{"id":28193,"date":"2026-07-06T17:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=28193"},"modified":"2026-07-09T16:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T23:28:17","slug":"the-new-commie-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/07\/06\/the-new-commie-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Commie Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Robert Reich on the Commie threat, a tired Republican charge, recalling McCarthy;<\/li>\n<li>Lazy Republican thinking about communism and current kids these days;<\/li>\n<li>Twisted thinking about religious liberty;<\/li>\n<li>A video of Paula White, presidential spiritual advisor;<\/li>\n<li>Stephen Miller, divine providence, and mental illness;<\/li>\n<li>Recognizing The Good Liars and the work they do to challenge MAGA folks;<\/li>\n<li>And how folks who don&#8217;t align with tribal Christian values are &#8220;divisive radicals,&#8221; at the Smithsonian.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/div>\n<p>Anything more about the 250th? Or about Trump? Of course there is!<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!-Sgr!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04bf27b0-971e-4e26-81e6-e7d80b3eef8b_694x1010.jpeg\" width=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Robert Reich, today<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/robertreich.substack.com\/p\/trumps-communist-trump-card\">Why Is He Using the Communist Trump Card?<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;He&#8217;s run out of other cards.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>(The image is of an anti-communist comic book published in 1947.)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Trump has run out of cards to play in the midterm elections, which is why he\u2019s now talking about the \u201ccommunist menace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>He can\u2019t talk about the economy, because prices continue to rise faster than wages, which means most Americans are getting poorer. He can\u2019t talk about foreign policy, because his war in Iran has been a debacle, his tariffs are an utter failure, and he obviously hasn\u2019t settled the war in Ukraine on \u201cDay 1.\u201d He can\u2019t talk about immigration, because his raids and mass deportations have become so unpopular.<\/p>\n<p>So, facing the midterm elections, what\u2019s left?<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s resorting to the oldest of right-wing tropes \u2014 accusing Democrats (especially a rising generation of new, young, vigorous Democratic politicians) of being commies.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230; [quoting Trump] &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Oh, <i>please<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Conservatives have no new ideas; they just recycle old attacks. Do kids these days remember McCarthy?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Communism was the scare word used by right-wingers after World Wars I and II to crack the whip on the left. It provoked witch hunts and ruined careers.<\/p>\n<p>It made former Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy a one-man bomb squad in the early 1950s, when he ridiculed the \u201cpitiful squealing\u201d of \u201cthose egg-sucking phony liberals\u201d who \u201cwould hold sacrosanct those Communists and queers,\u201d and forced American citizens to \u201cname names.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCarthyism was a by-product of the Republican Party\u2019s postwar effort to eradicate the New Deal. The GOP had portrayed the midterm election of 1946 as a \u201cbattle between Republicanism and communism,\u201d and the Republican National Committee chairman claimed that the federal bureaucracy was filled with \u201cpink puppets.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Reich goes on, in some detail.<\/p>\n<p>But, hey, isn&#8217;t progress being made? At least Trump isn&#8217;t calling Democrats &#8220;queers&#8221;!<\/p>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/levlazy-660x330.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>JMG, yesterday<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2026\/07\/leavitt-doubles-down-on-lazy-indoctrinated-gen-z\/\">Leavitt Doubles Down On \u201cLazy Indoctrinated\u201d Gen Z<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I care enough about our country to tell uncomfortable truths. And it\u2019s an undeniable fact that a growing number of young people in our country are falling for the lies of socialism and communism, sold to them by anti-American politicians who\u2019ve never built anything, offer no real solutions, and are intent on tearing down everything that makes this country great.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>She has no idea what communism actually is. Just a slur for something she feels threatened by. Also, it&#8217;s Trump and MAGA currently tearing things down, hasn&#8217;t she noticed? Finally, this is just another example of &#8220;kids these days,&#8221; a complaint heard throughout recorded history.<\/p>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p>Perspective and scales.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2282955894.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0.0062492188476426%2C100%2C99.987501562305&amp;w=750\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Vox, Christian Paz, yesterday<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/494204\/christianity-twisted-alternative-history-justice-trump-religious-liberty-commission-freedom-founders-250-constitution\">The twisted history Trump\u2019s White House is using to redefine religious freedom<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;Is religious freedom on the retreat in America? A Trump commission certainly believes that to be true.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Things change.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When the Founding Fathers began their work to unify the colonies, America\u2019s religious landscape looked nothing like today\u2019s marketplace of ideas. Mainline Protestants \u2014 Anglicans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Puritans, Quakers, and Lutherans \u2014 dominated the budding nation, and Protestant Christianity was fused with public life.<\/p>\n<p>To talk of religious liberty back then was a question of how to handle these various Protestant denominations and, essentially, keep them from killing or oppressing each other. There were hardly any Catholics; there were very few Jewish people; there were essentially no Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists. What the Founding Fathers eventually arrived at was a plan for tolerance \u2014 an early version of freedom from official religions and a freedom to exercise faith without being punished.<\/p>\n<p>Yet a new draft report from a Trump administration task force presents a competing vision of America\u2019s tradition of religious liberty \u2014 one that argues that the Founders wanted as much religion, everywhere, as possible \u2014 and that makes the case that our understanding of religious freedom has been corrupted by 20th-century European secularists and radical progressives aiming to eliminate religion from public life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Seriously? I&#8217;m willing to believe that the founders held some fundamental assumptions about the value of religion, even if they didn&#8217;t want to endorse any particular flavor. But in this case it&#8217;s special pleading. You can&#8217;t read Thomas Paine&#8217;s THE AGE OF REASON (review <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2016\/06\/24\/thomas-paine-the-age-of-reason-1796\/\">here<\/a>) and conclude he had respect for any Bible-based religion.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Late last week, the Trump administration\u2019s Religious Liberty Commission, housed within the Department of Justice, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/president-trumps-religious-liberty-commission-delivers-historic-report-draft\">released a draft 224-page report<\/a> pushing the idea that belief in God should be the bedrock of American law and society, and proposing dozens of policy proposals and legal recommendations to restore the place of religion in daily life. It argues that when the Founders chose to declare independence, drafted up the Constitution, and debated the Bill of Rights, they \u201cdrew from religious traditions of man being made in the image of God,\u201d and that belief in a Christian God was the starting point for individual rights. \u201cThe uniquely American approach to religious liberty,\u201d they argue, is one \u201cin which religion is not merely indulged by the government, but rather honored as a natural right, fundamental to the flourishing of a free society.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Obviously conservatives want to retain the cultural presumptions of the Founders. Never mind that we&#8217;ve learned so much more in the past 250 years, and it does not include learning about religion, it involves learning why religion is an atavism.<\/p>\n<p>The current administration&#8217;s support for Christian religion, and its disdain for non-Christian religions, includes this person: &#8220;Presidential Spiritual Advisor&#8221; Paula White, seen in the above photo at far left in the white suit. Here&#8217;s a video of her.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Presidential Spiritual Adviser Paula White.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gHsBIk1ZLr4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I watched all 1:45. She&#8217;s insane. (And who&#8217;s that guy walking back and forth? Presumably he&#8217;s heard this before.)<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/StephenMiller2025WHoutside-660x330.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>JMG, yesterday<\/strong>, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/politics\/articles\/stephen-miller-says-events-last-200712578.html\">Yahoo News<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2026\/07\/voldemort-trump-is-president-by-divine-providence\/\">Voldemort: Trump Is President By \u201cDivine Providence\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Nope. This is a kind of mental illness. A sin of pride, as I suggested a few posts ago. This reminds me of the case, I think in Oliver Sacks, of several prisoner inmates who apparently sincerely believed that each of them was Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve seen videos on Facebook from this guy for years. He stands with a microphone among MAGA crowds and nonchalantly asks passing folks questions about Trump and social issues. And whatever they say, he challenges them mildly, but not aggressively, and lets them say what they say. He&#8217;s a brave person.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/boingboing.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/trumps-garbage-e1740489009658.jpg?fit=1&amp;quality=60&amp;ssl=1&amp;resize=620%2C4000\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Boing Boing, Grant St. Clair, 3 Jul 2026<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/boingboing.net\/2026\/07\/03\/the-good-liars-find-state-fair-maga-fans-who-rank-trump-over-god.html\">The Good Liars find state fair MAGA fans who rank Trump over God<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Time and time again, I count myself lucky that <a href=\"https:\/\/boingboing.net\/tag\/the-good-liars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Good Liars<\/a> are willing to wade into the backwoods of MAGA country so I don&#8217;t have to. They&#8217;ve made an extremely stable career out of showing up at Trump-centric events and documenting them in their attendees&#8217; own words, and it doesn&#8217;t get much more Trump-centric than the <a href=\"https:\/\/boingboing.net\/2026\/06\/29\/trumps-great-american-state-fair-is-kind-of-rubbish.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Great American State Fair.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And here they are on Facebook: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheGoodLiars\">The Good Liars<\/a>, with 902K followers.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Education and experience are radical and divisive.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/VinceHaley-660x330.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>JMG, yesterday<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2026\/07\/white-house-smithsonian-is-run-by-divisive-radicals\/\">White House: Smithsonian Is Run By \u201cDivisive Radicals\u201d<\/a> (via <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-smithsonian-leadership-activists-history-museum-cda2e8cff29f56a34e5a5d510bb45cda\">AP<\/a>)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A White House report brands the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution, especially at the National Museum of American History, as radical activists who cannot be trusted, indicating that President Donald Trump may be preparing to install his own team.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Because their conclusions do not align with tribal Christian values. This is so obvious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Reich on the Commie threat, a tired Republican charge, recalling McCarthy; Lazy Republican thinking about communism and current kids these days; Twisted thinking about religious liberty; A video of Paula White, presidential spiritual advisor; Stephen Miller, divine providence, and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/07\/06\/the-new-commie-threat\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,90,96,18,54,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservative-resistance","category-conservatives","category-human-nature","category-lunacy","category-politics","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28193"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28226,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193\/revisions\/28226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}