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| This guy is almost certainly a Trump voter. |
As he campaigns for re-election, Donald Trump and his team have made trashing the “socialists or communists” in the 2020 Democratic presidential field a cornerstone of their messaging. In private, however, the president often strikes a different, more nuanced tone—one driven by a concern that socialism (at least as defined by the Democrats) may actually sell politically.
This year, Trump has repeatedly told friends and donors that running against “socialism” in a general election may not be “so easy” because of its populist draw, according to four Republicans and sources close to Trump who’ve heard him say this over the past several months.
According to a person who was in the room, Trump told donors at a recent private event that though “a lot of people think it’ll be easy to beat [in 2020],” the “truth is, it might not be so easy.” The president, according to the source, said that “you can have someone who loves Trump, but many people love free stuff, too.” He added that if candidates tell Americans, especially young voters—that they’re going to cancel their debt, “that’s a tough one” to run against.
“I have discussed the popularity of the democratic socialists’ message, i.e. Sanders and [Elizabeth] Warren, with President Trump on more than one occasion and in person,” said Eric Bolling, a BlazeTV host and friend of the Trump family. “Specifically the idea of excusing debt and giving away, [as Trump says], ‘free stuff’ becoming more and more popular among younger voters.”
Bolling said Trump had made these comments to him as recently as mid-2019. “I feel it was more an observation than a re-election concern [of the president’s],” he recalled. “I feel the discussion was more of a tamping-down of expectations than any serious concern about winning re-election in 2020. It’s politics. Just look to Joe Biden who recently suggested Iowa isn’t a must-win state.”
Trump’s private concessions don’t reflect the message he and his party organs have typically pushed in public. Over the last year, the president, his campaign, the Republican National Committee, and a host of other prominent GOP campaign groups have sought to paint much, if not all, of the Democratic field as “socialist.” It’s a playbook they’ve used many times before, including against President Barack Obama. But it is widely believed to have more resonance now, with more progressive candidates—including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the self-identifying democratic-socialist— running in the Democratic primary. The attack line is so central to the GOP playbook that Trump even used it in his 2019 State of the Union address.
“Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country,” Trump said. “America was founded on liberty and independence—not government coercion, domination, and control…Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”