1,086 Don't Worry: This Won't Be on the Final Exam
Just over a week ago - July 4, 2026 - the “Fondling Father” and anywhere between 4,800 and 7.500 of the MAGA faithful gathered at Mt. Rushmore. Attendance for the celebration was strictly limited to ticketholders, who had secured their spots through a public lottery. They were all there to listen to their fearless leader speak in celebration of the nation's 250th anniversary. For non-MAGAites, the question was “What in the world is he going to say? Will it be scripted, ad libbed, or a combination of the two?” Will it be warm, patriotic, and historically accurate, or cruel, politically nasty, and barely worthy of a fourth-grader?
It should be noted at the outset that Mt. Rushmore was the ideal setting for the speech; It has repeatedly floated the possibility of having his face carved or blasted into the historic national monument. Last year, just after he was inaugurated for the second time, Florida congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna proposed it directly: “I have officially introduced legislation to place President Trump's face on Mount Rushmore. His remarkable accomplishments for our country and the success he will continue to achieve deserve the highest recognition and honor on this iconic national monument."
Turns out, POTUS’ speech had Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, and Lincoln gagging, groaning, and upchucking . . . if such a thing were possible for larger-than-life carvings. For in his Mt. Rushmore speech, after speaking ever so briefly about American exceptionalism (something one would expect on such an august occasion), he veered into a darkly political space, overflowing with warnings about a sinister threat of communism. “Communism,” he blared, “is a mortal threat to American liberty . . . It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11.”
Say what? Standing at the base of a monument commemorating some of America’s most prominent presidents, his words were both shocking and historically flat. In the days leading up to July 4, IT, left incredibly angry by how well left-wing Democratic candidates did in New York primary contests (as well as Colorado, Kentucky, Ohio and Texas), began invoking this communism meme, hoping that it would resonate beyond his core supporters ahead of November’s midterm elections. Between June 23 and July 8, POTUS invoked communism 81 times, calling some of the victorious candidates “hardcore, godless communists.”
That’s pretty rich coming from a man who lies, cheats, lines his pockets with billions of dollars while serving as POTUS, and has spent less time in church than Thomas Jefferson, America’s most distinguished Deist. Who in Hell is he to accuse anyone of being “godless?”
I wish I could get myself a credential and attend one of his pressers (press conference). When it came time for Q&A, I would ask him: “Mr. President. You keep talking about the grave threat communism poses to America’s future; of how it is the greatest threat to our country than both world wars, Pearl Harbor, or 9/11. My question is this: what kind of communism are you referring to? Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maoism, or something else? And while you’re at it, as an apparent expert on the subject, could you briefly explain the differences between these various approaches?”
Marx, Lenin, and Mao
Somehow, I don’t think he could answer my question. And I know it would result in my being disqualified from attending any more such gatherings. But then again, on those occasions when I’ve been accused of being a Socialist or communist, I have generally asked the person making the accusation what kind of Socialist or communist I am. What generally follows is something straight out of the Simon and Garfunkel archive: The Sound of Silence.
And so, let’s take a moment to get ourselves into the know. And don’t worry, none of this will be on the final exam:
Marxism is the theoretical-practical framework on which Socialism and Communism are based.
Leninism builds upon and elaborates the ideas of Marxism, and served as the philosophical basis for the ideology of Soviet Communism after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the establishment of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 - 1924) argued in his 1902 pamphlet "What is to be Done?" that the proletariat can only achieve a successful revolutionary consciousness through the efforts of a "vanguard party" composed of full-time professional revolutionaries and through a form of disciplined organization known as "democratic centralism" (whereby decisions are made with internal democracy but then all party members must externally support and actively promote that decision). It holds that Capitalism can only be overthrown by revolutionary means, and any attempts to reform Capitalism from within are doomed to fail. The goal of a Leninist party is to orchestrate the overthrow of the existing government by force, seize power on behalf of the proletariat, and then implement a dictatorship of the proletariat, a kind of direct democracy in which workers hold political power through local councils known as soviets.
Stalinism is a more pejorative term for Joseph Stalin's vision of Communism (which Stalin himself described as Marxist-Leninism). Proponents of the term argue that it includes an extensive use of propaganda to establish a personality cult around an absolute dictator, as well as extensive use of a secret police to maintain social submission and silence political dissent, all of which are trappings of Totalitarianism.
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism advocated by Leon Trotsky (1879 - 1940), who considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, and argued for the establishment of a vanguard party. Trotsky's politics differed sharply from the Marxism-Leninism of Joseph Stalin, particularly in declaring the need for an international proletarian revolution (as opposed to Stalin's "socialism in one country"), and unwavering support for a true dictatorship of the proletariat based on direct democratic principles. One of the defining characteristics of Trotskyism is the theory of permanent revolution to explain how socialist revolutions could occur in societies that had not yet achieved advanced Capitalism (which, according to Marx, was a prerequisite for socialist revolution).
Maoism (or "Mao Zedong Thought") is a variant of Communism derived from the teachings of the Chinese leader Mao Zedong (or Mao Tse-tung) (1893 - 1976), and practiced in the People's Republic of China after the Chinese Revolution of 1949. Maoism developed from the Marxism-Leninism of Stalin, but introduced new ideassuch as Social-Imperialism (Mao accused the Soviet Union of dominating and exploiting the smaller countries in its sphere to the point of organizing their economies around Soviet, not domestic, needs), the Mass Line (a method of leadership that seeks to learn from the masses and immerse the political leadership in the concerns and conditions of the masses - "from the masses, to the masses"), people's war and new democracy. The "Great Leap Forward" of 1958, an attempt to industrialize and improve China's economy, proved to be disastrous, and millions died from the resulting famine. The Cultural Revolution, begun in 1966 under the so-called "Gang of Four" in an attempt to rid the country of any remaining "liberal bourgeois" elements, resulted in further social, political, and economic chaos, eventually bringing the entire country to the brink of civil war. Since Mao died in 1976, his original ideology has been radically altered, marginalized, and reformed in China and has become known as "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" (which is actually closer to Keynesian Capitalism than Communism). Maoist parties exist in Peru, Nepal, India, and the Philippines.
North Korea is not truly communist in the economic or philosophical sense, although it is officially designated as a socialist state and functions as a totalitarian dictatorship. While it originated from Marxist-Leninist ideals, the country abandoned traditional communism in favor of self-reliance and military-first ideologies. In practice, the state enforces strict class divisions, features a dynastic hereditary leadership, and the economy increasingly incorporates elements of private enterprise and informal markets.
Roy Cohn & Stephen Miller
Precisely how and why Felon47 got into this “communism is our greatest threat” maneuver makes for a fascinating tale. First and foremost, we must ask, “Who was POTUS’ earliest political mentor?” The answer, plain and simple, is “Roy Cohn.” “Who was Roy Cohn?” you might ask. Well, Cohn (1927-1986) was an attorney who first gained fame as a prosecutor of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in their trials (1952-53) and as Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954. Before that, Cohn had been assisting “Tailgunner Joe’s” investigations of suspected communists. Cohn was chiefly responsible for convincing McCarthy that there was a great deal of political capital to be made in finding “communists under every bed.” In his dealings with the future president, he undoubtedly shared that bit of political wisdom.
The closest thing to a Roy Cohn in the current White House regime is Stephen Miller. In more ways than one, the resemblance - both sartorially and politically - between Miller and the late Mr. Cohn is startling. Miller wears the same retro skinny suits that Cohn favored. Both share pale, hooded eyes that observers describe as cultivating a “just-try-to-stare” that seems to bore through their adversaries. As writer Martin Vasquez recently noted, “Miller hasn’t just adopted Cohn’s tactics. He has stepped into the same structural role that Cohn played for McCarthy, and later for Trump in the 1970s and 1980s.” Not only has he single-handedly created POTUS’ views and hardline policy proposals on immigration, Homeland Security, and Birthright Citizenship; he has also likely created his boss’s "reds-under-the-beds” strategy just in time for the upcoming midterms. I, for one, cannot see this political blueprint attracting more than a handful of non-MAGA voters.
Personally, as a “Hollywood Brat,” I am absolutely livid at the thought of yet another communist conspiracy raising its head from the muck of idiocy. Over the years, I had the opportunity to sit and listen to the memories of those charged with being “Premature Anti Fascists” (a nonsensical term used to tar New Dealers in the late 1930s), “knowing Soviet agents,” and just plain “commie bastards” . . . for which they suffered blacklisting, greylisting, bankruptcy, and exile. I well remember sitting, lunching, and listening to the likes of Norman Corwin, Norma Barzman, Herschel Bernardi, and Marsha Hunt talk about the pain and loathing of the McCarthy era and how they managed to survive - and even flourish. (n.b. Except for Bernardi [1923-1986], who died from a heart attack at age 63, the other three all lived past 100.)
Please. Pay no attention to IT or his followers when they accuse anyone who doesn’t agree with them of being part of some hideous, lethal communist conspiracy. These unschooled lunatics haven’t the slightest idea of what they or whom they speak; they are simply affixing a political epithet - and conspiratorial label - to their political enemies in the hope of maintaining a simulacrum (à la Jean Baudrillard’s theory) of power for themselves.
Just 113 days until the Midterm Elections, comrade!
Copyright©2026 Kurt Franklin Stone
