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Johnson Says Pentagon Needs More Money for 'Fighting Communism on Our Own Shores'

Common Dreams · back to the audit

As he pushed for Congress to approve $350 billion in new spending requested by the Pentagon, House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested Tuesday that some of the funds were needed for "fighting communism on our own shores," an ominous notion in light of President Donald Trump's threats to deploy the US military against his domestic enemies.

"We're fighting communism on our own shores, and we're fighting evil terrorists and tyrants around the world," Johnson said.

In just two weeks since those primaries on June 23, Reuters found that Trump had invoked "communism" at least 81 times to demonize candidates and officials like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and others, who have promoted policies like Medicare for All, higher taxes on the wealthy, the expansion of public utilities, and the abolition of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.