It is still called “dirty politics” and a “smear campaign” that smacks of “McCarthyism” to call someone a Socialist for their avowed policies.
The word is only “harmless” to USEFUL IDIOTS. The lesson of 100,000,000 dead in the name of Communism is a lesson that cannot be taught in our schools. It is poltiically incorrect thanks to the Socialists.
That’s probably because Scandinavia and Western Europe aren’t exactly charnel houses right now.