GOP’s ‘Freedom Force’ members say they are ready to take on the ‘socialist Squad’

The Republican freshmen class of the 117th Congress includes a new group of representatives who say they’re fighting against socialism in America — and they’re calling themselves “The Freedom Force.”

Taking a cue from the public notoriety of the Democrat’s 116th Congressional freshman “Squad” of four congresswomen — New York’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Minnesota’s Rep. Ilhan Omar, Massachusetts’ Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Michigan’s Rep. Rashida Tlaib — elected in 2018, The Freedom Force is made up of quartet of newly elected House Republicans with immigrant backgrounds, Politico reported.

“The New York Democrat (Ocasio-Cortez) has offered up a blueprint for how freshmen, who typically hold little power in the halls of Congress, can still exert influence by leveraging their loyal grassroots base,” Politico wrote.

Lynne Sladky, Associated Press

For now, the Force includes Representatives-elect Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez of Florida, Nicole Malliotakis of New York and Victoria Spartz of Indiana. But they say their ranks could grow.

Each of the four incoming representatives-elect of the Force are either immigrants or are from families that come from countries that suffered under communist or socialist regimes.

“We’re the new face of the GOP,” Salazar wrote on Twitter, while posting a photo of herself with Spartz and South Carolina Congresswoman-elect Nancy Mace — not an official Force member. “We’re all working moms & we’re a true FORCE to be reckoned with!”

Women will make up more than a quarter of the 117th Congress and a record number of Republican women were elected this year, National Public Radio reported after the November election. The female members of The Freedom Force are three of those women.

With their use of social media and garnering media attention for their beliefs, the Republican freshman appear to following in Ocasio-Cortez’s footsteps, albiet for a much different cause.

Why they’re fighting against socialism

“The majority of people in our country don’t believe in socialistic utopic ideas the Democrat Party is now promoting,” Ukrainian born Indiana Republican Rep.-elect Victoria Spartz said on Fox News Monday. The to-be congresswoman said she grew up in a socialist society and saw firsthand that “it’s not pretty.”

Fox wrote that “Spartz has found allies” with the three “anti-socialist crusaders” of The Freedom Force who “intend to share their family experiences to counter” the Squad.

Republicans, including the party’s leaders, have rallied against socialism and see it as a differentiator between the nation’s two major parties.

“Under the guise of Medicare-for-all and a Green New Deal, Democrats are embracing the same, tired economic theories that have impoverished nations and have stifled the liberties of millions over the past century. That system is socialism,” said Vice President Mike Pence, speaking at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference, The Washington Post reported.

Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez have each identified themselves as democratic socialists.

Democratic socialism, in Sanders’ definition, “refers to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s philosophy that the government should take responsibility for the health, well-being and security of American citizens,” reported Boston’s WBUR.

“When we talk about the word socialism, I think what it really means is just democratic participation in our economic dignity, and our economic, social and racial dignity. It is about direct representation and people actually having power and stake over their economic and social wellness, at the end of the day,” Ocasio-Cortez told Vogue of democratic socialism in 2018.

The Democratic Socialist of America campaign priorities includes “Medicare for All,” supporting a strong labor movement and the Green New Deal.

Socialism has a decidedly different definition for those who have been under socialistic regimes with strict government control.

In an interview with Newsmax earlier this month, Rep.-elect Malliotakis said that she was the “daughter of immigrants from Greece and Cuba” — she said her mother fled Fidel Castro’s government — and that incoming congressional Republicans included representatives like her who “share similar stories and we are united to push back against socialist Squad.”

“We can’t just let the socialist left destroy the American Dream for our children!” Florida Rep-elect Maria Elvira Salazar said on Twitter. “Join The Freedom Force & FIGHT BACK today!”

Lynne Sladky, Associated Press

Like Malliotakis, Salazar said her parents fled Castro’s Cuba. According to a biography on her campaign website, the congresswoman-elect is a former award-winning news anchor and has reported on the Cuban government.

Former Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez — the only man on the Force — will also go to Washington next month when the 117th Congress convenes for the first time on Jan. 3. The congressman-elect immigrated from Castro’s Cuba for Miami’s Little Havana when he young boy.

“Malliotakis, Spartz, Salazar & I know what socialism is all about, we lived through it. We’re a natural alliance that doesn’t support the socialist ideas the far-left is proposing,” Gimenez said of the Force on Twitter. “We love this country, we want to strengthen it, not fundamentally change it.”