JD Vance tried to define ‘socialism.’ It did not go well.

Vice President JD Vance was unable to explain what socialism is when a reporter put the question to him at a Thursday press conference that was about something else. He called it a hard term to pin down and said he no longer knew its meaning. He then offered his own version for American politics: wanting foreign labor to displace American workers, and wanting boys to compete in girls' sports. MS NOW commentator Steve Benen says that description bears no relation to the actual definition.

The exchange matters because Republican leaders, struggling to defend their record ahead of the midterms, have leaned on warnings that Democratic wins would bring socialism or communism. Benen reports that Donald Trump, when Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked last month for a one-sentence case for turning out to vote, answered with a single word, and he argues the president does not grasp what communism means either.

Benen contends Republicans have long used "socialism" as a stand-in for "big government" and as a smear against nearly any Democratic domestic proposal.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →