“Because they want — they think, over two or three cycles, they will elect enough Marxist socialist communists to take over the means of production. That means no more private property ownership. Compare that agenda with some crazy things that people have said in their past. I think — I think that the choice here is very simple. I think Republicans are going to win up and down the ballot around this country, and we’re going to defy history, grow the majority, and move the country forward, just as we have been doing for this Congress in the last year-and-a-half or more.” -Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, on CNN 9/13 interviewed by Jack Tapper.
It is so clear that anti-“Marxist socialist communists” propaganda is something that we’re going to be hearing for the next 50 days as the Trumpfascist Republicans attempt to get US potential voters to deny the reality of their lives, what they are experiencing and feeling and thinking, and instead be full of nervousness and fear about the “MSC” threat. Those in areas where there are competitive House and Senate districts will particularly be inundated with a ridiculous number of ads along these lines.
Will this have much effect?
It’s easy to say a loud “NO,” it will not, given Trump’s abysmal ratings in the polls, the fact that Trump, as of now, plans to try to turn the election into a referendum about him personally, and the many polls showing that it is a definite possibility that the Democrats will win not just the House—likely—but the Senate. Frankly, it is reassuring on an emotional level to be aware of these realities. It helps to mitigate the very legitimate anxiety it is easy to feel right now.
But this election is too important to lose sight of how absolutely critical it is. And now, for all the scores of reasons people in the US hate or feel very let down by Trump and his gang, a new one is bursting into public view, the existential, real threat of Artificial Intelligence literally taking power away from human beings very soon. That technology is developing so rapidly that even major AI leaders in the US are publicly sounding an urgent alarm.
Given Trump’s response to this dire set of warnings, shrugging it off on the grounds that we need to beat China, nothing else is more important than this issue right now. It could become THE biggest issue of the entire election campaign. That will benefit Democrats and Independents more than Republicans, while ratcheting up and expanding the anxiety and fear levels for much of the country. This is a mitigating factor that will hurt the Republican anti-MSC efforts.
Another mitigating factor is that, surprisingly, while less than half of US Americans view capitalism positively—a very interesting statistic—one third or more view socialism positively, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll. Having the support of 1/3 of the country is no small thing. But it also strengthens the importance of candidates with a socialist orientation who want to win explicitly being in a coalition with other progressives, non-corporate liberals and people of good will both for the November 3 elections as well as when it comes to governing.
What is very clear is that, right now, a huge majority of the US population opposes corrupt Trump, his corrupt gang and the corrupt billionaire class. As we do all we can in these last 50 days to connect with and mobilize that majority, particularly in key states and election districts, we need to keep focused on the issues of most concern to the most people among the working and middle classes: ending the war on Iran, ending the regressive tariffs, universal health care for all, taxing the billionaires and multi-multi millionaires, a moratorium on any new AI Data Centers, human rights for all people regardless of race, color, culture or gender, advancing solar, wind and other renewables, and more. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize!
This article also appears in Ted Glick’s Substack.
Ted Glick has devoted his life to the progressive social change movement. After a year of student activism as a sophomore at Grinnell College in Iowa, he left college in 1969 to work full time against the Vietnam War. As a Selective Service draft resister, he spent 11 months in prison. In 1973, he co-founded the National Committee to Impeach Nixon and worked as a national coordinator on grassroots street actions around the country, keeping the heat on Nixon until his August 1974 resignation. Since late 2003, Ted has played a national leadership role in the effort to stabilize our climate and for a renewable energy revolution. He was a co-founder in 2004 of the Climate Crisis Coalition and in 2005 coordinated the USA Join the World effort leading up to December actions during the United Nations Climate Change conference in Montreal. In May 2006, he began working with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and was CCAN National Campaign Coordinator until his retirement in October 2015. He is a co-founder (2014) and one of the leaders of the group Beyond Extreme Energy. He is President of the group 350NJ/Rockland, on the steering committee of the DivestNJ Coalition and on the leadership group of the Climate Reality Check network.
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