MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle mocked Americans’ aversion to socialism Friday during a discussion panel on effective midterm messaging for the Democratic Party.
Ruhle told her guests that a “powerful, nuanced argument” for socialist policies could come from candidates promising to “take care of the cost of health care” — yet, she lamented, too many Americans never get that for in the conversation. “Oh my gosh! Socialist! I can’t have that!” she exclaimed, putting on a parodic Midwestern accent. “It’s gonna take all my money!”
She was joined by Financial Times (FT) U.S Editor Brendan Greeley, who described socialism as a desirable and “not radical.”
Ruhle also described President Donald Trump as advancing policies that are “the opposite” of “patriotism,” adding, “[Republicans] have hijacked the word ‘patriot.’”
Partial transcript below.
GREELEY: We sit here and we talk about this big concept of socialism. We debate what it actually means. All the polling that I’ve seen — people go out state-by-state and ask what people care about — it’s about the cost of healthcare.
RUHLE: Yes.
GREELEY: That’s what people care about. So if you can show up and say, “I’m going to take care of the cost of health care,” like, that’s a really powerful argument.
RUHLE: But you’re getting into details and you’re talking about a nuanced, powerful argument. But lots of people don’t get into the argument, they just go, “Oh my gosh, socialist, I can’t have that. It’s gonna take all my money.” … Even if those are winning policies, it’s such a difficult term.
…
GREELEY: I wish we could figure out what it is that we could call socialism, because my frustration is, what do you want to call what they have in Germany, where they’ve got a bigger social state, you don’t fall through the cracks, and yet somehow they’ve managed to not fail as a state. … Whatever you want to call that, can we have that? Because it’s not radical.
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