A leading House Democrat went scorched-earth on insurgent socialists rising within his party, repeatedly telling them to start their own party and accusing them of trying to “hijack” the Democratic Party as a “vessel” for their communist, “anti-American,” open-border platform.
House Intelligence Committee member Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., a leader of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, told Fox News on Sunday that the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is “not Democrats” and rejected the idea that its platform is compatible with the Democratic Party’s.
“Obviously, I’m a very proud, common-sense Democrat, and I don’t think DSA members are Democrats. They’re socialists, right? And I’m all for them having their own party if they want one, but if they’re trying to take over our party, that’s unacceptable to me,” Gottheimer said on “The Big Weekend Show.”
“Their values, their ideas are certainly not in line with ours, and they don’t support our leadership. They’re trying to use the Democratic Party as a vessel for their ideas. And as you heard in some of these conventions, literally, they’re supporting the Communist Manifesto and [Leon] Trotsky, they’re anti-American, they are anti-cop, they don’t believe in borders.”
Gottheimer was referring to man-on-the-street clips of DSA members at the group’s Chicago convention. One socialist said they are organizing a front to get “ICE off our campuses,” while a member of the DSA’s National Political Committee said people such as Gottheimer who call them anti-American do not understand that their platform is the “most American thing you can do.”
Another DSA NPC member said socialism is the “same kind of stuff that I am used to [in] growing up in the Christian Church.”
Gottheimer said 45 million voters are registered Democrats, compared with 150,000 official DSA members.
“They’re not welcome in the Democratic Party,” he said.
He pushed back against members of his own party who have expressed openness to DSA-aligned candidates such as Maine oysterman Graham Platner.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who represents Silicon Valley, said Democrats should not have “watched wealth pile up on Wall Street and Silicon Valley” at the expense of working-class Americans, adding that “the Democratic Party needs reform.”
Gottheimer countered that fringe coalitions are mounting insurgencies in both parties and “trying to barge in” with incompatible ideas.
He also pointed to longtime Clinton confidant James Carville, who told Fox News that he would disown the Democratic Party if left-wing streamer Hasan Piker were permitted to become one of its leaders.
Former U.S. Marine Corps bomb technician Johnny Joey Jones asked whether Gottheimer would also leave the party over Piker or if Democratic leaders embraced socialists such as Harlem’s Darializa Chevalier.
“Well, [House Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries won’t — and let me be very clear that Hasan Piker is not a Democrat – the guy is the ultimate grifter, right? He’s the guy who said that 9/11 is America’s fault… We’ve got to make it clear he’s not welcome in the Democratic Party.”
Gottheimer said the DSA platform shows that the organization is incompatible with the Democratic Party. He added that socialists can “scream and yell and try to …hijack [the party] and shove their ideas in and use it as a vessel.”
“We have to make clear that’s not who we are…”
While Gottheimer reiterated that he does not plan to leave the Democratic Party any time soon, Jones noted that one prominent New Jersey Democrat already has.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, whose district includes Cape May, switched parties during President Donald Trump’s first term, angering South Jersey Democratic committees as the longtime lawmaker embraced Trump’s platform.
“You wouldn’t be the first New Jersey congressman to find a better party. I’m just saying leave the door open if you want to,” Jones said.
Gottheimer’s district includes liberal New York City suburbs immediately west of the George Washington Bridge and the deep-red, Trump-friendly Skylands near the Delaware Water Gap, making it one of the most politically diverse districts in the state’s congressional delegation.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DSA and Piker for comment.
