MAGA-aligned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) continued to push what critics call “red scare” tactics on social media this weekend when he wrote: “The stakes couldn’t be higher. The question before Congress is whether we will preserve our constitutional republic OR chart a fundamentally different course that leads us down the ROAD TO COMMUNISM. This is the question, and for Republicans, the FIGHT IS ON to preserve the greatest nation in history from Mini Mamdanis.”
The stakes couldn’t be higher.
The question before Congress is whether we will preserve our constitutional republic OR chart a fundamentally different course that leads us down the ROAD TO COMMUNISM.
This is the question, and for Republicans, the FIGHT IS ON to preserve the…
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 19, 2026
Former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a major Trump critic, replied to Johnson: “You’re aware that the govt has taken shares of companies right? Which…. Remind me again what that is called…..”
[NOTE: Other Republicans, including U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), have criticized the Trump administration for taking a 10 percent stake in the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing company Intel. Tillis said: “I don’t care if it’s a dollar or a billion dollar stake in an American company, that starts feeling like a semi-state owned enterprise, à la CCCP.”]
Former U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-FL) — no longer a Republican — also replied to Johnson, with sarcasm: “I’m so glad you’re ready to speak out against Trump’s seizure of private companies & piling up the biggest debt in the history of our great Republic. Join our fight, Mike.”
He added, “Privatize Intel, Balance the Budget, and stop killing people in the streets of America.”
Kinzinger replied to Scarborough: “Absolutely the most under discussed fact: Trump is practicing ACTUAL communism/socialism.”
Absolutely the most under discussed fact: Trump is practicing ACTUAL communism/socialism.
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini)
(@AdamKinzinger) July 19, 2026
