Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates are winning primaries, but could they hurt Democrats’ chances for victories in swing states where most voters aren’t leftists? Florida Daily Show hosts Ed Dean and Lindsay Randall discuss the dynamics with NewSouthPolitics.com editor Matt O’Hern
TRANSCRIPT: Here is the cleaned transcript, with filler words, repetitions and obvious transcription errors removed while preserving the substance of the discussion.
HOST: Lindsay, I want to talk about the Democratic Socialists of America. This is the best analogy I’ve used on the radio show:
Imagine a ballpark. One team is the Republicans and the other is the Democrats. But the Democrats have players on their team known as the Democratic Socialists of America who are telling the coach, “Put us in the batter’s box—not the Democrats, but us, the DSA.”
When they get onto the field and talk strictly about affordability, people don’t leave the game. I’m not saying people are buying what they’re saying, but they want to hear it.
Then the DSA starts talking about defunding ICE, defunding the police, releasing prisoners, building no more prisons, defunding the military and allowing illegal immigrants to enter the United States without restrictions. At that point, people say, “Forget this. I’m leaving the game.”
If they stuck with affordability, people might remain interested. I’m not saying they would root for them, but they would stick around.
Here’s the question, Lindsey—and Matt, I want you to jump in on this one: Republican messaging is terrible. Nobody buys into the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” We did a story about it. I support the tax-cut portions, but most people haven’t been following this.
Americans for Prosperity, which I know very well, released an analysis showing that Republican enthusiasm is down while Democratic enthusiasm is higher.
Lindsay, does it help Republicans to keep giving the Democratic Socialists of America more rope because they don’t know when to stop talking?
LINDSAY: They absolutely don’t. Let them keep talking. It’s great for our side—whatever our side is at this point. I don’t even know anymore.
I’m excited that they’re saying the quiet part out loud: “This is what we believe. This is who we are. We want free stuff, free stuff and more free stuff.”
Some of them are even talking about eliminating the Supreme Court altogether—not packing the court, but eliminating it—as well as getting rid of the executive branch and Congress. That’s full-blown anarchy. It’s not even communism. It’s anarchy.
HOST: That doesn’t resonate with people.
LINDSAY: I agree. But if they stuck with the affordability issue, they might have something.
Capitalism is getting a bad reputation because of what’s happening, but this isn’t capitalism. It’s crony capitalism at its worst. That’s what frustrates me. We’re getting a bad name because of something that isn’t even what we believe in.
HOST: Matt, you’re in Central Florida. UCF is a haven for liberalism. So are USF and colleges in South Florida.
MATT: Don’t forget Gainesville.
HOST: What was that?
MATT: Don’t forget Gainesville.
HOST: You think Gainesville is that bad?
MATT: I think it’s bad throughout academia.
HOST: I’m talking specifically about Florida universities. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. You certainly wouldn’t see this at Florida State—your Florida State Seminoles.
But here’s what I’m getting at, Matt: Some people on my side aren’t taking the Democratic Socialists of America seriously. I’ve said this a hundred times on my radio show. All they have to do is visit universities and colleges and talk to young people.
MATT: There’s no party letter next to the candidates’ names in some of these races.
HOST: These young people will outperform Republicans and other Democrats. It isn’t typical to get 100 to 150 young volunteers knocking on doors. Many voters will do just enough research to vote for the candidate whose volunteer knocked on their door.
I’m telling you, the Democratic Socialists of America can be effective. In nonpartisan Florida elections, such as school board races, I’ve seen liberals get elected in Collier and Lee counties.
MATT: Because there’s no party letter next to the candidate’s name.
HOST: That’s right. Go ahead, Matt. What do you think? Can they get these candidates elected in Florida?
MATT: Look at Maxwell Frost here in Orlando. Granted, Orlando is already Democratic, but he had no qualifications for office. He was one of the least-qualified candidates in history. He had never held what most people would consider a traditional job. He drove for Uber, and I don’t believe he graduated from college.
Whether he graduated is beside the point. He had never reported to a conventional employer. Of course he loves big government. Now he’s making six figures and has a pension plan most people can only dream of.
The larger point is that he was around 25 when he was elected. That shows that, as you said, energizing UCF students, Generation Z voters and even younger millennials can be a huge factor.
Many members of the Greatest Generation and the baby boomer generation are dying off. They’re no longer the largest voting bloc. Boomers remain very active, but a large portion of the electorate now falls into an age group that is disillusioned with politics, the current system and the cost of everything.
As Lindsey said, corporate welfare isn’t capitalism.
HOST: That’s right.
MATT: It’s corporatism. That has tainted the entire system. Unfortunately, Trump has not helped. If anything, he has made it look even worse.
HOST: I was watching a Fox News clip featuring Jessica Tarlov. She had a point the other day. I hate to agree with Democrats, but she did.
Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Watters were also on the panel. I like them both, but I’m going to be honest: I think they drink the Trump Kool-Aid at least half the time.
Tarlov said, “Wait a second. You accuse us of socialism.” She pointed out that if Joe Biden’s administration had purchased government shares in companies such as Intel or Nvidia, Republicans would have cried foul.
We aren’t talking about government contracts. We’re talking about the government purchasing and owning shares in companies.
If Democrats had done this, conservatives would have been furious. Yet I watched Gutfeld and Watters make excuses, saying the government had done something similar with banks before. That didn’t make it right then.
Tarlov had a good point. If Democrats had done it, they would have faced tremendous animosity from conservatives. Unfortunately, when our side does it, we make excuses, Lindsay.
LINDSAY: Unfortunately, Fox News wants to remain friendly with the president and the White House. They don’t want to criticize the administration because doing so isn’t in their interest.
They have access to the president, the chief of staff and other officials around the clock if they play the right game. That happens on both sides.
If Biden is closely aligned with CNN, for lack of a better phrase, CNN gets the exclusive interview. That’s great for its news operation.
It creates a conflict of interest. It also demonstrates why it is so important to have unbiased, fair-minded media that will call out the good, the bad and the ugly on both sides.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats will ever be perfect. Republicans have made plenty of mistakes over the years that have angered me. But I’m still a Republican, and I still vote Republican.
HOST: Matt, she’s right. Republicans have no room to talk.
I understand that the Democratic socialists’ views go much further than those of most Republicans, but Republicans still have no room to talk.
We just bailed out the farmers, for crying out loud. That suggests the tariffs aren’t working. We’re handing out money without making spending cuts. The White House is purchasing shares and ownership interests in private companies.
When Democrats eventually take over again, what do you think they’re going to do now that Republicans have opened the door?
Larry Kudlow, a former Trump economic adviser, said on Fox Business that it’s big-government socialism, but it’s the Republican version—so supposedly we do it more lightly, and that makes it acceptable. Do you see what I’m saying?
MATT: Yes. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Unfortunately, the Democratic Socialists and even establishment Democrats know that the average American voter who doesn’t follow politics closely will associate the current economic mess with fiscal conservatism, even though this isn’t fiscal conservatism.
Unfortunately, fiscal conservatism will still receive the blame. In reality, the economic policy has largely been “Democrat-lite.”
That leaves the rest of the Republican Party with a choice: Are they going to defy Trump and stand up for fiscal conservatism, or are they simply going to go along with him?
We saw what happened when Thomas Massie stood up for fiscal conservatism. He was pushed to the side of the road politically.
Unfortunately, his name comes up so often because he’s one of the only Republicans consistently doing it. Rand Paul has done it at times, but more often than not, he hasn’t.
HOST: We have to get going, but consider John Thune and Mike Johnson. Congress passed a housing bill that was largely written by Elizabeth Warren. The president wants to impose price controls on prescription drugs through provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. I don’t think many people know that.
As much as we say Johnson and Thune aren’t doing their jobs, I’ll acknowledge this: When the president wants to use the bully pulpit to get what he wants, he pushes very hard.
He said to go after Thomas Massie. He wants to pass the SAVE Act, which is fine.
But imagine if the White House showed the same level of anger and determination over government spending, waste and cuts that it shows when going after conservative Republicans. We would have a much smoother economy.
MATT: But they won’t, because what you’re seeing from the White House is populism. I’m not saying—
HOST: It’s socialism. It’s populist socialism.
MATT: It is socialism. If that’s the direction the Republican Party wants to take, so be it. But eventually, it will lose enough fiscal conservatives that it won’t be able to win elections.
HOST: Coming up next time, we’re going to talk about the governor’s race. Oh my goodness, it is “Spin City” out there.
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I can also convert this into a shorter article-style recap or add timestamp-ready speaker sections.
