“This is what radical leftism is. It may wear various different slogans and ideologies across place and time. They call themselves anti-capitalist or anti-imperialist, communist, anarchist, Marxist, but the fundamental character is always the same,” Marco Rubio said last week when he hosted the leaders of over 60 different countries to a ministerial on the “resurgence of transnational far-left terrorism.”
He left out “democratic socialism,” but let’s face it. It’s all the same. And Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) spoke out about that today at a House Republican leadership press conference, warning about the rise of so-called “democratic socialists” and the reality for voters and the media.
Malliotakis would know. Her mother fled Cuba in 1959 as Fidel Castro took power. The Castro regime stole her family’s home and their small business, a gas station owned by her grandfather. She says her mother never saw her grandfather again after that. I’ve heard countless stories just like that from Venezuelan friends and acquaintances. Communism ruins families.
“Communism destroys. It steals from the people,” Malliotakis said. “…people end up living in squalor and lack the basic needs that human beings need, and the people that run the regime live as kings. That’s the reality. It’s about power. It’s about consolidating power for a select few.”
She pointed out that, sadly, that’s exactly what we’re starting to see here in the United States with the winners of several recent primaries and elections.
“We have Mayor Mamdani, who pushed and is pushing an agenda of government-run supermarkets, abolishing private property rights, and seizing the means of production,” she continued. “…And that is exactly what they did in communist Cuba.”
The congresswoman pointed out that her Cuban mother says socialism is basically just a step toward communism. The government steals property and wealth and uses it to redistribute and create better lives for themselves, while their constituents suffer. She also pointed out that Democrats want to pack the Supreme Court, but that’s a move straight out of Hugo Chávez’s playbook. As I wrote yesterday, that’s one reason why Venezuela can’t have elections right now. The country’s Supreme Court is stacked in favor of the regime, and it will require dismantling the court, among other institutions, to get there.
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Malliotakis also points out that voters are going to be in for a rude awakening if we continue to allow this type of behavior here in our country. “They can call themselves Democrat socialists, but the reality is that the Commie Caucus is coming to Congress,” she warned.
But her best message, in my opinion, was for the press in attendance:
It’s going to be a rude awakening if we don’t all pay attention, and that’s includes the press. Think about what’s happening in those countries, where they’ve had socialism and communism. The press is the first one to go. When they finally consolidate that power, the media is the first one to go, and it [becomes] a state-run media.
The congresswoman concluded that it’s important for all of us to stand up to these radical threats, and she’s right. Our regular readers know that I spend most of my weeks knee-deep in Venezuela and Cuba, and I’ve gotten to know many people who lived in and had to leave these countries. They all tell the same tale: families destroyed, loved ones dying due to lack of food or medicine, friends arrested for daring to speak out, no jobs, poverty, malnourished infants and children, extended power outages, lack of clean drinking water, regime harassment, arbitrary detentions, and kangaroo courts, etc.
Why on earth would anyone want to live like that? And don’t tell me it just wasn’t done correctly. The outcome is always the same.
Here are Malliotakis’ full remarks. They’re worth a watch. And I hope she and many other people in this country continue to speak out in the days ahead.
The Commie Caucus is coming to Congress. Here is what it means for you. pic.twitter.com/64gJcuWonm
— Rep. Nicole Malliotakis Office (@RepNicole) July 21, 2026
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