L.J. Schaffnit: President Trump embarking on own ‘Red Scare of 2026’

To The Daily Sun,

Donald Trump has historically weaponized fear as a political tool to mobilize and consolidate his base — having been quoted as saying, "real power is . . . FEAR." He needs to get his base to feel they have an existential threat facing them, and the more they feel uncertain and fearful, the more Trump can appear and say, "I alone can fix it."

Trump has now elevated "Communism" as a primary ideological enemy; branding democratic socialism and progressive political movements as a mortal danger to American liberty — claiming that our nation is under threat from a "Communist menace." He is resurrecting the era of McCarthyism of the early 1950s. Known as the "Red Scare," this form of moral panic provoked fear of the rise of left-wing ideologies in our society and resulted in mass civil liberties violations. Trump is embarking on his own "Red Scare of 2026"; inciting a campaign of widespread fear of Communists and radical leftist subversion by making accusations of disloyalty, sedition, or treason without evidence. He is attacking Democrats as "The Communist Party," saying they are made up of illegal immigrants, criminals, and everybody that doesn't want to work."

We are currently witnessing a dysfunctional GOP, being used and manipulated by a domestic terrorist who has no moral character and is willing to sacrifice the means of democracy, to include the Constitution, a system of government based on the rule of law, and an independent judiciary, to the ends of accumulating and preserving political power.

Trump lies. It's what he does. Making excuses for these lies puts Trump supporters in his moral abyss.

"If you are neutral to situation of injustice you are supporting the oppressor." — Desmond Tutu

L.J. Schaffnit

Gilmanton