Socialism: Republicans Keep Being Forced To Love It - YouTube

Want to not die in a pandemic?

Socialism.

Want clean air?

Socialism.

Want the working class to seize the means of production

and democratize the economy?

OK, that is socialism,

and it sounds pretty good.

The accusation of socialism

is part of the playbook the GOP is now running

against Joe Biden and his climate plan.

Except we’ve been here before.

I’m Francesca Fiorentini

and we’re looking at how the right has historically redbaited

any social programs that threaten to help people

– programs that eventually become incredibly popular

and ones Republicans have no alternative to.

They whine while so-called socialism...

...works.

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Joe Biden’s climate plan is not the Green New Deal,

but it is incredibly ambitious.

Which, thank God, because...

here in California the wildfires

are making everything smell like barbecue,

threatening both our lives

and our commitment to vegetarianism.

Mama wanna brisket.

After a joint task force with Bernie Sanders supporters

like AOC and members of the Sunrise Movement,

Biden’s climate plan is now a $2 trillion commitment

that includes eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035,

revolutionizing the railroad and municipal transit systems,

building solar and wind farms,

and, by 2030, getting to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for new buildings.

Now, I tried to find the part of his plan Trump was talking about

where Biden would tear down buildings

and rebuild them with tiiiny little windows.

It’s not there, Don.

Biden won’t give you prison windows,

the state of New York will.

And that climate plan has triggered the right’s most predictable defense mechanism

to any whiff of progress.

He’s signed onto Bernie Sanders’ crazy

110-page communist manifesto.

The Biden/Sanders communist manifesto...

No more oil, no more gas, no more coal.

It’s in writing.

The Bolshevik Bernie/Biden manifesto...

So remember, when Biden says, “Come on, man,”

we all know that the MAN

stands for "manifesto,"

and the "come-on" stands for "come-on-ist."

It’s the ComeOnIst MAN-ifesto.

We’re putting the pieces together, people!

Look, despite also being born in the 19th century,

Joe Biden is actually not Karl Marx.

Though he collaborated with some supporters of a Green New Deal,

Biden’s plan leaves out the more transformative parts of it,

such as a federal jobs guarantee.

And yet the attacks on Biden’s climate plan are reminiscent

of right-wing attacks on other bold social plans enacted by Democratic presidents,

plans that are so popular now,

the right can’t openly campaign against them.

Like Social Security – aka old people allowance

– that Americans pay into during their working years

and have access to once they turn 62.

Democratic president Franklin Delano Roosevelt passed Social Security in 1935

as part of the New Deal reforms.

The New Deal not only established a robust social safety net,

it also gave jobs to millions of unemployed Americans

in building things like bridges, airports and schools.

And, truth be told, the New Deal ended up saving the market’s ass.

In 1933, unemployment was around 22%.

But by 1940, it was less than half that.

Still, the promise of a New Deal was fought tooth and nail

by FDR’s opponent in 1932,

Republican President Herbert Hoover,

who called the proposed programs

– you guessed it –

socialist,

and warned of a “March to Moscow.”

That redbaiting didn’t win Hoover reelection.

And yet,

Republican Alf Landon tried the same tactic

when he ran against FDR four years later,

as exemplified in this campaign ad where a Democratic donkey

drinks a bottle of Russian vodka.

I do not know what that donkey drank, but

can we get some for Joe Biden?

The problem is, neither Hoover nor Landon had a better plan

to help America out of the Depression,

even though they claimed to be committed to helping working people.

Something FDR called “smooth evasion,”

as he mocked the right with the utmost shade:

OK, Franklin’s got some zingers!

Can we get some of that for Biden?

Even though Landon called Social Security

a fraud on the working man,

it was incredibly popular and effective.

Like helping people live longer

– by 2010, American men’s life expectancy

increased by 17 years.

Social Security gave Americans their golden years!

And then the right was apparently so bitter about it,

it created an entire news network

dedicated to filling those years with fear.

Eighty years later, and more than 65 million Americans

now benefit from Social Security.

It’s exceptionally important to retirees,

57% of whom say it’s a major source of their income.

Yet Republicans continue to try and cut it,

despite the fact that 74% of Americans say

Social Security benefits shouldn’t be reduced.

When Trump floated a budget last year

that proposed cutting social security by $26 billion,

his economic advisor called it “political suicide,”

which, if you’re this president,

sounds like a dare.

‘Cause let’s be real,

the guy’s been trying all kinds of political suicide since he assumed office,

and nothing seems to be working!

He’s just living a presidential Groundhog Day.

No matter how creative the suicide, he simply won’t die!

Politically.

Take another wildly popular FDR-led policy,

the GI Bill.

The GI Bill guaranteed veterans unemployment benefits,

low interest home and business loans and federal aid for education.

At the time, the GI Bill was opposed by some Republican lawmakers,

in part because giving vets a college education

was seen as sending them to institutions with

"crackpot long-haired professors and radicals."

Yeah, you wouldn’t want soldiers who just defeated Hitler and fascism

to go to college and become antifa!

Republicans also opposed the GI Bill

because they claimed it would help “lazy” veterans and “spoil” them,

which if you’re just catching up on America,

is racist code for Black people.

But decades after its implementation,

the GI Bill has been consistently supported by politicians on both sides of the aisle,

including Republican presidents.

Earlier this year

I was pleased to sign a piece of legislation,

a GI bill for the 21st century.

That’s right.

We’re finally sending drones...

...to college.

Just joshin’.

But, fun fact: Before signing that GI Bill,

W. threatened to veto extra unemployment benefits.

Of course, he made sure that our troops

would never qualify for unemployment benefits

by just inventing wars for them to fight in.

I am a job creator.

Which brings us to health care,

a battle Republicans have fought and died in for generations

...politically!

Like Medicare – health care for the elderly,

and Medicaid – health care for the poor and disabled.

Both were started under Democratic president

Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society,

which built on FDR’s New Deal,

aimed at tackling racial and economic injustice.

And that meant they were attacked by the right.

Presidential candidate Bob Dole bragged that he had voted against Medicare,

George H.W. Bush called it socialized medicine.

Even an actor in California who wasn’t yet in politics gave a radio address

claiming government-subsidized health care would take away a doctor’s freedom.

Honestly, hindsight 20/20?

The American people would’ve done a lot better

if the government had subsidized the man-chimp bromance genre well into the ‘80s,

so Reagan would’ve remained an employable actor

and therefore would’ve never run for office,

reformed welfare, began mass incarceration

or given us crippling economic austerity.

I mean,

let’s be real.

Fast-forward to today.

Despite their expense, Medicare and Medicaid are incredibly popular,

with a majority of Americans supporting both.

And while Republicans have tried over the years to kneecap the programs

through budget cuts and a variety of other methods,

it’s become too toxic to openly campaign on cutting either,

which is why even though he wants a budget

that cuts over a trillion dollars from Medicare and Medicaid,

Trump also makes contradictory promises like this:

We will protect Medicare

and Social Security

and that is a pledge

from the entire

Republican party.

I really wish they had panned over to whoever Trump was pointing at,

‘cause I’m pretty sure it was Mitch McConnell going...

Me?

[Mitch McConnell warbles]

[laughter in background]

Then came the creme de la Kremlin,

the belle of the Bolsheviks,

the cream of the Trot...sky...

the Affordable Care Act,

or Obamacare,

another program that Republicans regularly called socialized medicine,

when, in fact, it gives a big boost to private insurance companies.

And it’s a plan that, despite wanting to overturn,

they still have no alternative for.

Just listen to then-Indiana representative Mike Pence in 2009,

decrying the ACA based on how expensive Medicare is.

Medicare, when it was launched in 1965

was projected, I think, to cost

$9 billion a year by 1990.

It ended up costing 7 times that.

We’re increasing the burden on our grandchildren

enormously

if we create a government-run plan

No debate on that,

although I don’t know that you

want to go back to Indiana

and campaign against Medicare.

Oh uh no, I — no I support Medicare...

Oh no, I support Medicare because,

...well, I have to.

Wow, Pence used to be pretty animated.

I guess playing wingman to a racist autocrat

has made him completely dead inside.

Why else would a FLY LAND ON HIM FOR TWO MINUTES??

The ACA may be flawed,

but it’s still supported by 55% of Americans,

even in red states.

When Republican lawmakers supported Trump

in his threats to repeal it in 2017,

constituents there let their representatives know how they felt:

The Affordable Care Act,

you tried to repeal it 61 times.

Give it a break already.

Please let it go.

Oh, but sir,

that’s not what Republicans do!

Republicans aren’t here to improve these programs.

They’re here to prove that the government is bad

by being bad at governing,

and then turning around and saying,

“See, we were right the whole time.

How about another tax break for your employer?”

All while claiming:

Of course we believe these things.

Just turn them over to us.

Man, what I wouldn’t give for a Democratic leader in 2020

who’s that salty.

And that brings us back to Joe Biden and his climate plan.

Joe Biden is pushing

a platform that would demolish the U.S. economy.

Biden has gone radical left.

God, I wish.

Look, if Republicans think confronting climate change

will demolish the American economy,

what will not confronting it do to the economy?

What has it already done?

The truth is, just like health care, or retirement or taking care of veterans,

they have no alternative plan to stopping climate change,

other than “drill it all”

or “China invented it”

or “sun flares”

or “have we tried shooting bullets at the carbon?”

Now of course Democrats aren’t saints or saviors.

These social programs we’ve grown to love

wouldn’t have happened had the American people not demanded them

and been the true drivers of change.

Also, reality.

Reality helps a lot.

So remember when a Republican calls something socialist,

it’s not just a tactic to scare you.

It means that that something might actually just save your life.

Thanks so much for watching Newsbroke,

and let us know: Has your life been impacted by these socialist programs?

Which are kinda tight.

Let us know in the comments below.

And also if you wanna hear more from me,

I have a podcast called, The Bitchuation Room.

You should check it out.

See you next week.

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