A national security expert who fled Cuba in the 1970s has warned of a growing socialist influence in American politics, predicting that 'communists in double digits' could soon serve in Congress. Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Digital, citing recent electoral victories by socialist candidates as evidence of a broader trend.
Gonzalez likened the shift to a 'takeover of a host body, the Democratic Party,' arguing that the party is being 'taken over by body snatchers' unable to resist the ideological shift. He pointed to recent elections where socialist candidates defeated establishment Democrats, including New York City's socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani and Seattle's socialist mayor Katie Wilson. In Colorado, socialist candidate Melat Kiros recently defeated 15-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette.
Gonzalez also noted that while these politicians identify as socialist, the authors of the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, considered socialism and communism interchangeable. He claimed that some socialist candidates have privately acknowledged their ultimate goal of achieving communism.
The expert attributed the rise of socialist candidates to several factors, including the breakdown of immigrant assimilation and the influence of progressive policies within the Democratic Party. He warned that this trend could lead to a significant ideological shift in Congress if left unchecked.