Democratic presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg explained to The View’s Ana Navarro how the Republican Party manipulates Americans with the boogeyman of “socialism,” using their opposition to the Affordable Care Act as Exhibit A.

“I’m from Miami. There’s a lot of Venezuelan, Cuban, Nicaraguan exiles like me who fled socialism, who fled communism, and I think that term is being used as a scare tactic,” Navarro said. “It’s being used to provoke sentiments of fear and reminder of those countries. What does the term mean to you? Can you explain it to America?”

“I think in many ways it’s a term that’s lost its meaning because it’s being thrown around politically,” Buttigieg replied. “I’ll give you an example, the Affordable Care Act.”

“This was a piece of legislation, as a way to improve our health care system created by conservatives,” he went on, naming the Heritage Foundation as the wellspring. “The first time anyone tried it, it was a Republican governor in Massachusetts.”

“Then a Democratic President, Obama, basically stole this Republican idea that was based on market on market principles,” Buttigieg continued. “And then the moment it became associated with him, suddenly people are calling it socialism. They’re talking like it’s the road to winding up in the Soviet Union if we do this, which was a scare tactic.”

“It’s also one of the reasons why this term has lost its meaning,” he continued, and changed the spin. “I believe that capitalism is this incredibly powerful force that can do a lot of good, but I guess in the same way people talk about democratic socialism, I want to talk about democratic capitalism.” Watch the video below.

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