Former Utah Rep. Mia Love squared off against former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich on CNN Tuesday over President Trump’s use of a broad rhetorical brush to paint Democrats as “socialists.”
Love said Democrats are walking right into Trump’s rhetorical trap by not forcefully pushing away from the socialist label.
“If they’re going to move away from socialism, they need to talk about that because they’ll be painted as socialists if they don’t make that very clear,” she said.
Reich fired back saying Trump’s “socialist” fearmongering is not a new tactic for Republicans. In 1935 Republicans accused FDR of being a socialist for proposing Social Security, and they accused Lyndon Johnson of being a socialist in 1965 for proposing Medicare.
“This is a label Republicans have used for at least 80 years every time the Democrats propose something that turns out to be remarkably popular and durable,” said Reich.
Love said the problem with some of the proposals coming from Democrats, including Medicare for all, is there’s no feasible way to pay for them.
“What I’m afraid of is there’s going to be a point where you tax somebody so much that the people who need a leg up are going to get hurt.”
Watch the clip below via CNN:
