President Trump has painted Democratic primaries as targets for communists, but the Communist Party USA dismisses that claim.
The party condemned his “red‑baiting tirades” against the Democratic Socialists of America primary victories in New York, Colorado and the District, labeling his rhetoric a “dangerous escalation of anti‑communist hysteria.”
CPUSA co-Chair Joe Sims contends that no current or hopeful Democratic candidates are communists.
“I don’t know any Democratic candidate for Congress that’s a member of the Communist Party,” he said in a Friday statement. “I’m also unaware of any member of Congress that’s a member, though I wish there were. Hey, that’d be an awful lot of dues money.”
In a social media post on Monday, Mr. Trump labeled D.C. mayoral nominee Janeese Lewis George a “Communist” and promised to block her agenda. Following her recent Democratic primary victory, the president criticized her stands on police and immigration enforcement, stating he would not let the city “be destroyed by a Communist adherent who has no intention to MAKE WASHINGTON GREAT AGAIN!”
Ms. George is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, not the Communist Party USA.
The president also criticized primary victories by Democratic candidates in Colorado and New York, condemning them as “hardcore, godless communists” and describing their popularity as the “greatest threat to our country since its founding.”
The comments came in response to the primary win by democratic socialist Melat Kiros for a Denver congressional seat, a trend that Republicans are making a focal point of midterm messaging.
Mr. Trump also repeatedly referred to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a “communist lunatic.”
Speaking in Washington at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Policy Conference last week, Mr. Trump declared communism to be the “greatest threat” facing the U.S., even topping the dangers of both world wars, Pearl Harbor and 9/11. He used his address to religious conservatives to warn against what he termed “godless” communist ideologies infiltrating American institutions.
Mr. Sims countered, “Our enemy is not God; it’s capitalism.”
He noted in his Friday statement, “Democratic socialists are just that: democratic, and socialist. They want reforms to relieve suffering. Stop the red‑baiting,” adding that CPUSA seeks a “peaceful path to socialism.”
His CPUSA co-chair, Rossana Cambron, chimed in by saying “MAGA is going to lose the midterms, and Trump’s getting desperate.”
Speaking on the eve of Independence Day at Mount Rushmore, Mr. Trump said there is 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.”
His underscoring point: “We’re not going to let this happen.”
