How Trump Runs Against Socialism Without a Socialist Opponent

The defeat of America’s best-known and highest-ranking defender of socialist principles, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, didn’t bury socialism as an issue in the November presidential election. To the contrary: President Donald Trump and other Republicans are trying to hang the socialism label on former Vice President Joe Biden, who beat Sanders for the Democratic nomination. The U.S. isn’t the only place where socialism is being newly debated amid larger conversations about rising inequality, the proper role of government and how to make sure capitalism works for average citizens.

Mostly, Trump and his fellow Republicans. “This election will decide whether we save the American dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny,” Trump said in his speech accepting his party’s nomination for a second term. He’s also called Biden “a Trojan horse for socialism.” His campaign website summarizes the choice between Trump and Biden as “American vs. Socialist.” Vice President Mike Pence said electing Biden “would set America on a path of socialism and decline.” A spokesman for Trump’s campaign, Ken Farnaso, called the election “a binary decision between freedom and socialism.”