The No. 3 House Republican is arguing that fringe Democrats who are fast becoming top figures on the left are selling Americans a false bill of goods.
“Unfortunately, you’ve got these hair-tonic salesmen like [Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed] and [New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani] that are selling them literally the same thing that Pinocchio was sold when he was taken to the island, that you’re going to get everything and of course everybody turns into a donkey,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital.
A far-left insurgency has gripped the primary election season this year, toppling establishment Democrats in multiple states across the country.
It’s provided fodder for Republicans, who are fighting an uphill battle to keep control of Congress and who are arguing that Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-linked candidates are further to the left than what most people in the country are comfortable with.
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DSA-linked candidates in New York, Colorado and Michigan have already defeated four sitting House Democrats and will likely ascend to the House of Representatives next year.
El-Sayed, who has denied being a Democratic socialist but aligns closely with groups and people who do identify with the label, defeated an establishment-backed moderate in Michigan’s Senate primary.
“Somebody who’s talented and works hard can actually achieve in this country. They object to that, because you know what? Everybody should have the same in their book, regardless of their abilities, regardless of their effort,” Emmer said. “It’s never worked anywhere else in the world in history. Their way doesn’t work. Unfortunately, we got a lot of young people who have been done a disservice with the education. They may have to learn this firsthand.”
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“There are challenges in this country that we cannot ignore, right? People are struggling to make ends meet. This generation has more bills than any generation before them, because of their cell phones and the streaming services and all the things that they have that they have to deal with every day,” Emmer said.
He said younger Americans are feeling “frustration” at those challenges, but that the socialist left is pushing solutions that are untenable.
Visitors to the DSA website are asked to envision a world largely free of bills and a “future without capitalism,” where, “you work as much as you are able and no more than needed.”
It’s a similar tone to Karl Marx’s infamous phrase describing a communist utopia, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
But Emmer pointed out that Marx’s theories have rarely, if ever, played out as a successful government system.
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“There is nothing democratic about socialism,” he said.
And while they are hundreds of miles apart in geography, El-Sayed and Mamdani’s links to the DSA and popularity among young left-wing voters have made them top bogeymen for the right. Mamdani is a DSA member. El-Sayed is not, but has been backed by prominent figures in the organization.
Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment.
