Labeling rivals as 'communists' - a term steeped in American historical negativity
Rewritten Article:
In a strategic move aimed at casting opposition as a threat, former President Donald Trump has consistently branded critics as "communists." From judges to educators, this historically loaded label has been deployed by the second Trump administration to challenge the American identity, culture, and values.
Trump himself revealed the strategy when he spoke about defeating his Democratic opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, during the White House election in 2021. "All we have to do is define our opponent as being a communist or a socialist or somebody who is going to destroy our country," he said. After winning the election with the votes of over 77 million Americans, Trump carried this strategy into his second term.
However, it's important to clarify that the form of communism wielding significant influence today is in countries like China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba, not in the United States. According to Raymond Robertson of the Texas A&M University Bush School of Government & Public Service, the core belief of communism is the government's ability to provide goods and services better than markets. Few people adhering to this belief exist in the West, especially those who aren't advocating for the government to run U.S. Steel or Tesla.
"The word 'communist,' on the other hand, can carry great emotional power as a rhetorical tool, even now," Robertson adds. "It's all the more potent as a pejorative - though frequently inaccurate, even dangerous - amid the contemporary flash of social media and misinformation."
Trump's frequent use of the term "communist" was evident during a controversial speech in Michigan, made during a week of unfavorable economic and political news. Jacob Neiheisel, a political communications expert at the University at Buffalo, explains that "communist" is heavily loaded with negative affect, especially for older Americans who grew up during the Cold War.
Appending emotional terms to political adversaries is a tactic to diminish their legitimacy and paint them in a negative light, according to Neiheisel. Trump, who is notorious for labeling people he views as obstacles, remembers the fear and paranoia of the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and the Cold War.
The threat of communists influencing or eliminating the United States has been a recurring fear throughout the nation's history. The "Red Scare" of 1920 and the "McCarthyism" era were periods of extreme paranoia about the possibility of a communist-led revolution in America. These periods led to some of the country's most controversial chapters, with McCarthyism named after Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who conducted televised hearings at the start of the Cold War.
Roy Cohn, McCarthy's chief counsel during the hearings, played a significant role in Trump's life in the 1980s and 1990s, when Trump rose as a real estate mogul in New York. Though the Cold War was decades old at this point, the threat of nuclear war was widespread.
Communism started to collapse in 1989, and the Soviet Union was dissolved two years later. It's now Russia, ruled by President Vladimir Putin.
However, communism persists in China, with which Trump is engaged in a trade war that may result in higher prices and fewer products for Americans.
Robertson suggests that Trump's political debates are not about communism vs. capitalism but rather the degree to which government intervention is necessary and appropriate. Labeling individuals who support minimal government intervention as "communists" can generate strong reactions and rally support, according to Robertson. "Unfortunately, it works really well with busy voters who do not have a lot of time to think about technical definitions and economic paradigms," he adds. "It is also really helpful (to Trump) because it is inflammatory, making people angry, which can be addictive."
- The "strategy" employed by the second Trump administration to challenge the American identity, culture, and values involves labeling critics, including judges and educators, as "communists," a historically loaded term with great emotional power.
- Donald Trump, a proponent of this strategy, stated during the 2021 White House election that the key to defeating his opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, was to define her as being a "communist" or a socialist.
- Raymond Robertson of the Texas A&M University Bush School of Government & Public Service explains that while the form of communism wielding significant influence today is in countries like China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba, the term "communist" carries great emotional power as a rhetorical tool, even now.
- In the contemporary context of social media and misinformation, the pejorative use of the term "communist" can diminish the legitimacy and paint political opponents in a negative light, according to Jacob Neiheisel, a political communications expert.
