Historically, such a strategy doesn't actually work. Sooner or later, you get accused of being a godless commie or a tankie anyways. You can either stand firm in your beliefs and attempt to sweep away the dirt of the Red Scare to accurately contextualize Socialism and AES states, or fail to support them at all, leading to issues like Trotskyism (poor understanding of theory and a lack of support for AES) or PatSocs (Nationalist Socialists in the Imperialist countries).

It worked when people rebranded "falsehoods" to "alternative facts" so why not try it?

Both is good. Sometimes politicians are quite honest in an explanatory way for their actions, both need to be taken into account. They don't have to be honest, but their stance is usually projected clearly.

Although when someone tells you how terrible they are, listen.