In today’s edition … Trump, Republicans cry communist … A Democratic group takes their energy price message to Trump country … but first …
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I love writing this newsletter — from explaining this dramatic political world we live in to delving into oftentimes quirky topics to the community we have built. Working with Matthew over the past year has been some of the most fulfilling work of my career, and I am deeply appreciative of all of you who engage with the newsletter each day.
You will be hearing more from me as I take over all anchoring duties for the Early Brief, but you can plan to get the same kind of email each morning, one that contextualizes the day’s top headlines and guides you through what you need to know for the day. The mission is unchanged: This newsletter will continue to explain what’s happening in Washington to readers around the country and explain issues from across the country to those in Washington. And the midterms will be our dominant target over the next four months.
More than anything, I want to keep hearing from all of you. Our readers make this newsletter what it is, so if you have an idea, a question, or just a comment, please email me — [email protected].
It was clear that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wanted to raise communism.
When CNN’s Dana Bash asked him on Sunday about the white nationalist group Patriot Front marching through Washington on Saturday, the former North Dakota governor said the group’s views are “nothing I could possibly agree with,” but then pivoted to the newly preferred Republican talking point.
“In America, free speech is allowed, and this is from the whole spectrum of things. I mean, we are a country where someone can run and be elected saying they are a communist, but yet this is what our nation has stood against and fought for,” he said.
We reached out to Burgum’s spokespeople to ask who, in particular, had recently run and won a campaign while saying they are a communist. They did not respond to our request for comment.
But Burgum’s pivot highlights a trend within President Donald Trump’s administration. Faced with the prospect of a difficult midterm election, and at a time when a number of democratic socialists are winning Democratic primaries and general elections, Republicans are invoking communism as a way to attack the Democratic Party.
Our colleagues Teo Armus, Mariana Alfaro and Lydia Sidhom have a great new piece about this topic. And this data point stood out: “From January to June, they used the words ‘communism’ or ‘communist’ in an average of about 626 posts per week, up from around 439 per week during the same stretch last year — a 43 percent increase.”
A few important points:
That, however, hasn’t stopped Trump and other Republicans from raising the communist specter.
“There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land. … These are not mere political disagreements like differences over taxes or regulations. Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty,” Trump said at a speech in South Dakota on July 3 before linking communism directly to the midterms. “America will never be a communist country. We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms if we are foolish, stupid and unwise.”
He described the issue as “the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11.”
While this is pretty standard rhetoric for Trump — he has been attempting to link the Democratic Party with communism since his 2016 campaign — it does preview how the president and his administration want to use red scare rhetoric against Democrats ahead of what could be a tough midterm election for Republicans.
Part of this is just a necessity for Republicans. The primary piece of legislation they passed over the last two years — Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act — is unpopular, and Congress has largely been stalled on a host of other issues they could run on in 2026.
“I think it’s a choice coming up between communism and common sense,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week. “That’s how the president views it.”
And part of it plays into their broader messaging ahead of the midterms. As we have noted in this newsletter, Republicans nationwide want to link all Democrats with the party’s far left.
“Republicans are drawing a clear contrast between our common sense policies versus the left’s increasingly radical agenda, and that’s a choice voters will hear about nonstop through Election Day,” said a Republican operative working on House races.
As our colleagues noted in their piece, however, part of the reason Trump has had to focus on communism now is that, while he has so thoroughly focused on socialism for years, recent polls show voters have less disapproval of the moniker than in years past.
And Democrats are likely to respond like Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) did last week: Branding Trump’s focus on communism “goofy word salad” and pivoting to broader economic concerns.
Read more Democrats invoke ‘big, beautiful bill’ far more than Republicans as midterms near
“I can’t really explain, you know, what’s on the voters’ minds in New York City congressional races, but I know what’s on Virginians’ minds,” said Kaine, “and I think I know what’s on Americans’ minds. Let’s focus on the economy and bringing costs down, not foolish wars and chaos.”
League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, the political action committee for the left-leaning environmental group, will spend $4 million on digital ads in congressional districts Trump won in 2024, taking a message focused on affordability and rising energy prices into races that could be in play in a strong year for Democrats.
“Voters are angry about rising costs across the board, with energy costs being a top concern for many,” said Sara Schreiber, the head of campaigns at the committee.
The districts are varied and include Rep. Eli Crane (R-Arizona) in a district that stretches around Phoenix and into Northeast Arizona, Rep. Cory Mills (R-Florida) in a district in the Orlando suburbs and along the state’s Atlantic coast, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-North Carolina) in a district that stretches across much of Western North Carolina, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Michigan) in a district in Western Michigan and Rob Wittman (R-Virginia) in a district around Richmond and along the Chesapeake Bay.
The ad, titled Skyrocket, features a narrator hitting each Republican for voting to “cut our clean energy supply, making our utility bills skyrocket.”
“We feel it at the grocery store, and when we’re paying medical bills, and at the gas pump,” the narrator says. “Everywhere you go, we’re getting crushed with higher prices.”
The group had earlier outlined the kind of voter they are looking to target this year, calling that person the “Energy Bill Voter.” Their research finds these voters, who are moved by rising energy prices, finds them to be swing voters who are “more likely to be women, Black and/or Latino, non-college-educated, less engaged with politics, independent, moderate, or soft partisan voters.”
Detroit News: State Senator Mallory McMorrow is ending her Democratic Senate campaign in Michigan, setting up a two-person race for the party’s nomination in a state that will be key to Democratic attempts to win back the Senate in November.
The Blade (Toledo): Will voters in Northwest Ohio get behind a .25 percent municipal income tax to avert cuts to fire and police services in Toledo? “Everything has been under consideration,” said Vanice Williams, the council president in Toledo. “We’ve exhausted everything to try to cut this deficit in half.”
We got an interesting question from Kevin Seraile last week and we wanted to answer it today.
“Trump seems to declare emergencies and take on additional powers whenever the feeling hits him,” Seraile wrote. “Are there any requirements before declaring an emergency that augment the President’s power?”
The short answer is no.
The main law that governs this issue is the National Emergencies Act of 1976, which sought to restrain some of this presidential power by giving Congress the authority to terminate such orders. But the law does not define what constitutes an emergency.
According to Elizabeth Goitein, a senior director at the Brennan Center for Justice, the president’s decision to declare a national emergency establishes “a parallel legal regime” that gives the president the ability to “sidestep many of the constraints that normally apply.”
“The moment the president declares a ‘national emergency’ — a decision that is entirely within his discretion — more than 100 special provisions become available to him,” Goitein wrote.
Trump has certainly used this power — some of which has since been constrained by the Supreme Court. He cited an economic emergency to impose his tariffs, an immigration emergency to step up deportations and an energy emergency to ease regulations.
As our colleague Naftali Bendavid put it, “Trump declares an emergency or crisis where many others do not see one, enabling him to take sweeping actions, rally supporters and fight on political terrain he finds favorable.”
Joe Heim and Mariana Trujillo Valdes asked Americans over the weekend how they feel about their country. They spoke about their view of freedom, their hope for change, and some of their fears. So we wanted to ask you: How do you feel about your country? What gives you hope? What concerns do you have? Most of all, we hope you had a great Fourth of July. Let us and your fellow Early Brief readers know at [email protected].
Thanks for reading. You can follow Dan and Matthew on X: @merica and @matthewichoi.
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