To listen to representatives of the U.S. government lately, you’d think the United States is at imminent risk of a communist takeover. “Communism is the single greatest threat to our country and its history,” President Donald Trump said in a recent speech outside Atlanta. House Speaker Mike Johnson has likened the midterms to a battle between maintaining the republic, if his party wins, or losing it to communism if it doesn’t. Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed it was a “transnational threat,” with the Cuban government conspiring with America’s far left.

It is a well-worn trope in American politics, harking back to the Joseph McCarthy era of the 1950s and the associated “Red Scare.” But why has it returned now? Because, when a party in power is deeply unpopular, it must find another boogeyman to blame for its people’s woes.

Anyone with a vague understanding of communism knows that these claims are disingenuous. But some Americans are susceptible to believing it, particularly those who came of age during the Cold War, when communism was shorthand for our gravest national threat.

The first step to combatting disinformation is real information, so here are some facts.

Communism is a political and economic system in which property, means of production and natural resources are collectively owned by the community or state, rather than private individuals, and divided either equally or according to need. The........

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