President Donald Trump used a Friday address to religious conservatives to sharpen his attacks on the Democratic Party ahead of November’s midterm elections, seizing on the primary wins of three left-wing candidates in New York to portray Democrats as a domestic threat under the influence of communism.
Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton hotel, Trump told the audience that the radical left “want to resume the transgender mutilation of children, they want to restart the war on Christians and churches, and as you saw with the communists elected in New York recently … they want to completely destroy the traditional American way of life.”
Tuesday’s Democratic primary elections in New York saw three candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani — a democratic socialist and the city’s first Muslim mayor — defeat incumbent or establishment rivals. Trump described the winners as “very troubling people” and claimed without evidence that they “want to destroy our country, and they hate our country and our people.”
“The Democratic party is in big trouble,” Trump said. “This is not stopping with New York.”
The president accused the Democratic Party establishment of capitulating to the left, saying: “They’re not smart enough or tough enough to fight the plague that is happening right before your very eyes … They are becoming a communist party — not social democrats. They are core communists.”
Trump, making his first appearance at the conference since April when he was rushed off stage after an assassination attempt at the White House correspondents’ dinner, quipped: “I remember this place not so long ago. Hopefully we’re going to have a little more pleasant experience.”
In his address, Trump hit familiar themes, defending the U.S. war in Iran, making false claims of election rigging and stressing the importance of Republicans retaining control of the House and Senate. As MSI previously reported, Trump has tested various midterm messages in recent months, including a focus on tax cuts and the SAVE America Act, as Republican strategists search for a formula that can overcome polling deficits.
Preaching to the religious right audience, Trump emphasized: “All communists are godless. They do not believe in God … These ruthless communists attack all religions, but in particular Christianity. They always do. They’re after Christianity more than any other religion.”
Trump said the left “will close your churches in this country. They go communist — and they’re trying to — they will kill your people and that’s what they’re about. They want to end religion.” He called the threat “the greatest threat to our country since its founding 250 years ago.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson also addressed the conference, telling attendees: “Right now the foundations of America are under violent and unprecedented attack and you know that that is true.”
“This midterm is going to be unlike any in history,” Johnson said. “There is a dangerous trend going on in the country right now. The best way to describe what I’ve seen is there are little mini-Mamdanis popping up all around the country running for Congress.”
As the audience applauded, Johnson added: “Some of the most radical people who have ever run for office are on the ballot in the fall and they’re running for Congress… The danger that we have right now is the energy, the excitement, the grassroots operation, the money is on the side of the insurgent left and they are openly running as Marxists, communists, for Congress!”
Johnson ran through a list of left-wing candidates he claimed had refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance, had ties to al-Qaida, wanted to abolish the border and police, sought to decriminalize “trans-prostitution,” apologized for being white, performed a Satanist wedding, and stopped going to church because Trump supporters were present. “The insurgent left has taken over,” he said.
Trump also addressed the condition of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, acknowledging that the pool — which turned green due to algae growth after a $14.7 million renovation — would not be ready for the Fourth of July. “We just inspected it,” he said. “We’ll fix it right after the Fourth of July. Got to let the water out. Just fix it.”
The president again blamed “vandals” for the problems. While no evidence has emerged to support his claim that a vandal cut a 350-foot gash in the pool, a National Park Service official said in a sworn court statement that on June 9, park police examined apparent intentional damage to the pool.
Republican strategists have spent months trailing in polls as voters accuse Trump of breaking campaign promises to lower prices and keep the U.S. out of foreign wars. However, some party strategists believe the rise of Mamdani gives them an opportunity to tag the entire Democratic Party with the most extreme views of the left.
Among conference attendees, reactions to Trump varied. Sandy Schoepke, who was selling Trump merchandise to conference attendees, said: “He’s doing absolutely fabulous. Whatever he does is OK with me.” Tom Miller, 73, called Trump “an awesome man” who is “breaking all kinds of records on the sacredness of human life and for religious liberty and for freedom.” But Felix Angelastro, 65, who works for a Republican digital ad platform, described the Iran war as “troublesome” and said of Trump’s support: “I think he has already” lost support among his base.