ANKARA, Turkey—President Donald Trump reiterated his warnings about communism during the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8, saying he believes it’s taking root in the United States and around the world.
In response to a question from NTD News, the sister outlet of The Epoch Times, Trump said that the United States faces a growing ideological threat from communism, and described it as appealing because it promises free housing and other benefits.
The president said that communism ultimately led to poverty, violence, and poor living conditions.
He said it has consistently failed throughout history, even when presented under different names such as “social democrats.”
“I want to get the word out, because what’s forming is communism in the country, and communism is easy to sell,” Trump said during the press conference at the conclusion of the summit.
“It sounds so nice. It’s not nice. It’s a very dangerous term,” he added.
Trump went on to say that communism “has become international” but has “never worked” and is “not going to work.”
Trump contrasted communism with the United States’ economic system, saying that the United States has strong employment, rising wages, and an overall successful, though imperfect, system.
Without naming anyone, Trump characterized some political opponents as “very dangerous” and argued that the spread of communist ideas poses one of the greatest threats the United States has ever faced—comparable to or greater than major historical crises.
Trump indicated that the idea of the United States becoming communist is more dangerous than Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11.
“One thing that happens when you go communist is you never come back,” Trump said. “You die in squalor, and it gets very evil and very nasty.”
He said that countries that become communist do not recover and instead experience repression, poverty, and suffering.
Trump’s comments come as self-described democratic socialists running as Democrats have won primaries in New York and Colorado.
During the conference, as well as in speeches delivered on July 3 and July 4 marking the nation’s 250th anniversary, Trump urged Americans to protect the country’s identity, warning that communist ideology was making a comeback.
“There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success,” Trump said on July 3.
“These are not mere political disagreements like differences over taxes or regulations. Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty.”
Trump criticized the sentiment that America was founded on stolen land by oppressors.
“As for those who peddle Marx’s lies about our heritage, who tell our children that we live on stolen land or that our heroes were oppressors, they’re doing something much worse than slandering our past; they are slandering and attacking our future,” he said.
On July 4, addressing a crowd on the National Mall on Independence Day, Trump said, “The communist system is the opposite of the American system, and the communist system has never worked.”
He went on to say, “Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world, only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. We’re not going to let it happen,” he said.
“It’s like a cancer, you got to cut it out, you got to cut it out fast.”
In his July 3 speech, he also described communism as “a mortal threat to American liberty” and called it “the greatest threat to our country.”
