On the eve of the nation’s 250th birthday, President Donald Trump used his address Friday night at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota to allege that there is “a resurgence of the communist menace in our land.”

“Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty,” Trump said. “It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor or even 9/11.”

Though he did not directly link Democratic socialists to communism in the speech, the rhetoric continued a recent theme of criticism by Trump alluding to electoral successes by Democratic socialist candidates. That includes New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Darializa Avila Chevalier, who upset a Democratic New York City congressman last month in a primary election.

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Democratic socialists advocate for expanding parts of the social safety net, such as health care coverage, through democratic means. Communist tenants include central economic planning and abolishing private property.

In Trump’s speech, he pivoted from communism to Republican chances in the November midterm elections.

“America will never be a communist country,” Trump said, adding “we can only lose the midterms” if “we are foolish, stupid and unwise.”

He then said Republicans will “not lose an election for a hundred years” if they terminate the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act. The filibuster is a U.S. Senate rule that requires the votes of at least 60 senators to limit debate on most bills. The SAVE America Act would require all voters to prove their U.S. citizenship when they register and show identification at the polls.

Trump made those remarks with U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, in the audience. Thune has pledged to protect the filibuster, which he’s called “a critical protection that ensures representation of the minority party in the Senate.”

Last week, Trump canceled a signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing bill and said he wouldn’t sign that legislation until Congress sent him the SAVE Act.

Thune, who did not deliver a speech Friday night, responded last week by saying “there are not the votes to nuke the filibuster and there aren’t going to be 10 Democrat votes to all of a sudden support the SAVE America Act. Those are just hard realities and I think people at some point have to come to grips with that.”

Earlier in Trump’s speech, he called Thune “a good friend of mine and all of us.” Thune met Trump earlier at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City when Air Force One landed there.

Trump was preceded at the podium Friday night by South Dakota Republican Governor Larry Rhoden and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who formerly served as governor of North Dakota. A fireworks display followed Trump’s speech.