Politics

Democratic Rep Stephanie Murphy: Rise Of Socialism Is Just Republican Messaging

MSNBC Screenshot

Phillip Stucky Contributor
Font Size:

Democratic Flordia Rep. Stephanie Murphy asserted Tuesday that there is no push to the progressive left within the Democratic Party during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

I felt like I needed to interject and have a voice in this whole conversation about socialism,” Murphy said in the interview. “Because of my personal story — just really briefly — I escaped communist Vietnam with my family, we were rescued by the U.S. Navy.”

Murphy went on to describe her brush with socialism and how that related to some of her constituents in Florida who suffered in Cuba or Venezuela. (RELATED: The Key To Winning In 2020 Will Be Properly Explaining Socialism, Says Bernie Sanders)

“I find this whole conversation that we’re having in … the greatest democracy in the whole world — this casual conversation that we’re having about socialism — is really disconcerting that we would think about going to that form of economic policies that we’ve seen fail so much across this world,” she continued.

Although she acknowledged that a “small number” of Democratic voices were discussing socialist policies, Murphy argued that that didn’t make up a significant number of voices in the overall Democratic caucus in Washington.

She concluded:

The broad swath of the Democratic caucus is not embracing those policies. I think what you see also is the Republicans for cynical and politically advantageous reasons trying to paint the entire party as socialists when that is far from the truth. If you look at the number of New Dems there are that are pro-business, there’s over 100 of those.  I lead a coalition of 27 blue-dog Democrats, also folks who do not embrace the socialist policies.

The conversation came after Murphy published an Op-ed in the Washington Post Sunday in which she declared herself a “proud capitalist.” She rejected socialism’s recent resurgence in the political conversation as simply a “disenchantment” with the current capitalist model in the United States.

"Donald J. Trump at Marriott Marquis NYC September 7th 2016" by Michael Vadon is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Donald J. Trump at Marriott Marquis NYC September 7th 2016” by Michael Vadon is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Murphy also took the time to condemn Republicans in general and President Donald Trump for using socialism to decry policies that should be opposed on their merit or lack thereof in an op-ed published by the Washington Post Sunday. She wrote:

The Republican Party as an institution has conducted itself irresponsibly in this capitalism-vs.-socialism debate. When congressional Republicans and the president don’t like a government program, they flippantly condemn it as a sign of creeping socialism. For partisan reasons, they seek to paint the entire Democratic Party as drifting toward socialism, when the philosophy is espoused by a small minority of members. Arguably, these Republican tactics have done as much, if not more, to normalize the conversation about socialism than anything Democrats are doing.

Although the socialist arm of the party may be few in number, according to Murphy’s argument, it would appear that their expanded presence on social media is enough to cause some Democratic presidential candidates to fear a backlash.

Former Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado was asked multiple times on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” whether considers himself to be a capitalist, and he dodged the label every time, despite his extensive background as a small business owner.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel