Trump resurrects oldest GOP scare tactic over democratic socialist wins

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Trump resurrects oldest GOP scare tactic over democratic socialist wins
Recent wins by democratic socialists have Trump reviving Cold War-era fears

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published July 7, 2026 8:37AM (EDT)


(Salon) It was only a matter of time before Donald Trump went full Joe McCarthy. Since the president first entered politics, he’s been using many of the classic Red Scare tactics: enemies lists, purges, denaturalization, expulsions, jailing of political opposition. It’s been done before, here and elsewhere. But it looks like Trump now sees it as his magic key to the midterms.

Republicans have been playing this card for nearly a century now. Throughout the Cold War, they tarred the Democratic Party with the communist label with some success, especially during the early post-war years of the 1940s and 1950s. The investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Army-McCarthy hearings dominated the political discourse for years, with everyone in government and throughout the entertainment industry looking over their shoulders, worrying that their youthful attendance at a left-wing meeting would land them in hot water. In those early days of television, it became the biggest show in the country, and certain people hovering around those who were perpetrating these witch hunts had a lingering, profound effect on the nation’s future. One of them was a lawyer named Roy Cohn.

....(snip)....

Trump was a child during the 1950s, so he almost certainly wasn’t aware of Cohn’s influence on the Red Scare. But as an early baby boomer, he grew up in a time when the nation was steeped in anti-communism. Unlike the majority of his generational cohort, he never rebelled against the establishment that promoted it. I doubt he ever really thought much about it; he just absorbed the language and the attitude, which he has recently found useful to tar his political opponents.

....(snip)....

It’s supposedly predicated on the primary wins of several Democratic House candidates who identify as democratic socialists, in addition to such nemeses as Somalia-born Rep. Ilhan Omar, a progressive Democrat from Minnesota, for whom he has a burning hatred. Trump must also be consumed with jealousy over the popularity and success of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an immigrant and self-professed democratic socialist, who also happens to be young, handsome and charismatic.

But the president may be misreading this moment. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/07/07/trump-resurrects-oldest-gop-scare-tactic-over-democratic-socialist-wins/