02/08/21
Donald Trump
stated on September 30, 2020 in a rally:
Says Joe Biden is a socialist.
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
Republicans have used the term “socialist” for decades to attack Democrats and their policies.
Biden has not advocated nationalizing industries, a key principle of socialism. His platform on health care, energy and other issues aligns with moderate Democrats, not socialists.
Trump has said the Democrats want to turn America into Cuba or Venezuela; Biden has criticized Cuba’s record on human rights and called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro a “tyrant.”
See the sources for this fact-check
In bus tours across Florida, on social media and on TV airwaves, in English and in Spanish, President Donald Trump and his allies have portrayed Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris as socialists who will lead the United States toward a leftist extreme.
"Joe Biden is saying he owns the socialism and extremism in his party, that he owns it," Trump said in a Sept. 30 Minnesota rally.
"Socialism is the mainstream of the Biden campaign and it's not the mainstream of America. Remember I said, we will never have a socialist country," Trump said at an August rally in Arizona.
Biden and Harris reject Trump’s socialism label.
"I beat the socialist," Biden said in a TV interview in Wisconsin, a reference to Democratic primary competitor Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who calls himself a democratic socialist. "That’s how I got elected. That’s how I got the nomination. Do I look like a socialist? Look at my career — my whole career. I am not a socialist."
Republicans have used the socialist label to attack Democrats and their policies for decades, including over programs such as Medicare or Social Security that ultimately became popular on both sides of the aisle. We saw a ramping up of such attacks in 2018, especially in Florida.
Socialism is a dirty word in the voter-rich battleground of South Florida, where many residents fled oppressive regimes in Cuba and Venezuela and literally argue about the socialism and communism label in the streets of Miami.
We wanted to cut through the noise and examine the facts.
The Trump campaign argues that Biden’s proposals to expand health care, offer free college tuition to some students and promote clean energy are evidence of socialist leanings. Experts say this characterization is wrong.
"Strictly speaking, socialism (like communism) refers to complete public ownership of all means of production," said Daniel Shaviro, an expert on taxation at New York University. "Nothing in Biden’s platform is remotely in that territory."
Professor Ted Henken, an expert on Cuba at New York’s Baruch College, agreed.
"Joe Biden’s long record in Congress shows him to be exactly what he claims, a moderate Democrat," Henken said. "Harris is a bit more liberal or progressive, but far from being a socialist either."
What is socialism?
The most narrow definition of socialism refers to complete government ownership of production.
When Sanders uses the term, he is referring to the generous social insurance programs available in some European countries, along with high tax rates, if needed, to pay for education, health care or other programs.
That’s not what Biden’s platform calls for.
Biden’s economic plan emphasizes job creation in manufacturing, infrastructure and health care, but he has not called for the government to take over those industries. Biden would reverse Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, and he supports a $15-an-hour national minimum wage. That doesn’t amount to socialism, either.
While Harris signed on to Senate bills supporting Medicare for All, which would put the government in charge of paying for health care, it’s Biden who is at the top of the ticket. He proposes to improve the Affordable Care Act, rather than revamp the health care system. He supports allowing Americans the choice of a public option for government-backed health insurance, in addition to the private insurance options. Those eligible for Medicaid could enroll in the public option at reduced cost.
Socialized medicine generally refers to a system in which the government pays all the bills, owns the health facilities and employs the health professionals who work there. The ACA, by contrast, has a large market component, allowing people to buy insurance on the marketplace from private insurance companies. (Trump supports litigation to undo the ACA.)
Biden hasn’t embraced Medicare for All, but experts told us that Medicare for All as proposed doesn’t constitute socialism either.
"Medicare for All is a proposal that would make U.S. health care comparable to that in other countries with capitalist economies, with a primary role for government with regard to social welfare," said Martin Gaynor, Carnegie Mellon University professor of economics and public policy. "I wouldn’t call that socialism."
Links:
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/oct/15/donald-trump/trumps-false-claim-biden-socialist/
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