Victor Davis Hanson: The Democrat Party Is Being Taken Over by a New Socialist Movement

The Daily Signal

Daily News, Politics, News, Government

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

A new wave of democratic socialism is rising inside the Democrat Party, driven by candidates and activists who reject free market capitalism, American exceptionalism, and the country’s founding traditions. Figures like Zohran Mamdani, Graham Platner, Abdul El-Sayed, Bernie Sanders, and others are pushing a politics built around higher taxes, expanded entitlements, wealth redistribution, and resentment toward millionaires and billionaires. The irony is that many of the loudest socialist voices come from comfortable, affluent, or highly subsidized backgrounds while presenting themselves as champions of the working class. Socialism may win in deep-blue cities and congressional districts, but American history shows it becomes much harder to sell once voters see the full agenda in statewide and national races. Pepperdine School of Public Policy visit https://go.pepperdine.edu/dailysignal to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:57.6	dot edu slash daily signal. It's go.peperdine.orgene.orgia slash daily signal. Hello, this is
1:05.6	Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal. We are witnessing in this year of 2006 for the first time,
1:13.9	really is in over a century, a resurgence of socialism.
1:19.5	And it's a strange kind of socialism.
1:22.0	It's the democratic das socialism of America.
1:27.1	And what it is, the Democratic Party has been taken over by
1:31.9	young zealots who do not believe in free market capitalism. They do not believe in the unique
1:38.1	story of the United States. They do not believe in this 250th year anniversary in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution,
1:48.2	and the exceptional virtue and brilliance of the American nation.
1:52.3	It's mostly a critical message they have passed and present.
1:57.0	So who are these people, and why are they coming into prominence?
2:01.6	In Maine, we have Mr. Platner.
2:04.5	He's a former veteran.
	...

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