Trump says communism is the biggest threat facing America on eve of 250th birthday

Cognizant of his audience, Trump underscored the risk communism poses to religious freedoms, repeating that “ruthless communists will attack all religions, but in particular Christianity.”

“All communist countries attack religions violently,” he said. “It’s part of their deal. … They will kill your people, and that’s what they’re about. They want to end religion. They have to end religion because their ideology doesn’t work if you have strong religion people like you.”

He linked communism to Nigeria, where the U.S. military has intervened against Islamist militant groups targeting Christians, though the conflict does not involve communist forces.

“So I’m saving Christians all over the world,” Trump said.

As the victim of three assassination attempts, Trump also criticized communism for encouraging other forms of violent, extreme activism aside from the persecution of Christianity.

“I’m sorry to say, but assassinations of those who oppose them is a very important element of their ideology,” he said. “Assassination is a big deal for them.”

Trump twice, too, connected communism to cancer, predicting “everybody will continue leaving New York and as this spreads throughout the country.”

“Very much like an uncontrollable form of cancer,” he said. “The country itself will be taken down. It will be Third World, strictly Third World, and it’s happened many times before to very big and very powerful countries. But it’s not going to happen to the United States of America because communism really is the past and freedom is the future. That’s what we all want.”

Trump specifically name-checked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for being “afraid” to scrutinize socialists, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is speculated to be considering a challenge against him.

“Democrats aren’t fighting back,” he said. “That’s why they’re dumb. They’re not fighting that, they’re afraid. I watch Schumer, he’s afraid to fight. … They’re afraid they’re going to lose their election if they even think about saying anything bad about this new breed of sick people.”

Trump also joked that he could have been “the greatest communist” because the ideology “is very easy to sell” but added that “it destroys everything.”

Road to Majority Conference attendee John Spagnola, 75, of Clearwater, Florida, agreed that it was important to maintain “constant vigilance” against the threat of communism.

“You can be undermined as a country if you’re not aware of what’s occurring, and Trump has been very aware, and I’ve been impressed with his perception of what’s going on in our country right now,” the head of the Veteran Strategic Solutions told the Washington Examiner. “Communism is dangerous, and if we don’t take proactive actions before you know it, we’re going to be in a very vulnerable position to be controlled and maligned.”

Brian Montgomery, 37, who plans to run for South Carolina’s Greenville-anchored 3rd Congressional District in 2028, concurred, contending, “We were fundamentally built on a capitalistic society.”

“This utopian concept of communism and socialism is, it tears away the fabric of what made America great in the first place,” Montgomery told the Washington Examiner. “The big problem with socialism and communism is you have the inherent greed in every human, and we have to avoid something like that, and the checks and balances truly come from a capitalistic society.”

Trump’s emphasis on communism comes after New York’s primary elections on Tuesday, in which three Mamdani-backed candidates, Claire Valdez, Brad Lander, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, won primaries. Valdez beat the handpicked successor of Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), while Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) were defeated.

AMERICA’S 250TH BECOMES THE LATEST FRONT IN COUNTRY’S POLITICAL DIVIDE

Mamdani, Valdez, and Avila Chevalier all identify as socialists, with their success concerning more centrist Democrats since elsewhere in the country their party’s candidates are trying to win in battleground districts. Lander was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America but left the organization in 2023.

Trump, who has had a warm relationship with Mamdani since their White House meeting earlier this year, offered pointed criticisms of the mayor’s socialist agenda, including a rent freeze that will transform New York’s apartment buildings into “ghettos and slums.”