Socialism is surging in the Democratic Party, especially among young people who are backing a crop of avowed “Democrat Socialist” candidates in elections across the country. The highest profile victory for these candidates so far was New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, but others are now favored to win Congressional seats this fall, and one is running for U.S. Senate in Michigan. That has prompted a new warning that this trend could eventually lead to the White House if left unchecked. Vice President JD Vance sounded that alarm on the Joe Rogan Experience this week, warning that the rise of socialism in this country didn’t just happen overnight. “Forty years of failed bipartisan leadership has created, really, kind of a shell corporation out of the United States of America,” said Vance. “We don’t make enough of our own stuff, we don’t have enough self-reliance, our workers don’t have enough bargaining power—that has led, in a lot of ways, to this kind of socialism fervor.”
Vance then warned there must be a course correction before it’s too late. “It’s going to take years to fix this problem, and if we don’t, we’re going to end up with a socialist president in this country,” he said
The vice president’s criticism of “failed bipartisan leadership” rings true for economic experts, who say both parties have contributed to hollowing out the economy. “We’ve been getting away from free market principles, we’ve been getting away from supply side economics, and the more we do that, the worse the outcomes have been,” says EJ Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation. “So the right needs to get its own house in order, and not just point fingers at everybody else.”
Both Vance and Antoni agree that the key to reversing this trend toward socialism is winning back younger generations, which can only happen by improving their economic outlook and opportunities. “Young people can’t make it, by and large, in today’s economy,” says Antoni. “That’s why they’re turning to much more extreme voices who are promising them it’s all going to be sunshine and rainbows, if only we throw the levers of power to these socialists.”
