Donald Trump sat down with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham last week, and the host asked the president to summarize in one sentence why Republican voters “need to show up in the midterms.” He responded with a single word.
“Communism,” Trump replied.
The obvious problem with such a position is that it’s slanderous nonsense. Whether one agrees with Democrats or not, the idea that they’re embracing communism is obviously bonkers. A related problem is that the president doesn’t appear to have any idea what communism is.
But there’s another concern that generally goes overlooked: Trump’s favorite attack line, which he apparently sees as the foundation of the Republicans’ midterm message, is kind of ironic.
On Tuesday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent endured difficult questions during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, including from Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who marveled at the administration’s extensive interventions in the bond market.
“I can think of no administration in the last 50 years that is quite as communist as the Trump administration,” Himes said.
Himes’ comments, which Bessent largely ignored, came on the heels of a Capitol Hill press conference in which House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked a related question.
“You’re talking a lot about ‘communism,’” a reporter noted. “How is communism any different from what President Trump is doing, getting equity stakes and promising $5,000 checks to Americans and having equity in steel?”
The Louisiana Republican didn’t even try to make the case that the White House’s agenda reflects free market principles, instead replying that Trump “comes up with creative ideas all the time.” Johnson added that he’s “the ideas president.”
And if some of those ideas just happen to resemble communism, so be it.
While there’s no real point in trying to reduce the midterm election cycle to two competing red scares, the exchanges on Capitol Hill were hardly baseless.
Throughout his second term, Trump has staked out an agenda that includes government ownership stakes of private companies; generous checks handed out to every American adult (alongside government-imposed restrictions on where the money can be spent); federal intervention in the bond market; greater government control over the economy; and proposed government subsidies to certain Americans who don’t work.
In a recent piece for The Atlantic, Jonathan Chait explained, “Trump has more in common with Communists than his hostile rhetoric lets on. … Trump’s admiration for Communist political methods is even more pronounced than his respect for its economic system.”
Twice in recent months, Trump himself has boasted that he would be “the greatest communist in history.” It’s a claim worth keeping in mind as the Republican warns of a communist threat while emulating communist tactics.
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