Trump has repeatedly conflated democratic socialists and communists; no communist are running on the Democratic ticket.

United States President Donald Trump has leaned into his latest political attack line, decrying “godless communists” who will “attack all Religions but, in particular, Christianity”.

The statements on Friday, made on his Truth Social account and during a meeting of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition, came days after progressive candidates backed by New York City’s democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani took home major victories in New York.

Trump did not directly name any candidates, making only a glancing reference to “the recent Election of Communists in our Country”.

He then unleashed a litany of far-flung claims and derisions: “Assassinations of those who oppose them is a very important element of their Ideology”; “These ruthless Communists will attack all Religions but, in particular, Christianity – They always do”; “They’re animals!”

“These are not social Dumocrats [Democrats],” Trump wrote. “These are hard core, godless Communists.”

“This is the Greatest Threat to our Country since its Founding 250 years ago!” he added.

Trump has repeatedly used outlandish rhetoric throughout his political career, for example, regularly decrying Democrats as “radical left lunatics” and claiming in 2024, without evidence, that Haitians living in the US were “eating pets”.

No self-identifying communists are currently running on the Democratic ticket ahead of the midterms, and there are no communists currently in elected office.

Instead, Mamdani and the two candidates he backs, New York Democratic primary winners Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, are members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Chris Rabb, a state representative who won a Democratic congressional primary race in Pennsylvania to represent a solidly blue district, is also a member of the organisation.

While somewhat amorphous in definition, democratic socialism and communism differ markedly in how adherents seek to achieve their broader goals of more equitable wealth redistribution and increased public control over government services.

Democratic socialists support achieving their aims through electoral politics. Communists, at least in countries where the ideology has been put into practice, have eschewed democracy in exchange for an all-controlling state apparatus.

Counter to Trump’s claims, democratic socialists, and the DSA in particular, are also not opposed to religion. Mamdani, Tlaib and Avila Chevalier are Muslims, while Ocasio-Cortez identifies as Catholic.

“There is a long tradition of religious socialism in the United States that has been ignored or forgotten,” the DSA’s Religion and Socialism group says on its website. The group adds that it “refuses to cede the ground of faith to the religious right”.

There are currently two members of the DSA in Congress, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib. A handful of other elected officials and Democratic candidates, most notably Senator Bernie Sanders, hew closely to democratic socialism but are not members of the DSA.

Prior to his mayoral election victory in November of last year, Trump had also falsely called Mamdani a “communist”.

Shifting views

The latest line of attack comes as Trump’s Republican party is bracing for a potentially punishing midterm election, with the president’s approval rating dipping to an all-time low amid persistent cost-of-living concerns.

Trump and his allies have identified the leftward lurch in the Democratic Party as a weakness heading into November. They have also sought to drum up support among the religious, predominantly Christian, conservative base.

It remains unclear if the strategy will be effective.

While the “socialist” label was deeply stigmatised in the US throughout the Cold War era, polls have increasingly shown declining support for capitalism and increased support for socialism.

A Gallup poll last year found Americans with positive views of capitalism dropped from 61 percent in 2010 to 54 percent in 2025. Positive views of socialism, meanwhile, rose from 36 percent to 39 percent during that period.

For Democrats in particular, opinions on socialism have increased significantly. In 2010, 50 percent of Democrats had a positive view of socialism. In 2025, that had increased to 66 percent.