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| Trump speaks at Mount Rushmore (LA Times) |
What was the most newsworthy event in a jam-packed July 4 weekend that included World Cup soccer; Wimbledon tennis; a record-breaking heat wave that caused at least 25 deaths in the U.S.; more drama surrounding Donald Trump's various escapades (including his Reflecting Pool fiasco and failed Great American State Fair on the National Mall), and my personal favorite, Taylor Swift's wedding (and by the way, Swift's hubby, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, was among attendees at Madison Square Garden -- not that many people noticed; Kelce is a pretty accomplished dude in his own right, having made the National Football League's All-Pro team seven times while holding almost every postseason receiving record and is among the all-time leaders in career receptions, receiving yards, and 1,000-yard seasons at the position. Oh, and he has played in five Super Bowls, winning three of them. No wonder many analysts consider Kelce the best tight end in NFL history. But when your wife is one of the wealthiest, most talented, most successful, and most popular people on the planet, you likely will go down as one of the most overlooked grooms in a world full of overlooked grooms.
In Kelce's case, he wasn't just battling his bride for attention. Even at 6-5, 250 pounds, he could get lost amid the swarm of A-list celebrities on hand for the nuptials -- including Brad Pitt, Cindy Crawford, Conan O'Brien, The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks), Dakota Johnson, Ed Sheeran, Ethan Hawke, Ice Spice, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Mariska Hargitay, Michael Strahan, Erin Andrews, Miranda Lambert, Pat Monahan, Peyton Manning, Reese Witherspoon, Robin Roberts, Sabrina Carpenter, Simone Biles, Stephen Colbert, Stephen Spielberg, Tom Brady, Tom Hanks, and Wayne Gretzky. Adam Sandler officiated, and Paul McCartney (I Want to Hold Your Hand") and Stevie Nicks (no setlist has been released) gave musical performances.
You can see why that was my favorite event over the holiday weekend, and I imagine it got votes from many of you. But most newsworthy? My choice, unfortunately, involves Donald Trump, and the speech he gave at Mount Rushmore on Friday night. Why was that speech newsworthy? Trump used the occasion to warn that communism is an emerging threat for America in the wake of electoral victories by Democratic Socialists -- perhaps most famously by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
In his Mount Rushmore speech, Trump was trying to sell the idea that socialism and communism are the same thing. Like much of what Trump says, that isn't true. Here is how Sarah Pruitt, writing at history.com, puts it, under the headline "How are Socialism and Communism Different? Though the terms are often used interchangeably, socialism and communism are different in key ways":
Both socialism and communism are essentially economic philosophies advocating public rather than private ownership, especially of the means of production, distribution and exchange of goods (that is, making money) in a society. Both aim to fix the problems they see as created by a free-market capitalist system, including the exploitation of workers and a widening gulf between rich and poor.
But while socialism and communism share some basic similarities, there are important differences between them. . . .
Under communism, there is no such thing as private property. All property is communally owned, and each person receives a portion based on need. In practice, a strong central government—the state—controls all aspects of economic production and provides citizens with their basic necessities, including food, housing, medical care and education.
By contrast, under socialism, individuals can still own property. But industrial production, or the chief means of generating wealth, is communally owned and managed by a democratically elected government.
Another key difference between socialism and communism is the means of achieving them. In communism, a violent revolution in which the workers rise up against the ruling classes is seen as an inevitable part of achieving a pure communist state. Socialism is a less rigid, more flexible ideology. Its adherents seek change and reform but often insist on making these changes through democratic processes within the existing social and political structure, rather than overthrowing it.
In his 1875 work, Critique of the Gotha Program, [Karl] Marx summarized communist philosophy in this way: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” By contrast, socialism is based on the idea that people are compensated based on their level of individual contribution to the economy.
In the past week or so, we have seen multiple reports about Republican plans to equate socialism with communism, conduct a coordinated scare campaign leading to the 2026 midterms, and beat Democrats over the head with the idea that Democratic Socialists might as well be called Democratic Communists.
That means now might be a good time to ask these questions: Was it wise for Democratic Party leadership to allow candidates who self describe as socialists to run under the party banner? Did party leaders not realize socialism is a term that instantly raises negative connotations in the minds of many Americans and makes it ridiculously easy for Republicans to sow confusion by tying Democratic socialists to the "scourge of communism."
One could look at Trump's Mount Rushmore speech as his opening salvo in a GOP plan to inundate the news with horror stories about communism coming to American shores via the Democratic Party. In a holiday setting, when a political speech normally would be expected to unite the country, Trump was -- by his standards -- relatively restrained. But a report from Reuters indicates he is ready to take off the gloves at any moment. Under the headline "Trump extols America, rails at communism in US 250th celebration," Steve Holland writes:
U.S. President Donald Trump called on Americans to protect the freedoms the nation's founders envisioned 250 years ago against what he has portrayed as the "communist" threat posed by progressive Democrats, speaking on the eve of Independence Day at Mount Rushmore."We stand beneath the monument of these heroes, a true group of unbelievable people, and we rededicate ourselves to being a nation as big, bold, noble, and as great as these American giants, and that's not easy to do, but we're going to do it," Trump said at the granite mountain in South Dakota where the heads of four American presidents are carved.
"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. "We're not going to let this happen."
Have Democrats seen this coming? Are they prepared to fight back? The answers had better be yes if America is to have a post-Trump future, which needs to start immediately -- and not in November 2026, and Dear God, not in 2028. We certainly cannot count on a dysfunctional, spineless GOP to govern at this point. The best result would be that the worst among them -- and that numbers a lot of people -- will be detained in some type of military intervention, followed by investigations, prosecutions, and lengthy sentences behind bars where appropriate. Given that Trump's second term likely marks the most grotesque political crime spree in U.S. history, look for the number of enablers, loyalists, money men, sycophants, and incompetents due prison terms to be substantial.
At his speech in Keystone, South Dakota, Trump talked tough about the threat communism poses, but lurking in the background is the Epstein-files story, and if that ever breaks open in our lifetimes it could bring the GOP's criminal enterprise crashing down. Here is more from Steve Holland about Trump's speech:
Trump has been making such points about gains by democratic socialists for a week now, but he made his most pointed and prolonged argument on that theme on Friday, coming as Americans grapple with persistent inflation and high gas prices since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.Increasingly uneasy that the conflict could cost the party control of at least one chamber of Congress in November's midterm elections, Republican lawmakers have seized on a recent string of successes by left-wing Democratic candidates.
Trump said that the threat also came from "newcomers to our country," tying his anti-communist rhetoric to the anti-immigrant theme that fueled his election and has been historically part of the criticism of communism in the United States. Trump at one point on Friday said the newcomers need to be expelled.
"We resolve and swear for all to hear that the citizens of the United States of America will vanquish communism quickly ... We will send them quickly away, and we will continue to build our country bigger and better, stronger than ever before. America will never be a communist country!" Trump said, before seguing immediately into the issue at hand.
"We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms."Four progressive candidates, including three democratic socialists, won competitive Democratic primaries in New York City last week and in Colorado on Tuesday. Progressive candidates have also won contests in Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Trump last week called their victories “the greatest threat to our country since its founding."
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