KEYSTONE, S.D. -- Four months before tough midterm elections, President Donald Trump used the backdrop of Mount Rushmore one night before the nation’s 250th birthday to characterize his political opponents as “godless,” “evil” communists.
“We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms, if we are foolish, stupid and unwise,” he said Friday, demanding that Congress pass his so-called SAVE America Act, which would impose stricter voter ID rules that would make it harder to vote. He called for terminating the filibuster.
The larger purpose of the speech wasn’t hard to miss. He was sharpening a line of attack that the White House has started to use to head off a newly insurgent progressive wing of the Democratic Party that appears to be resonating with liberal voters.
Trump read from an apocalyptic script as the stony faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln looked on. He said the word “communism” so many times, you might’ve thought the Cold War was still on.
He was not subtle. Communism, he said, “is the enemy of July 4, 1776.” He called it a bigger threat than Pearl Harbor and even 9/11. He name-checked Karl Marx.
The speech began on an upbeat note. The president painted a proud and optimistic portrait of the United States, describing it as the greatest society in the history of civilization. The first half of his speech boiled down to this line: “You live in a very special place -- congratulations, everybody.”
He soon began to pivot. There were people out there who didn’t want English to be the dominant language of the United States, he said. There were people out there who wanted to take away everyone’s guns, he warned. He promised never to let that happen.
He warned of “newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success.”
As Trump’s speech drew to a close, he went in for one last attack. “The Communist Party,” he concluded, “is made up of illegal immigrants, criminals and everybody that doesn’t want to work.”
Then he switched back to talking about how awesome America is for another minute. Fireworks shot out over the presidential noggins, and the familiar sounds of the Village People started up.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.