Government holds stakes in Intel, MP Materials amid anti-communist rallying
Primary election victories by left-wing candidates in New York and other states have prompted President Donald Trump and Republican allies to label Democrats and democratic socialists as communists. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who won a primary election, criticized wealth inequality and capitalism in an Independence Day speech. Trump, speaking at Mount Rushmore for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, described communism as “the exact opposite of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and accused its followers of pursuing “death, tyranny, and the pursuit of evil.”
“Communism is the exact opposite of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s death, tyranny, and the pursuit of evil,” Trump said at the event. “The godless communist morality states that anything is justified to bring about inhuman visions … They don’t want good. They don’t love God and they don’t want God. They don’t love religion and they don’t want religion, and they won’t have it, but we will not let them win.”
The language draws on John Birch Society language that has grown dusty with disuse, according to the Guardian.
Multiple Republican figures have echoed Trump’s framing. House Speaker Mike Johnson, appearing on Fox News Sunday, described democratic socialism as “a serious threat to our whole system of government.” Fox News host Jesse Watters criticized Democrats for their alignment with left-wing candidates, calling them “cold-blooded revolutionaries who want to bury America.”
Far-right commentator Barbara Boyd of Promethean Action circulated a video linking Mamdani to Italian Marxists. “We have to make the culture Donald Trump is recreating, American culture, self-conscious to our people,” Boyd said. In the video, she reported that many Republicans think the messaging will make the midterms easier to win because Americans don’t like socialists.
Former White House adviser Matt Mowers, who lost a Republican primary bid in 2022, told NewsMax that Mamdani was “trying to tear people apart at a time when we should be united and celebrating.”
Republican Senator Ted Cruz celebrated Trump’s new savings accounts as a “New Deal” while declaring, “Instead of having government taking care of everyone, Trump accounts are about making every child and every American a capitalist.”
The labeling comes as the Trump administration has pursued significant government equity stakes in private companies. The United States government holds a 9.9% stake in Intel Corporation, making it the chip maker’s largest single shareholder, after Trump redirected funds from the Chips Act to rescue the firm. The government also holds warrants allowing it to purchase another 5% of the private company.
Similar government investments include a 15% stake in rare earth producer MP Materials, where the Department of Defense is the largest shareholder, and a 5% stake in Lithium Americas plus a 5% economic stake in its Thacker Pass joint venture with GM through the Department of Energy.
Trump allowed the acquisition of US Steel by a Japanese firm only on condition of a “golden share” giving the government veto power over some industrial decisions on national security grounds. OpenAI is in talks to turn over 5% of its equity to the government.
Trump has also used tariffs to protect or punish industries based on White House policy. Nvidia and AMD obtained export licenses for their AI chips only after agreeing to pay the U.S. government 15% of their China chip revenue.
Karoline Leavitt, a former Trump press secretary who won a 2022 primary bid against Mowers, initially described Gen Z complaints about cost of living as “laziness” and later walked back her remarks.