New Delhi, July 6 -- If statements by US presidents are to be taken seriously, a point that wasn't under much debate till the ascent of Donald Trump, America is taking an interesting turn. As part of a speech to celebrate America's 250th birthday, Trump took on "communists" within.

While it had faint echoes of the country's McCarthyist era of anxiety over 'reds under our beds,' he did not rail against any 'evil empire' of that ideological bent overseas.

Between the end of World II and that of the Cold War 35 years ago, fighting global communism had been a US obsession. Some saw Islamist geopolitics as the next big threat it had identified.

But rightist White House rhetoric is now focused on an alleged red shift in internal politics. Th...