It’s a favorite red herring used by Republicans when they cannot possibly win a debate on facts or reason: Cry socialism.
But as one GOP congressman found out Tuesday, using the socialism cry doesn’t always end well when someone turns the argument on its head and exposes you as as fearmongering demagogue.
The setting was the House Rules Committee. Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) insisted, “We will not have a cradle to grave dependency. This country will not be all things to all people. We cannot create an expectation that government is all things to all people.”
Langworthy then asked Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who was testifying as a witness:
“Do you agree with Donald Trump’s statement in the 2019 State of the Union that America will never be a socialist country.”
Waters noted that the Trump administration ran up the national debt and spent like a drunken sailor, pointing out that Langworthy’s fears about socialism were bogus, asking him if the vaunted GOP/Trump Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that many Republicans in Congress took funds from was socialist.
Langworthy reiterated his question about whether or not Waters agreed with what Trump said about socialism. To that, she responded:
“President Trump said a lot of things. He said he thought Hitler did some good things. For those of you who continue to embrace Trump and all that he did and said — I reject all that. Trump has proven to be someone who is in line with dictators and admires them and claims to love them, so I reject any and everything Trump has to say.”
Finally, Waters shut down Langworthy by telling him:
“Sometimes you like socialism, sometimes you act like you don’t.”