“Democracy sustains capitalism. Capitalism thrives in a democracy. And, right now, we are dealing with, as I called him at my speech on the Ellipse, a tyrant,” she said, referencing her rally last year on the White House Ellipse in Washington. “We used to compare the strength of our democracy to communist dictators. That’s what we’re dealing with right now in Donald Trump. And these titans of industry are not speaking up,”
Americans use the word communism as pejorative without having even slightest idea what it actually means. In this case she is speaking language that majority of Americans will understand
Americans understand the word “dictator” even if you don’t put “communist” in front of it. This was a choice that doesn’t make any sense. It only annoys the minority of people who understand what words mean.
Whatever fingers you want to point regarding Harris’ (and Democrats’) relationship with voters to the left of them, this is simply antagonizing. Politicians will tell enormous lies to court the right, but won’t tell the truth to court the left.
Most Americans confuse “communist” with “Bolshevik”.