From the September 5 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
Watch Fox & Friends freak out about “far-left radicalism overtaking the Democratic Party”
RNC spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany: “These people are radicals, and every week, they win in Democratic primaries”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
KAYLEIGH MCENANY (REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE SPOKESPERSON): This is not going to work. This is about far more than being an outsider, it's about far more than demographic change. This is about socialism. Far-left radicalism overtaking the Democratic Party. Ainsley, this is stunning that someone who is in Congress for 20 years last night was defeated by someone backed by [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez. And I understand, Jessica, you always say that you want to distance yourself from socialism in your party, I gets that, it's a losing proposition. But, the problem is, it's a winning proposition. We see it every single week. Last week, Andrew Gillum winning --
JESSICA TARLOV (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): He's not a socialist.
MCENANY: He stood on a stage with [Sen.] Bernie [Sanders] as Bernie called for a revolution. David Garcia out in Arizona saying, I don't just want to abolish ICE, I want open borders. These people are radicals, and every week, they win in Democratic primaries.
TARLOV: Andrew Gillum, by the way, was a Hillary Clinton delegate. He backed her in the 2016 election, not Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders flew in at the last minute, and yes, he stood on the stage with him, which is certainly not a crime and not a socialist crime either. So, you take support wherever can you get it.
But, these people are not socialist in the sense that you try to make it out to be, like in Venezuela. They are Democrats, they are running to the left because that's where the party is on issues like Medicare for all, for instance, a $15 minimum wage. But they are not traditional socialists, and they are winning elections because the American people like what they have to say.
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Do you think, Kayleigh, that this is the name of the game now for the Democratic Party? Or is this just regional? We're seeing this in Massachusetts. I was surprised when we saw it down in Florida with Gillum. But, in Massachusetts we're seeing that, Ocasio-Cortez is the New York area, and did campaign for middle America and it didn't work. So, is this regional, is the Democratic Party split among regions now?
MCENANY: See, I don't think it's regional, Ainsley. I think it's far broader than that. Out in Nebraska, you have someone running named Kara Eastman, who's in an R+4 district, and she is a socialist too. And I know, Jessica, you don't like the term, “socialist.” I get it, It's a losing proposition nationally. But, a lot of Democrats, they might say they're not socialists, but yet they borrow from the precepts of socialism. When you have one third of Senate Democrats wanting socialized medicine, two thirds of House Democrats. Seven co-sponsors for free college. This is socialism. You might not want to say the label, but your party is embracing a failed ideology that's failed all across the globe.
Previously:
Fox's Stuart Varney cites falsely attributed Winston Churchill quote to attack socialism
Fox & Friends host whines that socialism is “the new battle cry of the left”