Skip to main content
Republicans’ rabid anti-communism is a sign of their political weakness
Trump and his supporters are cranking up the McCarthyite rhetoric in a desperate bid to make sure not even one ‘Maga’ loyalist stays home on election day, says CJ ATKINS

JOE McCARTHY would have fit right in at this year’s Republican National Convention.

Denouncing communists — both real and, more often than not, imaginary — was bread and butter for the 1950s red-baiting senator from Wisconsin. 

At the dawn of the cold war, the bogeyman of the Soviet Union was the stick used to beat back a strong labour movement and a growing left in the United States. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Donald Trump delivers an anti-communist rant at Mount Rushmore on Friday
Features / 8 July 2026
8 July 2026

CJ ATKINS takes a closer look at Trump’s recent spate of red-baiting speeches and asks why the authoritarian president is running scared

Donald Trump rants against communism at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on Friday
Editorial / 5 July 2026
5 July 2026
Dalton Trumbo at the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in 1947. Photo: Public domain
Features / 1 December 2025
1 December 2025

The daughter of a legendary blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter has spoken out against the reactionary move, says MIKE SCHNEIDER