A leader of the largest socialist organization in modern U.S. history laid out how the group of over 100,000 members plans to deconstruct American democracy if they gain the authority.
Megan Romer, Democratic Socialists of America co-chair and member of the Marxist/Leninist caucus, Red Star, told Fox News’ Shannon Bream on Sunday that the organization is using the Democratic Party ticket because the only way to break the two-party system is from within.
“The two parties have over years and decades created a system where ballot line access is extremely difficult for third parties,” she said. “I also have been told a lot of times by Democrats, ‘Don’t vote third party; it’s wasting your vote.’ So we run on the Democratic ballot line where it makes sense.”
Romer then confidently affirmed some of the organization’s more extreme political positions:
Fox: “Abolish the Senate?”
DSA Chair: “True.”
Fox: “Replace the presidency and Supreme Court as we now know them?”
DSA Chair: “Yep.”
Fox: “Abolish ICE?”
DSA Chair: “Absolutely.”
Fox: “Abolish borders and give amnesty to anyone in the U.S. illegally?”
DSA Chair: “Yep.”
Fox: “Defund the Pentagon?”
DSA Chair: “Absolutely.”
Fox: “Abolish prisons?”
DSA Chair: “Yep.”
Romer clarified that both abolishing the border and prisons were part of the organization’s long-term goals.
When pressed about potential dangers of abolishing America’s prisons, she said that the DSA believes “most people who are in prison, they are mostly in prison for crimes of poverty,” but admitted that there are people who should not be allowed in society for public safety purposes, though “we can collectively decide what we do with those people. I suspect it won’t look like the prison system as we know it today.”
How Democrats and Republicans are reacting
Recent wins by DSA-endorsed candidates for the upcoming midterms have raised fresh doubts about whether the Democratic establishment can maintain its influence within the party.
Where some view the DSA as too far outside the nation’s political mainstream to gain lasting traction, others see it as an invasive force reshaping the Democratic Party — while still others within the party have publicly embraced the organization.
The DSA credits its recent “boom” in new members to “backlash to Trumpian authoritarianism.”
Last week, in an interview with Breitbart News, President Donald Trump said DSA’s platform has been proven to fail throughout history.
“Go back 1,000 years, different names, but the concept of give away everything ends up in squalor, crime, and death. It always ends up the same way,” he said. Trump has repeatedly called the DSA and those who support them “communists.”
A recent Fox News poll shows that 59% of Democrats have a favorable view of the DSA and a slightly lower percentage support socialism, whereas 41% are in favor of capitalism. The same poll showed 61% of Republicans favored capitalism, 11% liked socialism and 6% viewed the DSA positively.