Trump's latest line of attack against 2020 Democrats is to tie them to socialism

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Trump's latest line of attack against 2020 Democrats is to tie them to socialism

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President Donald Trump speaks to a Venezuelan American community at Florida Ocean Bank Convocation Center at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, on Monday.

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

President Donald Trump speaks to a Venezuelan American community at Florida Ocean Bank Convocation Center at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, on Monday.

  • President Donald Trump is trying to drum up fears about socialism as he seeks to discredit an expanding field of Democratic candidates for 2020. 
  • Trump has repeatedly pointed to the chaotic situation in Venezuela as a sign the US can't afford to turn to socialism.
  • Trump has also attempted to tie Democrats to socialism and accused the party's members of pushing the country in that direction. 
  • The Trump campaign in a statement on Tuesday suggested "every" Democratic candidate is "embracing" socialism in response to Sen. Bernie Sanders joining the race.

President Donald Trump has debuted a new line line of attack against the rapidly expanding field of 2020 Democratic candidates by positioning himself as the antithesis to the boogeyman of socialism.

Trump is attempting to convince US voters that Democrats want to shove socialism down their throats while contending that reelecting him will prevent that.

After Sen. Bernie Sanders -a self-declared democratic socialist- on Tuesday announced he's running for president again in 2020, the Trump campaign in a statement said: "Bernie Sanders has already won the debate in the Democrat primary, because every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism."

In particular, the Trump camp is using the example of Venezuela to highlight the dangers of socialist policies.

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"But the American people will reject an agenda of sky-high tax rates, government-run health care and coddling dictators like those in Venezuela," the campaign's statement on Sanders' continued. "Only President Trump will keep America free, prosperous and safe."

Trump is zeroing-in on socialism

Socialism has long been a dirty word in America's political discourse, largely since the Cold War and the anti-Soviet sentiments that permeated the US. Even as recently as 2011-years after the collapse of the Soviet Union - Pew Research Center found that 60% of Americans had a negative view of the word socialism, with just 31% giving the word a positive connotation.

Read more: Here's the difference between a 'socialist' and a 'Democratic socialist'

Trump has played on those long-held fears by repeatedly attacking the policies of Nicolas Maduro's government in Venezuela. 

During his State of the Union address in early February, Trump said the US stands with the Venezuelan people "in their noble quest for freedom" as he condemned the "brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair."

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Trump echoed this sentiments in a speech on the Venezuela crisis at Florida International University on Monday. "There's nothing less democratic than socialism," Trump said during the speech.

 

Trump is attempting to connect socialism to Democrats

In turn, Trump has also tried to connect the situation in Venezuela to Democrats.  

"Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country," Trump said during his State of the Union after he mentioned Venezuela. "America was founded on liberty and independence - not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."

Similarly, in his Venezuela speech in Florida, Trump said, "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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Read more: Trump is going all out to tie Democrats to his latest political boogeyman: socialism

The president seems to be directing this message at Democratic lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the increasingly influential freshman congresswoman who's a self-described socialist, and Sanders. This left wing of the Democratic party has pushed for the implementation of policies such as universal healthcare (Medicare for All) and tuition-free college, which critics and advocates alike have linked to socialism.

While similar policies have been adopted in other developed countries without the collapse of democratic institutions or the eradication of capitalism, Trump has seized upon the negative connotations tied to socialism to suggest politicians like Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders are driving the US down a dangerous, more authoritarian road.

Some Democrats distance themselves from socialist label

Though socialism continues to be an incendiary topic in the US, Democratic voters appear to be warming up to it. An August 2018 Gallup poll found 57% of Democrats have a positive view of socialism, compared to just 16% of Republicans. 

Many Americans seem to be quite open to Ocasio-Cortez's ideas as well, especially increasing taxes on the rich, despite attempts from Republicans and some centrist Democrats to dismiss the proposals as radical. 

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Read more: Nearly half of Americans support Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 70% marginal tax on the super-rich, according a new poll

With that said, Democratic candidates for 2020 do not all openly embrace the label "socialist" or "democratic socialist" in the same way Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have.

Sen. Kamala Harris, widely considered a top contender, on Monday explicitly stated she is not a "democratic socialist."

 

Harris in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday also contended Medicare for All, which has gained momentum with Democratic lawmakers, is not socialism.

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"No, no. It's about providing health care to all people," Harris, who's adopted Medicare for All as part of her 2020 platform, said during the interview. 

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who's also joined the race, has rejected policies like tuition-free college. "If I was a magic genie and could give that to everyone and we could afford it, I would," Klobuchar said on Monday.

Indeed, despite the fact many voters have shifted their views on socialism in the past decade or so, politicians are still wary of embracing the label or even policies associated with it.

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