elections, what’s left? He’s resorting to the oldest of rightwing tropes – accusing Democrats (especially a rising generation of new, young, vigorous Democratic politicians) of being communists.”
Recently, Trump devoted time in his Mt. Rushmore speech for the 250th anniversary celebrations to warning of a supposed “communist menace” emerging in the U.S., further attacking them as “radicals” and “extremists.”
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“There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success,” Trump said. “You can be a communist, or you can be a patriot. You cannot be both.”
“Oh, please,” Reich continued. “For years, Trump has been trying to scare Americans about Democrats who advocate Medicare for All, universal childcare, free public higher education and higher taxes on the super-wealthy to pay for them (all of which the rising young Democrats are advocating). But he hasn’t gotten anywhere because these initiatives are supported by most Americans. So now he’s throwing scary labels at the wall and seeing what sticks.”
Trump’s new line of attack comes as conservatives have gone all-in on alarmism over a new wave of self-described “democratic socialists” finding success in recent midterm primaries, with many using the same tactic as Trump of conflating the political philosophy with communism. These wins were most striking in the recent New York state primaries, which saw candidates, including some non-socialists, backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani surge to victory over more establishment-friendly alternatives.
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