Donald Trump, accompanied by his wife Melania, attends a New Year's Eve event at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 31, 2024. REUTERS/Marco Bello
When Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem unleashed her ICE shock troops on Los Angeles last month, she said: “We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist” leaders.
Minutes later, California Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from the press conference and put in handcuffs.
The specter of socialism is being used by Trump and his goons to make America even more authoritarian.
Trump even threatens to “run” New York City if its voters choose Zohran Mamdani — a Muslim of Indian descent and avowed democratic socialist — as their next mayor. “We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” says Trump, warning that he might step in and take control if New Yorkers elect Mamdani.
Trump is using the word “socialism” to slam everything the public needs and to justify cruel cuts in the nation’s safety net.
Trump’s just-enacted Big Ugly Bill will push more than 11 million Americans off Medicaid. Another 2 million Americans will lose food stamps. The savings will help finance a big tax cut for the wealthiest Americans.
But the next time they’re up for election, Republican lawmakers may be shocked to discover how many Americans prefer the “socialism” of Medicaid and food stamps to the socialism-for-the-rich tax cuts in the Big Ugly.
Medicaid alone has 83 percent favorability. Among Republicans, it’s a remarkable 74 percent.
Trump and his lackeys are living in another century if they think they can use “socialism” as a cudgel.
As early as 2011, the Pew Research Center found that almost as many voters under the age of 30 held a positive view of socialism as of capitalism.
During the 2016 Democratic primaries and then again in 2020, young people all over America wore buttons reading “feel the Bern” in honor of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders.
Whether it’s called socialism, democratic socialism, or enlightened capitalism, societies need to pool resources for the common good.
As it is, America spends very little on social insurance compared to other rich nations.
More than 26 million Americans still lack health insurance — and, as noted, at least 11 million more will lose it as a result of the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s Big Ugly.
We’re the only industrialized nation without paid family leave. We’re also the only one without minimal assistance for people in need.
Most other rich nations subsidize college for their young people, yet a large percentage of American households cannot afford to give their kids a four-year college education without going deeply into debt.
Most other rich nations also provide more comprehensive unemployment insurance, cheaper access to child care, and far more help with elder care.
These other nations aren’t “socialist.” They’re capitalist. But they take better care of their people.
American capitalism is the harshest in the world. Inequality here is worse than in any other rich nation. And our politics is far more polluted with big money.
These features are connected. Vast and growing inequalities of income and wealth have spawned big money into politics — with which the rich have gained tax cuts and corporate subsidies while limiting or reducing social spending.
Which is why America has lower tax rates on the super-rich than any other rich nation, one of the lowest life spans of all rich countries, and a higher percentage of homeless people. Trump’s new Big Ugly will make all this worse.
I don’t believe Americans will continue to tolerate this growing socialism for the rich and worsening social squalor for everyone else. Whether or not Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of New York, we’re going to see a tidal wave of reform.
Most Americans need stronger safety nets and deserve a bigger piece of the economic pie, and they know it.
If you want to call this socialism, fine. I call it fair.
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Robert Reich is a professor at Berkeley and was secretary of labor under Bill Clinton. You can find his writing at https://robertreich.substack.com/.
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