President Trump is already feeling the “Bern” of Socialism

by Alberto Lionarons/ Contributing Writer

Socialism has recently gained some ground amongst Democrats in America. Younger voters have become more supportive of democratic socialist approaches to issues like medical care and college education.

This was seen early on with the wide support of self proclaimed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders during the 2016 election, and recently reignited with his announcement of running again in 2020. Sanders isn’t the only one who could bring socialist ideas to US politics.

Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, who was recently elected as a US Representative to New York, is another democratic socialist, who has become known for advocating for taxing the wealthy on Twitter.

Even traditional Democrat politicians have become more open to socialistic approaches to solving political issues and this will likely become a prominent theme to the 2020 election.

Five of the six Senate Democrats who have announced their candidacy — Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sanders — have pledged to seek “Medicare for all.”

The question is, with Democrats championing socialist ideas, how will the Republicans respond to these radical new ideas?

The answer is, with the same approach they have had to socialism around the world.

Since the start of his presidency, Donald Trump has kept a strong stance against socialism.

During his first address to the United Nations he stated that,  “From the Soviet Union to Cuba, Venezuela — wherever through socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish, devastation, and failure.”

Trump then told the General Assembly: “The problem with Venezuela, is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented.”

Trump has kept the same firm rhetoric against Venezuela through his support of the democratically elected interim President Juan Guaidó and determination to end the socialist dictatorship.

During his February 18th speech given at FIU he announced that “all options are on the table” in restoring democracy to Venezuela.

While this harsh rhetoric has implications on the international stage, it will also come into play against the Democrats in 2020.

With Democrats trying to introduce democratic socialist ideas to the American public, Trump is likely to respond by muddying the waters and tying American socialism to the failures of socialism from the past.

There will likely be unfair comparisons of modern socialism to the communist dictatorships that have caused mass deaths and violations of rights. Trump is already anticipating a socialist opponent in the election when he said that that Sanders “has already won” the Democratic primary debate “because every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism.”.

In a non direct message to his opponents Trump has defiantly warned “To those who would try to impose socialism on the United States, we again deliver a very simple message: America will never be a socialist country.”

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