The left isn’t embracing socialism.It’s rejecting the status quo.The political world woke up after Tuesday’s election asking the same question: Is the Democratic Party lurching toward socialism?Maybe.DEMOCRATS' NEW-WAVE SOCIALISTS ARE WINNING PRIMARIES BUT FACE A HARSH REALITY IN GENERAL ELECTIONSBut that’s not the question that matters.Congressional candidate Claire Valdez, Congressional candidate Brad Lander, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier raise their hands during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at King's Theater on June 18, 2026, in New York City.
(Michael M.Santiago/Getty Images)The question that matters is this: Why are more voters willing to give socialism a look in the first place?Because if Republicans answer that question incorrectly, they risk making precisely the same mistake Democrats made in 2016.KHANNA TORCHES DEMOCRATS FOR RUNNING 'STATUS QUO' CANDIDATES, ADMITS WORKING-CLASS VOTERS WERE ‘SHAFTED’The rise of President Donald Trump bewildered much of the political establishment.
Too many observers looked at his supporters and saw only the man.They missed the message.What many Trump voters were saying was simple: The system isn’t working for me anymore.Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally Saturday, Nov.
28, 2015, in Sarasota, Fla.(AP)They felt ignored by political leaders, looked down upon by cultural elites and abandoned by institutions they no longer trusted.
They believed that the people in charge either couldn’t or wouldn’t fix what was broken.FOX NEWS POLL: 'RESILIENT DISCONTENT' DEFINES THE US MOOD AT 250TH ANNIVERSARYTrump didn’t create that frustration.He harnessed it.Today, a remarkably similar frustration is coursing through younger and more progressive voters, even if it is leading them to very different political conclusions.Listen to the language of the left’s ascendant voices.New York Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made affordability the cent...