# Donald Trump — "You can be a communist or you can be a patriot. You cannot be both." > [!quote] "You can be loyal to Karl Marx or you can be loyal to America. You can be a communist or you can be a patriot. You cannot be both." > — Donald Trump, remarks at Mount Rushmore, July 3, 2026 ## Context Delivered near the climax of the [[Trump Mount Rushmore Speech]], the America 250 kickoff address in which [[Donald Trump]] cast the domestic political opposition as a "communist menace." The loyalty binary — Karl Marx or America, communist or patriot — is the rhetorical hinge of the speech's [[Red Scare]] revival, framing ordinary partisan disagreement as a choice between treason and patriotism. ## Why This Matters The line collapses democratic socialism (see [[Democratic Socialists of America]]) and the broader [[Democratic Party]] into "communism," a manufactured frame aimed at the 2026 midterms (see [[Trump Faith and Freedom Coalition Speech]]). The either/or structure — you cannot be both — is a purity test that leaves no room for loyal opposition, the hallmark of the anticommunist rhetoric the speech consciously echoes from the era of [[McCarthyism]]. ## See Also - [[Trump Mount Rushmore Speech]] - [[Red Scare]] · [[McCarthyism]] - [[Donald Trump - communism greater threat than 9-11]]