The New York Times opinion writer Jamelle Bouie is confused about all of the concern surrounding socialism.
Bouie was on The Opinions podcast when he reacted to President Donald Trump’s continued thrashing of socialism and the Democrats who have been embracing it recently. According to the writer, it doesn’t make sense to view it as a big deal because socialism is “not really a threat” anymore.
Watch:
“In 2026, there’s no Soviet Union, China is nominally communist — I mean, the CCP is obviously an authoritarian formation, but like in terms of its economy, that’s capitalism, baby. And early state capitalism, right? So it’s like, what are we warning about? It’s not really a threat,” he said dismissively.
He then went on to explain that, though he claims it’s not a threat, a significant portion of Americans are beginning to embrace socialist views. Additionally, apparently, Democratic Socialists aren’t technically “socialist” but are more of an anti-establishment party.
“For the public, for voters, it seems to say, ‘Oh, this is a person who isn’t an ordinary Democrat and doesn’t seem to have the same kind of ideological valence,” he said.
Bouie went on to claim that Trump’s attacks on communism and socialism aren’t “landing” and pointed to the success of those like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as proof.
“I think that’s the strategy — look at Zohran Mamdani, look at the other candidates, look at a handful of people — ‘they’re socialists, they’re communists, they’re scary.’ But I just don’t think it lands with anyone. Especially not when you came to office promising to lower gas and food prices and housing prices, and you haven’t done it.”
On July 4, Trump gave a speech in which he unequivocally called communism a “cancer.”
“As I said last night at the beautiful Mount Rushmore — what a beautiful place where Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt loomed over my shoulder as I spoke — America will never be a communist country. Won’t happen. Communism is a loser, and it always will be,” he declared. “The communist system is the opposite of the American system, and the communist system has never worked. Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. We’re not going to let it happen. We like to stop a threat like that immediately and before it begins. It’s like a cancer. You got to cut it out. You got to cut it out fast.”
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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