President Trump had two messages in his speech at Mount Rushmore on the eve of July 4. The first, expected, message was a traditional celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The second, less expected message was a warning about a “resurgence of the communist menace” in the United States.

“As we approach this magnificent anniversary, we see our American identity under a renewed attack, a generation after we fought and won the Cold War against the menace of communism,” Trump said. “There is now 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. These are not mere political disagreements like differences over taxes or regulations. Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty.”

Trump’s move wasn’t a complete surprise. After the June 23 Democratic primaries in New York — the one in which Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerged as a kingmaker by backing far-left candidates who upset progressive Democratic House incumbents — Trump quickly branded those far-left candidates as “communists,” and not as socialists, as they styled themselves.

“As you saw with the communists elected in New York City recently — they’re communists, they’re not social Democrats — they want to completely destroy the traditional American way of life,” Trump told the Faith & Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C., on June 26. The........

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