Is Trump’s push to label Democrats ‘communists’ gaining traction in deep-red South Carolina?

# Overview

# What Trump said and how often At a Myrtle Beach rally, Trump mentioned communists or communism at least 13 times, calling Democrats "radical left lunatics" and warning that Democrats "hate our country." He has used similar language elsewhere this summer, including at the Mount Rushmore celebrations where he said, "You can be a communist or you can be a patriot. You cannot be both."

# How voters reacted in South Carolina

• Many volunteered fear of socialism or the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) as a primary concern when choosing whom to support.

• Some named specific progressive wins in other states—such as primary victories for candidates in New York, Michigan, and Florida—as evidence that the Democratic party is shifting left.

Voters quoted by the reporter included an Air Force veteran who rejected communism and socialism outright and a retired army engineer who used past experiences in New York to explain his political stance.

# How the label is being used politically Trump's repeated use of the communist label is a strategic effort to energize his base by portraying Democrats as extreme. The article makes clear Trump has amplified old anti-left tropes and applied them to contemporary progressive victories. He links national primary outcomes for progressive candidates to a broader threat, using those examples to justify his rhetoric.

# What this means for the midterms in South Carolina South Carolina is deeply Republican: no Democrat has won statewide in 20 years. Local voters interviewed did not express concern that the state would turn purple. Instead, they framed the debate as protecting freedoms and resisting what they view as creeping socialist ideas elsewhere.

Trump's messaging appears to be working insofar as it taps into existing anxieties among conservative voters in the state. Those anxieties helped mobilize turnout for a Trump-backed candidate in a recent special runoff after Senator Lindsey Graham's death.

# Limits of the reporting The piece focuses on Republican voters in South Carolina and their reactions to Trump's rhetoric. It reports on how those voters perceive national developments and progressive primary wins, but it does not provide statewide polling data measuring the overall effectiveness of the branding campaign beyond the anecdotes and local vote outcomes documented.

# Bottom line In this deep-red state, Trump's effort to paint Democrats as "communists" finds a receptive audience among many Republican voters who cite fear of socialism and progressive groups as deciding factors. The labeling strategy aligns with Trump's broader campaign approach to energize supporters ahead of the midterms, but the reporting centers on local reactions rather than national polling or empirical proof that the label changes large-scale voter behavior.