Beware the Democrats' dangerous embrace of socialism
There was a time not long ago when Democrats avoided even being labeled 'liberals.' Being so branded meant being defeated in any national election. So, former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis dutifully climbed into a tank and tried to drive away from the Massachusetts stereotype.
No more. Both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) backed Mamdani.
Said Ocasio-Cortez: 'Assemblymember Mamdani has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack…We need to get very real about that.'
Very real, indeed. 'Che' chic' is all the rage in Demo-Land.
Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement reminds that the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. Describing her past with the Democratic Socialists of America, Ocasio-Cortez said it 'very much shaped my organizing strategy.'
'What initially drew me to [the Democratic Socialists of America] was the fact that they showed up everywhere that I showed up,' she added
Don't let Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez fool you. The Democrats' flirtation with socialism is hardly recent. It's been a 10-year affair.
In the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries, Sanders, who has, for decades, walked on 'the path that I call democratic socialism,' took Hillary Clinton the distance. He was the energy; she was the establishment.
The establishment won the battle — by stacking the deck with establishment super delegates — only to lose the war to Trump in November. And to Sanders's radicalism over the next four years.
In 2018, the Squad was elected. Among these furthest left, four progressive women, Ocasio-Cortez was not the only democratic socialist; Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) was too.
Tlaib said her membership in the Democratic Socialists of America, 'helps me have an organization and people to lean on. It's important to have that kind of partnership.'
Though pushing on an open door, the Squad did anyway, helping drive House Democrats even further left. By 2020, virtually the Democrats' entire presidential field was running in the space Sanders had held alone in 2016. Instead of social distancing, they went for socialist proximity.
Those who thought such closeness ill-advised heard the boos that rained down on former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) in San Francisco in 2019 when he dared to tell the party faithful the truth: 'socialism is not the answer.'
With each far-left candidate who dropped from the Democrats' overcrowded, left-dominated, 2020 field, they pulled the party's default pick, Joe Biden, further in their direction. Biden capped his nomination with obeisance: choosing Kamala Harris, whose own agenda four years later would reflect the Democratic Socialists of America's priorities, for running mate.
Never popular with the Democrats' far-left wing, Biden had to continue ingratiating himself to them once in office.
As his general popularity declined from following their extremist policies (according to Real Clear Politics' national average of job approval polls, falling from a +4.2 percentage point margin in 2021 to -15.7 percentage points in 2024), Biden became ever more dependent on the Democrats' far left; in return, the far left's demands became ever more insistent.
One thing that democrat socialists were not insistent on was Biden's removal from atop the Democrats' 2024 ticket. Despite a growing chorus calling for Biden to step down, both Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders were notable for their silence. They were for the simple reason that they had gotten everything they could have asked for from the Biden administration.
Now, following Trump's 2024 victory, who are the biggest draws among Democrats? It's the Ocasio-Cortez/Sanders ' Fighting Oligarchy' tour that draws the biggest crowds, biggest energy, and most gushing reviews among Democrats.
The Democrats' move to the left is nothing new. In just over a generation the party has gone from having 25 percent liberal membership to 54 percent. However, their leftward move is much further than most Democrats want to publicly admit.
Democrats' flirtation with socialism is not an emerging development. What's new is the Democrats' increasingly firm, and public, embrace. A 2020 poll found that over three-quarters of Democrats admitted their willingness to vote for a socialist as their party's presidential nominee.
Never has the Democrats' attachment to socialism been more pronounced. Never has it been more dangerous.
Unquestionably, this applies for America: The Democratic Socialists of America's website states 'we want to collectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives.' But it also applies for a Democratic Party that is becoming daily more radicalized and removed from mainstream American politics.
J.T. Young is the author of the recent book, 'Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America's Socialist Left' from RealClear Publishing and has over three decades' experience working in Congress, the Department of Treasury, the Office of Management, and Budget, and representing a Fortune 20 company.
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However, new polls indicate that Trump's approval rating is slipping. If the trend continues, Democrats could regain ground they lost in the last election cycle, reshaping the 2026 midterms and the broader balance of power heading into 2028. President Donald Trump at a dinner for Republican senators in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 18. President Donald Trump at a dinner for Republican senators in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 18. Alex Brandon/AP What To Know Atlas polling shows disapproval growing over Trump's handling of every issue measured. The sharpest drop was on the national debt, where 34 percent rated Trump's handling as "excellent" or "good," compared to 59 percent who said it was "terrible" or "poor"—a record-high disapproval figure and a 25-point negative gap. That's a steep decline from February, when views were more evenly split: 50 percent poor versus 48 percent good. Health care, another flash point, has seen positive ratings fall from 40 percent in January to 35 percent in July. Meanwhile, disapproval has increased from 52 percent to 56 percent, even before many of the bill's Medicaid eligibility restrictions and work requirements take effect. Similarly, Trump's marks on "safeguarding democracy" have eroded. Now, 40 percent of respondents rate his performance positively, down from 48 percent at the beginning of the year. Disapproval has climbed to 56 percent. On immigration—long one of Trump's signature issues—views have flipped. In January, the public was split—51 percent positive to 48 percent negative. As of July, 54 percent now said Trump was doing a poor job, compared to 45 percent who approved. The U.S. economy remains a slightly stronger area for Trump, but even there, disapproval (55 percent) clearly outpaced approval (40 percent). 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