US President Donald Trump has attacked progressive candidates, calling them “godless communists.” The remarks came on June 27 via his Truth Social account and during a meeting of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
The broadside followed significant primary wins in New York for progressive candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist.
Trump did not name any specific candidate, instead referring to “the recent election of communists in our country.” He then leveled a series of accusations: “Assassinating their opponents is a very important element of their ideology”; “These ruthless communists will attack every religion, especially Christianity”; “They are animals!”
“This is not a social democratic party. These are godless communists, hardcore,” Trump wrote, calling it “the greatest threat to the country since its founding 250 years ago.”
Throughout his political career, Trump has frequently used extreme rhetoric, such as calling Democrats “lunatic leftists” or making the unsubstantiated claim that Haitians in the US “eat pets.”
In reality, no self-described communist is running as a Democrat in the midterm elections, and no communist currently holds elected office.
Instead, Mamdani and the two candidates he endorsed, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, are all members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). State Representative Chris Rabb, who won a Pennsylvania primary, is also a DSA member.
Democratic socialism and communism are distinct. Democratic socialists aim to achieve their goals through electoral politics, while communism typically rejects democracy in favor of a totalitarian state apparatus.
Contrary to Trump’s claims, democratic socialists—especially the DSA—are not anti-religious. Mamdani, Representative Rashida Tlaib, and Avila Chevalier are Muslim, while Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is Catholic.
“There is a long tradition of religious socialism in America that has been forgotten,” said the DSA’s Religion and Socialism working group, which “refuses to cede the terrain of faith to the religious right.”
Two DSA members currently serve in Congress: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib. Several other elected officials, most notably Senator Bernie Sanders, closely align with democratic socialism but are not DSA members.
Earlier, when Mamdani won the mayoralty in November 2025, Trump incorrectly called him a “communist.”
The new attacks come as Trump’s Republican Party braces for a challenging midterm election cycle, with the president’s approval ratings at record lows over cost-of-living concerns.
Trump and his allies see the leftward shift within the Democratic Party as a weakness to exploit before November. They are also seeking to rally support among the conservative, predominantly Christian electorate. Whether this strategy will succeed remains unclear.
Although the “socialist” label carried stigma during the Cold War, polls show declining support for capitalism and rising backing for socialism. A 2025 Gallup survey found that the share of Americans with positive views of capitalism fell from 61% in 2010 to 54%, while positive views of socialism rose from 36% to 39%. Among Democratic voters, positive views of socialism increased from 50% in 2010 to 66% in 2025.
