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Jul 11, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump is a desperate man. With the midterms on the horizon and his approval ratings under water, he doesn’t want to talk about affordability. Nor does he want to talk about his war with Iran. And he certainly doesn’t want to talk about Jeffrey Epstein.What does he want to talk about? Communists.Over the last two weeks, Trump has ratcheted up his overheated rhetoric in response to democratic socialists’ victories in primary elections in Colorado, New York, Washington, DC, and elsewhere.During a speech to Christian conservatives at a Faith and Freedom Coalition convention in Washington on June 26, he called democratic socialists “animals” and said, “We have to stop this horrible threat of cancer that’s permeating our country called communism.” He went on to say that the “godless” communists in the Democratic Party pose a particular risk for Christians. “They will close your churches in this country,” he warned. “They will kill your people. And that’s what they’re about.”It’s not as if Trump and his fellow Republicans haven’t hurled the communist epithet before, but over the past six months they have upped the ante.Heading into the 250th birthday celebration on the National Mall, Trump continued his tirade. Speaking at Mount Rushmore on July 3, he not only besmirched Democrats, but immigrants as well. “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,” he said. “...You can be a communist or you can be a patriot. You cannot be both.” He made no secret that he is trying to salvage Republican candidates’ chances in November. “America will never be a communist country,” he said. “We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms if we are foolish, stupid, and unwise.”Trump was only slightly more restrained on July 4 at the National Mall. After introducing a handful of World War II veterans and lauding them for their heroism, Trump ahistorically declared: “Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world, only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. We’re not going to let it happen.” (In fact, American troops, along with troops from Great Britain and communist Soviet Union, defeated fascism in World War II.)The GOP’s Red-Baiting TraditionIt’s not as if Trump and his fellow Republicans haven’t hurled the communist epithet before, but over the past six months they have upped the ante. According to a recent Washington Post analysis of statements, social media posts, and podcasts, from January to June, they applied the word “communist” or “communism” to Democrats an average of 626 times per week, 43% more than during the same time frame in 2025.Right-wing pundits have entered the fray, too. Megan McArdle, a self-described “right-leaning libertarian” columnist at The Washington Post, recently wrote that democratic socialist victories represent “a heady moment for the left, because socialism’s tainted brand has recovered from the vivid failures of the Soviet Union.”Likewise, historian Arthur Herman, writing for Fox News, disingenuously equated democratic socialists’ policy agenda with that of the Soviet Union in a July 3 column. “In June, Marxist radicals calling themselves democratic socialists swept the New York City primaries...” he wrote. “...Communist-style socialism has brought poverty, mass starvation, and subsistence misery to tens of millions worldwide.”Such attacks are nothing new. Republicans denounced Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal as “socialism” and even “communism.” In 1961, then General Electric spokesman Ronald Reagan warned that government health insurance would lead to socialism. Over the following decades, however, Republicans largely abandoned that mantra in favor of attacks on “big government” and the welfare state.Trump is a throwback to an earlier time. In his 2020 State of the Union address, Trump attacked socialism, claiming it “destroys nations.” Like Reagan before him, he specifically denounced a “Medicare for All” proposal endorsed by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and 130 other members of Congress at the time, calling it a “socialist takeover of our healthcare system.”During the last election, Trump often called Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris a “Marxist,” tying her to her father’s economic perspective on markets and inequality. More recently, he labeled New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, a “communist,” and dubbed Janeese Lewis George, a democratic socialist who won last month’s Washington, DC, Democratic mayoral primary, a “Communist adherent.”Democratic socialists in the Democratic Party are not communists. If they are a member of any organization, it likely would be the Democratic Socialists of America, which does not function as a party. Communist organizations still exist in the United States, but they are politically marginal and have no representation in Congress or in any state legislature.Americans Support Democratic Socialist PoliciesLikewise, democratic socialism is not synonymous with Soviet communism, which fell apart 35 years ago. The countries that democratic socialists in America hold up as models can be found in Western Europe. They are multiparty democracies with market economies, strong unions, and robust social safety programs that include universal healthcare. Their economic models are nothing like the one-party command economy of the Soviet Union and, as I pointed out in detail in a December 2025 essay, they do a much better job of ensuring their citizens live long, healthy, and prosperous lives than the United States does.While only about 17% of Americans have a favorable view of democratic socialist politicians, their policies are quite popular. For example:According to a new Economist-YouGov poll, 52% of Americans support eliminating private health insurance companies and replacing them with a national health plan. Only 30% oppose the idea.Public support for a higher federal minimum wage has remained strong for years. A 2021 Pew survey found that 62% of Americans supported raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, while a 2019 Pew survey found support at 67%.A February Pew survey found that 69% of Americans favor requiring employers to provide paid family leave. Even 59% of Republicans support it.Finally, 63% of Americans favor raising taxes on large corporations, according to a March 2025 Pew poll, and 58% favor raising taxes on households earning more than $400,000 annually.Perhaps what is holding democratic socialists back is how they identify themselves. The term “socialist” just may have too much baggage. After all, many Americans still associate the word with the Soviet Union, whose official name was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, even though it was a communist dictatorship.New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist, told The Washington Post earlier this week that political labels should not be an issue. “What matters is the legislation, your proposals, the ideas before us,” she said. “How a person identifies in their economic view of the world is less important to people than if we’re making their groceries more affordable.”Maybe. But Trump and the GOP are betting that calling Democrats “communists” will matter to enough voters to overshadow their concerns about the cost of food, gasoline, housing and healthcare. November will reveal whether that Cold War strategy still works.

Jul 11, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump's threat to commit what one former Obama administration official described as "genocide" stunned onlookers Saturday with the sign-off, "PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!"In a Friday night Truth Social post, Trump threatened to "completely decimate" Iran, adding "1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow." Trump was going on about how the military would retaliate "for a one year period" if he were assassinated by Iran.The entire threat stunned Richard Stengel, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, who shared his alarm on MS NOW Saturday morning."The fact of an American president threatening genocide against the whole people in case he's assassinated is more than unseemly," Stengel said. "It's it's incredibly vulgar and undiplomatic language."However, it was his choice to end the post with "PRAISE BE TO ALLAH! President DONALD J. TRUMP" that left online critics baffled, even though he's done it before."So much weirdness in this most recent threat to destroy Iran," veteran journalist and political commentator Tom Nichols reacted. "(Why one year? Praise Allah?) The Iranians have, I suspect, learned to tune all this out. But something's very wrong with the president.""This is total insanity," wrote journalist Aaron Rupar. "Words fail to explain how anyone let alone a plurality of voters thought giving an obviously demented person control of the most powerful government in the world was a good idea. We will be lucky to come out the other side of this alive.""PRAISE BE TO ALLAH! to end this is incredible work," political columnist William Kedjanyi commented."Donald Trump is mentally deranged," writer and journalist Steven Beschloss posted. "He's a danger to the U.S. He's a danger to the globe. He does not belong in this position of power—in control of the massive U.S. military—and he should be removed from office. This is not a joke."

Jul 11, 2026 - World

Vice President JD Vance's allies say he accidentally stumbled into a strategy to leave himself unscathed by the conflict in Iran, but Trump insiders argue he's just kidding himself, Politico reported Saturday. Aides and allies of Vance told Politico that he's hoping his early skepticism of starting a conflict with Iran and his public doubts that Iran could be counted on to make peace will be "his saving grace" if hostilities drag on. "It wasn't necessarily strategic from him, but it did have the side effect of putting him in a good place politically," an anonymous GOP operative allied with Vance told Politico. "From a purely political perspective, all that really mattered was him being seen as attempting to bring the war to an end, while at the same time remaining loyal and aligned with the president."Vance is closely linked to the Iran peace talks, Politico noted. He was in the middle of peace talks that led to a memorandum of understanding to end hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, but the MOU has since fallen apart, Politico noted."How can you blame this on him?" a Vance ally told Politico, referring to the continued conflict with Iran. "Failing at trying for peace, I don't think gets you a penalty from rational people. In other words, the non-war crowd is not going to fault him for trying to end the war."However, a former Trump official cast doubt on the idea that Vance comes out unscathed, saying, "This MOU is likely a loser, and it's his," and that Vance "is very, very much the person with the most to lose."Another former Trump official agreed Vance's team is too hopeful, saying, "Dude, you just got handed a s— sandwich. You can't cover up the taste too much."

Jul 11, 2026 - World

The Trump administration was met with a wave of bitter rebuke Saturday morning after the New York Times revealed his decision to subpoena journalists who reported on his Qatari jet.The subpoenas were issued to four of its reporters after they wrote about security concerns with Trump's Qatari-donated Boeing 747, according to reporting by the New York Times. Trump had to ditch his Qatari jet while departing from a NATO summit on his old Air Force One, and the Times reported that the gifted plane lacked security features like anti-missile capabilities.Fellow journalists and political commentators took to X to voice their displeasure with the subpoenas, which were issued on Friday. Swiss comedian and journalist Viktor Giacobbo described the subpoenas as "Free speech MAGA style.""Maybe if you don't want people writing about your unsecure bribe plane, don't solicit one from a petrostate royal family to begin with," wrote HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte."How dare they report any problems with his ill gotten plane!" posted Democratic political strategist Joe Trippi."The Trump regime's efforts to clamp down on the Times is evidence of exactly how important their reporting is," reacted veteran journalist Jim Roberts. "And how truthful it is."Political commentator Mario Nawfal noted it's the "same play they ran on the [Washington] Post and the [Wall Street] Journal earlier this year before backing off," referring to similar Trump administration subpoenas. "The story clearly landed, or none of this would be happening.""Remember when MAGA said the press was the enemy because it 'hid the truth'? Now they're cheering the government subpoenaing reporting for telling it," former Democratic National Committee representative Khary Penebaker posted. "Amazing how fast principles disappear when Trump's feelings get hurt."

Jul 11, 2026 - World

A bizarre incident involving a Fox News host and the interim president of a foreign nation has become one of President Donald Trump's favorite stories to tell, according to a new report. The New York Times Saturday profiled Secretary of State Marco Rubio and revealed his growing power over Venezuela and the apparent pleasure it gives the president. This becomes evident when the Times details an Oval Office encounter between the two men. "Mr. Rubio could be the next leader of Venezuela, Mr. Trump suggested," according to the report. "And while the president’s aides say he was joking — and that he frequently teases Mr. Rubio about an overseas assignment — the fact is that Mr. Rubio does not need to move to Caracas."Rubio's control over the foreign nation, whose leader, incumbent Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. captured during a military strike on Jan. 3, has only grown, the Times reports.Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president, now leads the country on an "acting basis" but with detailed instructions from Washington, according to the report. The Times then detailed the backstory of a '"surprising" announcement, made before even the Venezuelan government could, that Rubio made about Rodríguez earlier this year. Rubio announced she would would travel to India. "When the Fox News anchor Bret Baier contacted Ms. Rodríguez about participating in an interview, she told him that Mr. Trump would have to approve," the Times reports."Mr. Trump loved that Ms. Rodríguez was deferring to him, and has repeatedly recounted the story to others when they ask about her, according to multiple people familiar with his comments."