Democrats need to get out in front of this Communist label and fast!

[Chasstev365]

Tax and Spend Liberals
Card Carrying Member of the ACLU
Flip Flopper
Paling Around with Terrorists

For the past 6 months, rwing media has been beating the old commie fear trope. The idea is every dem is communist. Define your opponent early and he'll have to defend that definition rather than establish his own. Classic Sun Tzu strategy.

Here are 2 ways to address it:

1. It is the Oligarchs and their Republucan stooges who are trying to scare and distract you yet again, so they can fuck you economically. They do this all the time: Migrant Caravans, Trans Gender Athletes, etc. DON'T FALL FOR IT!

2. Trump's best bud is Vladimir Putin; once a high up official in the COMMUNIST SOVIET KGB and Trump says he has "Love Letters" from the brutal COMMUNIST North Korean Dictator, Kim Jong Un.

Who is it that loves communists?

[mtairyguy]

1. Have the one who makes such comments,

…or reporters who ask questions about those comments define communism. Then have them point out those who support it!

Ask them if the communist supporters are ‘in the room with us now’!

[Autumn]

2. You do know that those fucking idiots who believe Democrats are Communists

are not going to believe we aren't no matter what we do. Trying to get them to realize anything is a waste of time. Fuck them.

[bluestarone]

3. You got that right!

If they are fucking dumb enough to follow TSF in the FIRST place, Nothing will work on them.

[Chasstev365]

4. Yes, but there are many gullible, ignorant voters out there

[Autumn]

32. "gullible, ignorant voters' . Key words right there . You can explain Communism to those fucks till

you are blue in the face. They believe what they are told and they will not be convinced of anything else. It's willful ignorance.

[regnaD kciN]

55. Which also means...

…that there’s no way we can “get out in front” of such accusations with them. Whatever we say or do, Trump and Fox News will keep calling us communists, and they’ll lap it up.

[Autumn]

64. They have been doing it for years. We elect socialists and eventually they will discover that they

like socialism.

[leftstreet]

21. +1

[Botany]

28. Yup!

If anybody is stupid enough to believe that crap you will never get their vote anyway just
like if people get up 1st thing in the morning and they are concerned about abortion and
their guns you will never get their votes anyway.

The Democrats are Communists is just the danger of transgender people 2.0.


Kamala won but Musk, Thiel, DOGE Boys hackers, Palantir, Eaton Corp., the USPS,
B.O.E.s rejecting @ least a million ballots for signature errors (bull shit because absentee
ballots have bar codes on them), and Republican run voter caging operations stole it.

[tableturner]

30. 100% wrong! A few voters on the margins will determine the election winner.

It's just the few who WILL believe this garbage that will make the difference. Quit lying to yourself! Just like all the other times some of us have said, in effect, "I will not dignify that charge by denying it!", and many of those charges were VERY damaging to our electoral chances, this is another example of a time when some of us want to lay back and get walked on by these fascists.

If we let them say it over and over and over without correcting the record, in the minds of too many, it will become fact, and it will cause significant harm to our prospects. We have let them walk all over us repeatedly over the years...let's not let them do it again!

To repeat: Yeah...most will not stray from the Trump BS, but the few who DO can be the difference!

[Autumn]

33. Dream on . nt

[W_HAMILTON]

47. That's how you lose elections.

And the issue isn't winning over MAGA voters, it's winning over the wishy washy, easily manipulated middle that often decides elections.

[gab13by13]

5. 20 years ago I regularly wrote letters to the editor in our local red neck newspaper

There were about 4 Democrats in total who wrote letters.

One day the editor called me his commie pinko buddy, it made me laugh, it did nothing to stop me from responding to his nonsense.

I religiously wrote letters every month, even had people tell me about how I made the red neck writers look foolish.

Then the editor started editing my letters, changing my headlines so I walked into his office one day and told him I was done with his paper and I was going to post one last letter explaining why. My last letter never got posted.

People who have to name call have nothing important or of consequence to say, if you have to debate the nonsense about being a communist, you are losing. I tell people who call Democrats communists, ignorant idiots, no debate needed.

[oasis]

56. "If you have to debate the nonsense about being

a communist, you are losing”.

Exactly. We have to get the old saying tattooed on our brains “when you’re explaining, you’re losing”.

[sop]

6. The "socialist' and "communist" labels have been used by Republicans for as long as I can remember.

President Harry Truman said in 1952: "Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people."

When "socialism" wasn't scary enough, Republicans invented the Red Scare and began accusing liberals of being "communists."

[31j20b3]

44. At least back to FDR and social security, but

Dems have mostly ignored R's doing it, hoping, I think that by ignoring it the R's would switch to something else. But there has never been a Dem media plan to get around R's attacks. In the absence of a plan to escape that label nothing has changed.

IMO, the name Democratic Party is fine, and I wouldn't change it, BUT if I were an influencer, I would try to shift the application of second and third words from "Communists, Communism and Stalinist styled Socialism

I think the next couple of words that come to mind after Democrat should be something like FAIR DEALERS, FAIR DEAL, and Empathetic government. Put words in play that represent the political GOALS of the party. Socialism and Communism are spoiled by 100 years of Republican media attacks. MOre importantly turning Dems into Communists and Stalin-like Socialists is NOT a Democratic Goal.

It could be plain and simple: "Democrats, the Fair-Dealers"

And you can work a tremendous amount of the Democratic sub-stacks into that phrase. Just consider who has been treated unfairly. It's a huge list.

[wnylib]

7. I agree completely with your point, but we need to have a

shorter slogan or meme that says a lot in a few words. The memes must carry a message that the general public can strongly relate to.

Maybe we should have a thread to open up suggestions on short, meaningful, relatable memes.

[Chasstev365]

9. Good Point!

How about:

Of course the Robber Barons are going call us communists, as they continue to rob you blind.

[wnylib]

12. Good idea, but shorter. We need sound bytes.

Robber barons (or Epstein class) picks your pocket while calling you names.

Even that could/should be shortened into a label. They call us tax and spend Democrats. We can call them pedo protectors. Another applicable terms might be "corporate welfare addicts."

I will take some time to think of more and maybe start a thread on it later to get other suggestions from DU posters.

When we have some good ones, we should spread them beyond DU to other social media to get picked up and spread.

[Autumn]

35. Those idiots know that and guess what? They are fine with it. nt

[EarlG]

11. How's this?

For reference: https://www.goarmy.com/benefits/while-you-serve

[Bayard]

20. "trump talked to Communist Putin for nearly 2 hours on our Independence Day"

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. why take the bait?

[gab13by13]

22. I agree,

I call them ignorant idiots. Why bother debating nonsense?

[BannonsLiver]

36. Yes, that could be said about this and a host of other issues where the bait is consistently taken.

[NCDem47]

10. I think a Cuba invasion will take place before midterms.

Likely September or October. This checks a lot boxes for Trump and Co. Conflate that with labeling Dems communists.Gives MAGA candidates campaign ammo. further muddy the waters with Maduro “admitting” 2020 election interference for lighter sentence (yes, Venezuela is socialist, but low information voters won’t know or care).

[wnylib]

13. I think that you are right. So we need to prepare

now for responses.

[NCDem47]

14. It's so obvious the messaging groundwork is being laid.

Yes, communism is the age old boogeyman. But there is a marked uptick the rhetoric coming out of the admin.

[wnylib]

19. Yes, and Trump is like a reincarnation of Batista to the Cubans.

I am very opposed to communism, but I also recognize that the Cuban and Russian people were both driven to revolution by the RW dictatorial excesses of their leaders.

[betsuni]

16. Ah, that's why! Now it makes sense.

[moondust]

45. Quite possible.

Last edited Sun Jul 5, 2026, 09:12 PM - Edit history (1)

IMO his "commie campaign" is probably largely aimed at Latino immigrant families in Florida and elsewhere. I think he has been losing support among them due to cost of living, deportations, etc. Of course hanging around Mag-a-Loco he knows that area is heaviliy populated by Cuban refugee families. A few years ago I heard on CNN that South Florida is continuously targeted with anti-communist propaganda. Invading Cuba could garner some Latino support at least among the Cuban refugees.

[kentuck]

15. Why do you call me a communist?

Could it be that you don't want to talk about the war in Iran that you started? Or the high price of everything, including gasoline? Or the unprecedented corruption that makes Teapot Dome and Watergate seem like just a blip on the screen? Or is it because you are protecting the child molesters by not releasing the Epstein files? Which is it?

[Chasstev365]

18. Nice!

[Raven123]

17. Real fascists are a greater threat than imaginary communists

[tableturner]

48. YES!

[Raven123]

23. How Republicans view socialists

A 2019 survey showed how socialism is viewed by Dems and GOPers. Essentially, Dems viewed socialism as PROVIDING public benefits and services, while the GOP saw it as CONTROLLING the economy. I think this useful in understanding their of using the communist label.

https://prri.org/research/fractured-nation-widening-partisan-polarization-and-key-issues-in-2020-presidential-elections/

In reality they are controlling the economy, and a series of messages may help over the election season.

For example: You can’t get Social Security if it isn’t there. That’s the GOP plan.

[usonian]

24. For magats, words are only weapons. That's their only meaning. Fight back visually.

Used for effect. That's why meaning often flips.

The attack words are all manure, just of a different color.

Welfare Mother, soft on crime, war in drugs. All of those were dogwhistles for racism.

Many are pure projection. "Every accusation is a confession"

And the party is STANDING UP TO THEM!



After lunch, of course.

Posted separately.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221350774



Template for you computer artists.

[Johonny]

25. You mean a time machine to the Red scare?

Rich fuck faces have been calling people that give a shit about the working class communists since forever. Fuck it. Eat the rich is a winning message in 2026. People are sick of these weirdos

[mwmisses4289]

26. Look them in eye, deadpan, "I didn't vote for a fat orange faced putin loving commie".

[BannonsLiver]

27. lol

Good lort this place never disappoints 🤣

[bluestarone]

29. Need a huge banner that shows our EYES and say's

DO NOT BELIEVE THEIR WORDS!! BELIEVE YOUR OWN EYES!!

[Cirsium]

31. Don't buy into this crap

Putin isn't a Communist, and "the old commie fear trope" doesn't work on younger people.

Trump doesn't "love Communists" he loves strong man leaders of whatever ideology.

Don't take the bait. Calls to "get out in front of this Communist label" just gives it legitimacy. Playing dueling labels with the Republicans is a losing strategy. They use labels as a distraction because their political program is deeply unpopular.

[Chasstev365]

39. Yeah; not getting out a head of attacks worked so well for Dukakis Gore, Kerry, and Hillary

[tableturner]

50. You are 100% correct! Learn from the past!

[David__77]

54. "Getting ahead of" does NOT equal denying an accusation. It can be attacking.

[Cirsium]

66. What does that mean?

I think the exact opposite is true. Too often Democrats let the Republicans frame the debate, define the terms, set the issues.

Dukakis Gore, Kerry, and Hillary didn't lose because they failed to get out ahead of attacks. If anything, they failed because they worried too much about what the Republicans said. That has always been a losing strategy, though the campaign advisors love it. It is to some extent a matter of CYA for them. "Hey we would have won but the Republicans said mean things." That's an excuse. It is like fire fighters saying "we would have put that fire out but there were flames everywhere." You can't get ahead of the Republicans anyway, because there is no predicting what sort of crap they might come up with.

The endless obsession over what the Republicans might attack us with is debilitating and demoralizing. They play "gotcha." Don't take the bait. Don't let them control the discussion.

You take the wind out of their sales when you ignore the idiots and pivot to talking directly to the voters and don't dignify there lunacy by "debating" it.

[tableturner]

49. Get walked on? No thanks!

[Cirsium]

63. Walked on?

Walked on? By right winners? Never. I don't let them set the terms of the debate. That is what they are doing with the commie nonsense. They are baiting you. They are trolling you.

[tableturner]

65. Reminds me of...

Reminds me of when Bush's campaign started trashing John Kerry's military service. Bob Shrum, who ran Kerry's campaign, said (not exact...from memory, but it is close) "We will not dignify that charge by responding to it".

That was a horrible mistake, as would your concept of not dignifying Trump's communist charges with a response.

We MUST fight back, not just STUPIDLY sit there and let them tear us up!

[Cirsium]

67. You make my point

I thought the big mistake of the Kerry campaign was that they played up his military service in the first place. Why did they play up Kerry's military service? Because they were trying to get ahead of Republican attacks - Republican appeals to patriotism, Republican attacks on Democrats for being weak on defense. That was the mistake and that opened the topic up for Republican dirty tricks.

[tableturner]

70. Irrespective of all of that...

Is the reality that we saw what happened when we let those attacks go undefended. The attacks worked and a deserter beat the actual war hero because of it. We MUST fight! Otherwise, they walk all over us.

[pippenpippen]

34. Be scathing..

"They just say commie about anything that threatens their absolute power. The red scare is always designed to keep the rest of us poor and powerless."

[gab13by13]

37. I do not want to debate this because

I live among them and I know how they think.

They believe that they work hard and pay taxes for lazy Democrats to not work and just live off their taxes.

That's how Magats sold the notion of communism to unwashed Magats.

Magats work so that Democrats don't have to, that's it in a nutshell. Magats even put up a big billboard saying that.

Even though there are more Magats on welfare than Democrats.

[JBTaurus83]

38. Sure a lot of shitting the bed around here

Republicans have been calling us all of this type of stuff for decades. If the entire party was like Joe Manchin we would still be the socialist terrorists who want to ban hamburgers.

[valleyrogue]

58. This is nothing new. This shit has been going on since the beginning of the Cold War.

Today's GOP are pulling the "red baiting" to try and get their dwindling number of supporters motivated enough to go to the polls in November.

[JCMach1]

40. Nah, you don't say the C word at all. Just paint them twice as hard

As the fascists they are and talk about 'the price' of fascism and tie it into the economy.

Use metonymy Trump+fascism+bad economy =

Us taking house and senate in the Fall

[dlk]

41. Democrats need to call this out for what it is:

The latest Republican scare word.They know people will fall for it. A short and simple explanation goes further. Something along the lines of:

Billionaires don’t believe in sharing, so they use a false scare word to manipulate voters, and then they can keep grabbing up more and more, which means less and less for you.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

42. Lets label them. I like calling the Right The HOG party

Hedonistic Oligarchal Gaslighters party.

They sure are pigs in a trough.

[snot]

43. Socialist democracies

are among the wealthiest, happiest peoples on the planet.

Capitalism and socialism or communism are ECONOMIC systems; oligarchy and democracy are POLITICAL systems, and you can mix and match between the two categories.

You can have exploitive, tyrannical, oligarchic capitalism, or you can have exploitive, tyrannical, oligarchic socialism or communism; and you can have regulated, democratic capitalism, or you can have democratic socialism or communism.

I've yet to meet a voter, right or left, who wouldn't have liked to see more bankers go to jail after the 2008 Great Financial Crash. Many on the right understand that we've suffered from unregulated capitalism.

Labels are easily thrown around and quickly become meaningless or worse; we must encourage voters to focus on candidates' actual voting records and policies.

[senseandsensibility]

46. Every time a Dem is asked about this

they should say trump is lying about the Democratic party. He lies about everything. He is doing it because he has done nothing to help average working Americans. Rinse. Repeat. Do not get into definitions of Dem/Socialism vs. Communism.

[David__77]

51. Being defensive on that is a loser approach.

Also, famous American communists:

WEB DuBois
Paul Robeson
Pete Seeger
…and many more.

[Dave Bowman]

52. McCarthy must be smiling from the sewers.

[bucolic_frolic]

53. Trump loves communism when billionaires get the whole pie

[valleyrogue]

57. None of these people even know what a "communist" IS.

It hasn't been a thing since the fall of the Wall and the dissolution of the USSR.

Most of the people hurling that garbage weren't even ALIVE during the Cold War or were little kids then.

These idiots need to find something original for once. This is nothing more than the "paranoid style of American politics" and more "politics of division." However, more and more people are getting sick of it.

The GOP politicians are still going to get their asses handed to them in the fall.

[Bluetus]

59. Dems have no "rapid response force" Dems have no "talking points of the day"

Last edited Sun Jul 5, 2026, 08:54 PM - Edit history (1)

It seems like many Dems feel that such operations are beneath them, or somehow not necessary? And they feircely defend the "go it alone, every district is different we're a big tent" as opposed to a modicum of brand management.

An effective messaging unit woult turn this deranged "communist talk" aganst Trump, as further evidence of his feeble mental state And I'm sure some individual Dems will make good arguments. Bit this cannot be optional, haphazard or roll-your-own.

And while we are waiting for the Party to get its act together, lets' do what we can to educate people. There are only 5 countries in the world today that some call "communist" China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam.

And the only one that is truly communist is North Korea. China is highly capitalistic these days, but they still have a large amount of central planning for their industries. But a capitalist economy with some central planning is not remotely close to communism, where "the people" collectively own all the means of production and people are fed and housed based on their needs, not on their work or inventiveness.

The US could use more of that "central planning". It is called STRATEGY. We had such a strategy with regard to new energy and clean transportation. Trump killed that and as a consequence, China has raced far ahead of the US is one of the most important industries for the 21st century. We can debate the merits of their government, but it ain't communism. I don't know about Cuba and Laos.

[J_William_Ryan]

60. "Democrats need to get out in front of this Communist label"

Too late.

[WinningAgain]

61. Yup...

That horse is out and running.

[LeftInTX]

62. Just turn around and call Trump a communist.

He's turning the US into China.

[Cirsium]

68. Chalk one up for the right wing machine

They have us all talking about what to do about being called commies. Mission accomplished.

Why are we so easily played?

[tableturner]

71. Yeah...lay back and let them butcher us up....NOT!

[Cirsium]

72. How do you get that?

I said go on the attack, don't just react. You are advocating letting the Republicans set the terms for the debate, in this case arguing about whether or not we are communists. That is the way to "lay back and let them butcher us up."

[angrychair]

69. Don't worry

Apparently the plan is to just throw progressives under the bus and act as if we are worse than Maga.

[CrimsonBight]

73. There's no reason to address it.

Talk about issues. Shit voters actually care about.

The more time you spend crying about Ted Cruz calling you a communist is less time you spend telling voters how you plan to make their lives better.

[Lars39]

74. Welcome to DU, CrimsonBight!

[Kaleva]

75. I agree

[LetMyPeopleVote]

78. Welcome to DU

[Stacey Grove]

82. Exactly

The MAGAtry traffics in lies, nonsense, and absurdities.

They are going to continue their imbecilic castigations and juvenile namecalling regardless of anything Democrats do.

Idiot supremacy on steroids on the part of MAGAts.

This country bowed down so completely, reflexively, and in a wholesale manner. A country chock-filled with morons and cowards.

[Mad_Machine76]

76. Another rebuttal: Mitch McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao (not currently acting in any official capacity AFAWK)

recently met with the VP of Communist China. Why?

[bucolic_frolic]

77. Billionaires love Communism, that's how they get their tax breaks and subsidies

[Blasphemer]

79. Exactly. Bill Clinton provided the playbook...

In his speech the other day. GOP = Socialism/Communism for Billionaires.

[bucolic_frolic]

80. I missed that, thanks for reminding us all! /nt

[msfiddlestix]

81. This isn't new. Our party simply doesn't know to respond. We've only had five decades after all to figure it out.