President Donald Trump wants American voters to believe that 11 candidates for the 435-seat U.S. House of Representatives are the most terrifying threat our country has ever faced, because they identify as democratic socialists.

Worse than World War I, World War II or the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Trump argues. No, really.

That's just standard Trumpian projection and deflection. He needs to scare you because he fears the Republican Party losing control of Congress in November's midterm elections.

Trump deployed fearmongering messaging all across the month of June, trying to convince voters that our country is being overwhelmed by "godless communists."

Here is what motivates that messaging: The Democrats are in an excellent position to overturn the slim Republican majority to win control of the House and could grab the Senate, too. Trump wants to link Democrats directly to the threat he's pitching to America.

Linguists and political scientists who study this sort of rhetoric easily spotted Trump's pattern of using speech to drive fear. The democratic socialists weren't that impressed, either.

Does Donald Trump know what communism is?

Trump, in a 50-minute speech on June 26 at a Faith & Freedom Coalition conference, conflated democratic socialism with communism 16 times, including three times when he told the evangelical crowd their political enemies are "godless communists."

David Beaver, a linguist and professor at The University of Texas at Austin, told........

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