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

[sop]

"Trump has threatened to deploy the military against the 'enemy within' and has recently promoted the idea that 'democratic socialism must be criminalized.' "

"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."

"In addition to the already record-breaking $1.1 trillion military spending bill that was approved last month by the House Appropriations Committee, the Pentagon has requested a separate $350 billion package to be passed through a separate GOP-led spending bill known as 'Reconciliation 3.0,' which can pass without Democratic support."

Continued at link,

https://www.commondreams.org/news/johnson-us-military-communism

Looks like Trump wants the $350 billion to subvert the November elections

[Walleye]

1. OK, they want to use our money to go to war against our fellow Americans? Come on.

[rampartd]

26. and they will get it

[slightlv]

39. Absolutely they want to go to war with us.

They've been kicking and screaming about it since trump 1.0... always asking, can we get our guns now? Can we shoot them now? They're clamping at the bit to be turned loose on everything not MAGA. Trump has always pushed this model... he's always stoked the worst possible in men to spew forth. You don't think he wants voter rolls just to check off a few names, do you? He's gonna find out who's Republican and who's not, and then he and his goons are gonna come after those that aren't. You might still have elections, but they'll be Russian-type elections; not anything resembling what we've had in our country for 250 years. Wanna run as a Democrat for some position? Ya better have good security, cause they'll be gunning for anyone calling themselves such a thing.

I'm going NUTS with this feeling inside that something huge is going to burst forth... and soon. It'll bury us, and I can't get a handle on what it is... but I do know trump's got ALL OUR money, and he's got all kinds of plans he's thought about through the years, as well as ideas, plans, and horrible schemes from people like Stephen Miller. He also knows time is running short for him to get things done the way he wants them - especially in ensuring he leaves the country to his family to rule from his death onwards. A true family dynasty. And all the money is theirs. (SMDH) trump forever and ever, amen is how he sees it. I feel the same sense of foreboding now that I did prior to SCOTUS killing women's autonomy. And again, everyone seems to be in disbelief that anything like that can happen here. In other countries, sure... Slavic nations, Latino nations, African nations... but never someplace like the USA. Just look at how many different paths to getting the SAVE Act passed he's got going on right now. There's not only the SAVE America Act, itself (which even most R's won't for), but he's gotten the meat of it written in the NDAA... and now there's a $95 billion budget extra for that Resolution 3.0 that R's think they can pass without any Dem help... and it's even written in there... along with more money for Iran and (ha ha!) Farmers. Like Farmers will see anything much come out of trump that's good. It CAN and WILL happen here unless we can figure out a way around it. And now I"m at a loss... how DO you fight against it when everything he does zeroes in on what you absolutely do NOT want, and he's using your money to do it?! As I read yesterday, we now have garbage trucks doing AI surveillance on neighborhood care, among other things, no doubt. I just discovered 10 of those Flock cameras covering the path to my local grocery store. OK... I'm an old person and I like to be left alone, for the most part. But I've never wanted to spied on... young or old... and especially when they'll arrest you for holding a piece of broken paint, or throwing a sandwich. Ridiculous is beyond what it is now, IMO. WE are the enemy trump and other R's have wanted to get rid of since the 1960's or earlier. They're just making their moves out in public now... YMMV, of course.

[Lovie777]

2. Look in the mirror Johnson..................

fascism is the republican way.

[Biophilic]

3. So they want us taxpayers to pay for the upcoming war on us?

Something seems off with that idea. But I’ll have to think on it. For some reason it doesn’t make sense to me.

[WmChris]

4. SEIG HEIL

He's already got the brownshirted Jan 6ers and proud boys now let's go full scale fascist and use the military against our fellow countrymen. We really need to get rid of the whole Republican party and start over with actual constitutional believing politicians.

[Biophilic]

5. Agree, but finding actual constitutional believing politicians is harder than it should be.

Greed and preservation of elitist lifestyle seems to be topping the charts these days.

[efhmc]

32. It is very difficult for that true believer in Democracy to get elected.

[lonely bird]

6. Fighting communism?

Where? There is no communism anywhere in this country.

Johnson wouldn’t recognize communism if it walked up and kicked him in the balls.

No to mention that the military cannot be used on our soil for that purpose.

[sop]

7. The commies are landing on our shores, can't you see them?

[lonely bird]

8. Of course, silly me

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Was it rock music? Was it the deadly reefer?

Maybe, horror of horrors, dogs and cats living together? (My dog hates cats)

Those sneaky commies!

[relogic]

14. Oh, it's just

Last edited Wed Jul 15, 2026, 03:28 PM - Edit history (2)

a silly notion that a regime battling the very citizens who pay them are restricted by law from doing so. (that is, policing the citizenry) We are beyond that Constitutional barrier. There are too many laws ignored and too many persons murdered by a quasi military force already. The lines of civilian and military have little distinction.

Who’d have thought encouraging thousands of former US military persons to work for police departments ICE, Border Patrol, FBI, etc. across the nation would not distort the this balance? In my view this well-orchestrated, popular and complete infiltration enables the perception that those that are not doing the policing are the enemy.

We are past this notion of the people objecting sufficiently to thwart this force of the increasing military/civilian imbalance. Stern words, laws and amendments from our “representatives just don’t have the respect they used to.

[slightlv]

40. Johnson sees communists everywhere there's anyone with a "D" behind their name in Congress,

or listed on any voter role as registered as or voted for Democratic. We're the hippies and the flower children from the 60's and 70's that Nixon abhorred and tried desperately to get rid of. "Communist" is just a synonym for these men for whomever they don't like or agree with. You're right, they wouldn't know one if it rolled up and kicked 'em in the balls... such a person already has, and they've broken bread and given aid and comfort to him for decades now, among others. But for some reason, what we see as treason isn't treason, and thus we couldn't charge trump with such a thing. So, we just allowed him to give even more top secret info to Putin, all the while Putin was kicking 'em all around and laughing. We can only hope the people of the U.S. are as strong and hungry for democracy and self-government as the people for Hungary were; and that we can take good notes.

[Karasu]

44. No Republicans would recognize it if it kicked them in the balls. To them, it's just a useful boogeyman they use to

describe anyone to the left of Mussolini. Been that way for 80 years.

[CousinIT]

9. The 1950s called. They want their boogeyman back.

This is a distraction from the REAL boogeyman/men who are stealing our Democracy, our freedom, our money, our lives, and our livelihoods. Same shit, different decade.

[Karasu]

45. Republicans are completely uncreative and always fall back on the same tired old shit.

[AZLD4Candidate]

10. Are we back in the 1950s????

[dedl67]

21. In the 1950s we were told that commies were hiding under our beds.

I checked every night. Never found one.

[Harker]

23. I was more worried about monsters.

[Katcat]

43. They're not under the bed

They’re in congress

[CaptainTruth]

11. How about fighting Republican fascism?

[31j20b3]

20. The Fascists were very anti-Comminsm. seem like Johnson is in Goosestep

The very dangerous thing is the Republicans think that our social security retirement insurance, and medicare are communist programs.

They aren't communism, they are merely citizens as a collective group using the national wealth they helped create for their needs in infirmity and in older age when Private Equity didn't want to get within a mile of the financial risks of old-age and disability.

Communism is when the government runs businesses... and Trump is now investing taxpayer dollars in private business to create government ownership control.

They complain it's too big a part of federal spending, but it's a big part of federal spending because of tax cuts and tax dodges for the rich. Those programs make huge purchases that treat what should be independent corporations as if they are contract employees of the government. Which is to say just like in Communism the government controls the production of very expensive stuff... like warships, war planes, and general armament.
IT'S HUUGE. And Donald's kids are now surgically attached to those tits.

[rampartd]

27. i agree but

when the proud boys do knock on our doors they won't be asking us "who should own the means of production?"

more like " are there any more commies in here? we've got a quota to make."

[31j20b3]

29. We all know it's not about Communism. It's about Right Wing Power

which is remarkably much like the power of Stalin, Mao, Castro, Sihanouk, Pinochet, Putin, etc etc etc

[rampartd]

30. absolutely

"communism' is an economic system of last resort.

when america has been ripped of so thoroughly that we can't float bonds or t bills we will need a more communal distribution of necessities or we die in industrial quantities.

examples: tsarist russia, the kuomintang , colonial indochina, cuba, etc.

an industrial democracy turning commie? trump must break us first, and he is doing a remarkable job..

[pdxflyboy]

35. If a Proud Boy knocks on my door..,

He will “die in place”, guaranteed.

[slightlv]

41. Ah, but he got smarter as is now naming social democracy as communism...

never mind it isn't...

They aren't communism, they are merely citizens as a collective group using the national wealth they helped create for their needs in infirmity and in older age

I agree 100%, of course. But it's we as citizens working as a collective group that they want to outlaw and kill. The whole concept is evil to them. They would probably lose most of the magas if they started actually calling for the killing of social democracy or democratic socialism... magas really aren't smart enough to know the difference between the two of them and communism vs capitalism. For Johnson, "Communism" is a boogie man that his maga people think they know and can fight behind. He's trying to rally his own collective group while trying to stamp out ours, basically. Doesn't have to make any sense!

[patphil]

12. Mike Johnson is a walking echo chamber of Trump's mindless blatherings.

I'd like to believe he's not that stupid, but for sure he thinks a huge chunk of the American public are.
There are only a couple thousand members in the US communist party. It's been decreasing in size for decades, and has absolutely no influence on social issues.
But Trump and his supporters are convinced that labeling Democrats as communists will get them millions more votes this fall.
I'm more concerned about it being used as cover for a wide scale voter intimidation and suppression campaign during the fall election.

[Fla Dem]

13. Where? Where is Communism a part of the US?

"Trump has threatened to deploy the military against the 'enemy within'

Communism is an economic and political system where property, businesses, and resources are owned collectively by the public rather than by private individuals.

Communisism is a political process, not a military or armed organization. And if anyone is a communist, it would be our current president.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

17. Trump is the one who is up Putin's ass, not us.

The same Vladimir Putin who was in the KGB for 16 years and WAS A COMMUNIST PARTY MEMBER.

[Karasu]

46. Republicans just use it as a catch-all for anyone to the left of Genghis Khan. They couldn't give less of a shit about

the fact that words have actual meanings.

[Martin68]

15. Shameless demagog.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

16. Fuck you!

You little fascist turd.

[ChicagoTeamster]

18. The Pentagon doesn't perform domestic operations beyond disaster recovery, firefighting etc

They aren't law enforcement. Most of MAGA are to stupid and willfully uninformed and will believe any bullshit so @$$h0!3 Mike is under instruction to lie to get the screaming MAGA imbeciles will harass their Republican Congress people,

[ashredux]

19. I'd like to know exactly what "communism on our " Shores " is? And who would they prosecute?

If I decide tomorrow that I’m a “communist”, and I don’t break any laws, what is there to fight? Are they planning to “fight” my opinion about how I want to govern? I might be wrong, but just saying I’m a communist is not against the law.

[BidenRocks]

22. Threats and fear played well in the age of ink.

Instant access to the truth and others puts the lie to their bullshit.

I may not have caught problems with the Mitch photo. Others did.
Newspapers let bs spread until the retraction on page 12, 2 days later.

We are onto you and when legally possible, will take you down!

Stop ten people from your hometown MIke, and ask them to explain the difference between Communism and Fascism?

You are hoping they are stupid because that has been the RW education plan for 50 years. Now it pays off.
Kimmel proves it on his Hollywood Blvd questions. ex: Who is this? IDK! It's Hillary Or JD or Rubio.

Their is a solid 30% believing the lies and spreading it through. Always that 30%.

[llmart]

33. Heck, Mikey himself couldn't answer the question you pose.

When I see him talk what comes to mind is how vapid he is. All he does is repeat what he's been told to say. He should be embarrassed but he's even too dumb to be that.

[BubbaJoe]

24. Well there is "The Hog Farm"

"The Hog Farm is America’s longest-running hippie commune. Founded in the 1960s by Hugh “Wavy Gravy” Romney and his wife Jahanara in Tujunga, California, it evolved into a massive extended family. The group is best known for traveling in converted school buses and managing food and "please force" security at the 1969 Woodstock festival."

[AllaN01Bear]

25. i dont think the rs would know a communist if they saw one . hem more distraction from the epstien files .

just release them already.

[Chasstev365]

28. THAT FUCKING SMIRK!

[Deuxcents]

31. 350 billion for a figment of their imagination and how much for testosterone testing for the troops? 🤬

[slightlv]

42. And then turn those testosterone laden men on the people of the U.S.

We only think the U.S. is dangerous to live in now. Wait until all those men are hyped up on "Special T"... and the violent energy needs a place to be expended. What Kegsbreath is proposing for our military... besides being a backdoor to kicking women out of an entire career field... is red flag dangerous for us as a country. These guys won't need guns... in fact, many will see guns as cowardly; they'll want fists and feet flying.

[The Wizard]

34. If he's suggesting the military be turned on American citizens

let me suggest he go right to fucking jail for taking the position that the government violate the The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (18 U.S.C. § 1385).
The law school that bestowed credentials on him owes him a full refund.
What else is the Speaker hiding?

[hedda_foil]

36. If he's planning for the Pentagon to fight his opponents (us) at home, he's planning on using the Insurrection Act.

Communism is just the label they've decided to use

[LuvLoogie]

37. Drones, robot dogs, data centers...

White Supremacy is expensive.

[maxsolomon]

38. First off, was there a "Reconciliation 2.0"? I don't remember it.

2ndly, I thought you got two shots at reconciliation bills per Congress. Parliamentarian, where are you?

3rdly, fuck them. Relatively powerless Social Democrats ARE NOT COMMUNISTS. The Black Bloc kids ARE NOT COMMUNISTS. Antifa ARE NOT COMMUNISTS.

[Karasu]

47. Anyone to the left of a fascist is a "communist", apparently. Good old Red Scare bullshit never dies.