The C-word
The 1950s are back, baby
It must be a sign of desperation. Obviously, the president hasn’t stirred enough outrage in hurling the word “socialist” around. He wants you to be afraid, very afraid, and the s-word wasn’t cutting it.
Even though he’s really a Democratic Socialist, the election of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani took the sting out of “socialist” and “socialism.” People like his ideas. The president forgot all about evil socialism when Mamdani visited him. 45/47 nearly swooned over the mayor’s good looks and charisma.
So, he’s changed tack and is trying something stronger. He’s flinging the word “communism” around like parade candy. In a two-week span, Reuters.com tracked the president’s use of the words “communism” or “communist” 81 times. It’s a blanket approach where you label everything that doesn’t please you.
He’ll call Democratic primary winners communist, especially if they have progressive ideas, but I’m waiting for him to level it against the new housing bill. Maybe he can blame the twice-failed resurfacing of the Reflecting Pool on communism.
If the president is trying to appeal to young voters with a campaign of communist-mongering, that may not be a great strategy. Voters under 50 don’t understand the grip that Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare had on America 70 years ago. I didn’t live through it, but I know enough history to understand the way that that propaganda campaign worked.
It was powerful, and it hurt the lives and livelihoods of educators, government officials, and a lot of people in Hollywood. The communist scare didn’t end with McCarthy’s demise either. It lurked for several decades; even Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan used the c-word on occasion.
And now it’s back, which should be no surprise, really. Our current president’s tenure is little more than an extended propaganda campaign, and it will be interesting to see if this latest epithet lands bigly, especially if he adds “godless” to it. That could rile up the religious base, and nothing would please him more.
Yet, because he uses the word amorphously, it’s helpful to remember just what communism is. It involves getting rid of private property and undoing social classes. Under communism, the state owns the means of production, but there are various flavors of communism, one of which is associated with religion.
It is interesting to note that early Christians held their property and possessions in common. I repeat: Many early Christians held their property and possessions in common.
The base tries over and over to assert that America was forged as a Christian nation, so the next time you hear that trope trotted out, remind your friends that Christianity’s economic and social beginnings were not rooted in capitalism but in communism. Feel free to use that factoid at your next opportunity.
And just to be clear, I’m not advocating communism, but those of us who pay attention see the president’s latest foray for what it is. We must not stay silent.
I grew up believing the capitalist line: if everyone worked hard enough, they could get their share of the American dream. According to the Aspen Institute, however, the top 10% of Americans now own just over 69% of our total wealth. The gap continues to grow. More of us are realizing that the opportunity open to our parents and grandparents is closing fast.
Men like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman are capitalizing on this closing gap. Their aim is not communism, but it sure isn’t democratic, either. They will happily use the president’s words to steer the electorate to their advantage. So, if he calls everything that displeases him “communist,” they will find a way to push that in front of our eyeballs.
Listen to what the president says but listen even more closely to what he doesn’t say. He uses the words “freedom” and “liberty” a lot, but he shies away from “democracy.” To be fair, “democracy” never occurs in the Constitution, either, but if you want to point out the evils of a certain political ideology (starting with the letter “c”), wouldn’t it stand to reason that you’d remind people of its superior counterpart?
In President Biden’s inaugural speech, the word “democracy” appeared 11 times, a record besting Harry Truman and FDR’s third inaugural speeches, where each used it nine times. In Trump’s first inaugural address, it never appeared, and in 2024, it was used once.
In my youth, the Soviet Union was one of the big communist powers, but today, only five countries—China, Vietnam, North Korea, Laos, and Cuba—are recognized as such. The president doesn’t point to infiltration of communist ideals from any of those countries.
No, according to him, the threat is coming from inside the house in the guise of people wanting better transportation systems, a better form of healthcare, worker protections, clean air and water, and a decent way to make ends meet. All these goals would be good for you and me, but not for “he,” and that is why anyone favoring any of these now becomes part of a communist plot.
The president’s words and deeds clearly show that democracy is not and never was the end goal with him. It’s all about being “number one,” being “on top,” being “the best,” being “hot.” It’s all about him and figuring out how to whip up a frenzy to draw media attention to himself. Using the c-word is just the latest strategy.
Not apropos, but I recall George F. Will saying that Communism was actually practiced in only two places: Cuba and the English Department at Duke.
“…flinging the word “communism” around like parade candy.”
Great simile.
And after observing blocks and blocks of streets lined with smashed, uncollected, and wasted candy in our town the morning after our July 4 parade, I can only hope a similar fate for Trump’s hallow and meaningless words.