In a tweet last week, the twice-impeached former president ranted about what he called those “communist Democrats.” Of course, the tweet appeared on someone else’s account since he is banned from Twitter for telling fibs that ignited an insurrection, which caused the deaths of five people and injuries to 140 police officers.

After reading the tweet, I thought, “Communist? Don’t tell me Republicans are reviving that worn-out 1950s Joseph McCarthy tactic again. Besides, I thought Democrats were socialists. What new bugaboo will Republicans dream up next week?”

Silly me, I almost forgot. Tis the season for that scariest of conservative political scare tactics: The Democrats’ War on Christmas.

You may recall that long before former Fox News conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly had to pay out $50 million for half a dozen sexual misconduct lawsuits by women, he helped dream up a scheme to denounce liberals’ sinful efforts to take Christ out of Christmas.

That effort continues today as conservatives’ “Most Trusted” information sources Fox News and National Enquirer started their counterattack against liberals’ War on Christmas two weeks before Halloween this year by pushing spooky comparisons of Joe Biden to the Grinch.

Seemingly not wanting to burden its fans with basic economic facts, conservative media is working hard to stir up Rudolph-rage by holding President Biden responsible for a possible shortage of merchandise to buy, thus sabotaging the commercialized Christmas Americans love.

Conservative pundits are aghast that this year it may take a bit longer to purchase Christmas decorations for the tree, house, yard, etc. After all, Santa’s Workshop where Christmas decorations are made is located thousands of miles away, not at the North Pole, but in the Chinese city

of Yiwu, known as “the Christmas capital of the world.”

That’s right. Communist Chinese migrant laborers, not Santa’s elves, work 12 hours a day in Yiwu’s 600 factories producing over 60 percent of the world’s Christmas decorations!

And that artificial Christmas tree in your living room that the family gathers around to decorate with those communist Chinese-made decorations? Just so happens around 90 percent of artificial Christmas trees are manufactured by communist laborers in the Pearl River Delta area in China.

After you’ve strung colorful communist Chinese-made lights on the house and inflated the giant communist Chinese-made Snowman out on the lawn; and once you’ve decorated the communist Chinese-made tree with all the beautiful communist Chinese-made ornaments, tinsel, and lights, it’s time to place the gifts underneath the tree.

First, you might want to peek at the little tags on all those gifts, especially the toys. Surprise! Barbie and Ken are manufactured in the cities of Dongguan and Zhongmei, neither of which is in Ohio.

Knowing all that, it seems conservative media’s push for increased and faster imports from China plays right into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. Does that make Fox News commentators “communist republicans”?

Even though the people in China make all those toys and goodies, do they even celebrate Christmas with only around 3 percent of them claiming to be Christians?

Yes, but there is an interesting ironic twist to Christmas in China. While conservative spokespersons in the U.S. love to politicize Christmas with bogus claims that “communist Democrats” will destroy Christmas, the truth is worse: Communist China’s Christmas is becoming as commercialized as Christian America’s!

China’s Christmas, called Sheng Dan Jieh (Holy Birth Festival), has a number of traditions. Santa is known as Sheng dan Lao ren (Christmas Old Man). He appears like our Santa, but thin. And today he is often shown playing a saxophone—though no one seems to know why.

Instead of stuffing themselves with candy, cookies, and fruitcake, the Chinese have a tradition of giving each other fancy, cellophane-wrapped ‘Christmas apples’ with printed messages like ‘love’ and ‘peace’ as gifts.

But in the same way that American corporate fast-food restaurants are eroding the healthy Chinese diet, Christmas in China is evolving into nothing more than a month-long barrage of ads and shopping, just like here in the United States.

The biggest in-store shopping day of the year in China is Christmas Eve. And online sales during China’s Singles Day, Nov. 11, now surpass Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined here in the U.S.!

It should come as no surprise that conservatives such as Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and their ilk bemoan the fact that Americans may not be able to buy all the stuff they want this Christmas since selling ads for all that stuff is how they make their millions.

And as far as conservative commentators accusing President Biden of being the Grinch, they have obviously forgotten that it was the Grinch who concluded ″Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store.”

Besides all that, I’m not sure that Jesus is happy that certain conservatives think the real “reason for the season” is to politicize His birthday just so they can use it as part of a campaign strategy — that is truly a War on Christmas.

Mike Murphy of Pocatello is an award-winning columnist whose articles are syndicated by Senior Wire. He published a book titled “Tortoise Crossing – Expect Long Delays,” which is a collection of 100 of his favorite columns. It is available on Amazon.com.