During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) said that democratic socialists have been around for a long time and “people have always had a broad spectrum of ideas in our party and in our country, in the days of Harry Truman and Barack Obama.”
Co-host Kailey Leinz asked, “Well, as you speak about the Democratic Party, Congressman, what’s the difference between a Democrat, a progressive, and a socialist? Because I’m hearing from a lot of your Republican colleagues across the country that there is no line.”
Casar responded, “Well, look, they’ve been trying that for generations. These guys hauled out and said it was socialist to pass Social Security, they called the New Deal socialist, they called Harry Truman and Barack Obama socialists.”
Leinz then cut in to say, “Sure, but you do now have democratic socialists running in primaries and winning.”
Casar responded, “And in all of those cases, those folks existed, people have always had a broad spectrum of ideas in our party and in our country, in the days of Harry Truman and Barack Obama. And these Republicans coming out and calling everybody a Communist, it didn’t work against Truman, it didn’t work against Social Security, it didn’t work against Obama, and it’s not going to work this time. If this is really the best they’ve got, then they are in trouble.”
He added, “The Republicans have just played their game of corruption and jacking up prices and rewarding their friends, and that’s why they keep on playing the same old Communist card that didn’t work against Truman, it didn’t work against Obama, and it’s not going to work this election.”
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