Melat Kiros: “Until A Self-Proclaimed ‘Communist’ Actually Wins An Election, It’s Just Noise From The Republican Party”
The Democratic Socialist nominee for Congress from Colorado, Melat Kiros, told PBS “Firing Line” host Margaret Hoover she is “not a communist” and that talk about communism is “noise from the Republican Party” until a “self-proclaimed communist”wins an election.
MARGARET HOOVER: In June, President Trump said, These are hardcore, godless communists. This is the most serious threat to our country since its existence. First, are you a communist? MELAT KIROS: No, I’m not a communist. MARGARET HOOVER: How do you tackle the criticism that some members of the DSA, including half of the DSA leadership, seem to call themselves communists? MELAT KIROS: Some members of the Democratic Party proudly proclaim themselves capitalists. It’s a big tent, right? But again, at the end of the day, it’s up to the voters. Until a self-proclaimed communist actually wins an election, it’s just noise from the Republican Party. There’s no one who is actually winning with that. MARGARET HOOVER: Why are they using that rhetoric? MELAT KIROS: Because I think the Republican Party-and, frankly, the oligarchy that largely stands behind the Republican Party-can see that our message, in its most basic form, of economic populism is actually resonating with voters. Bernie and AOC came to Denver and got 35,000 people to show up to talk about fighting the oligarchy and fighting for economic populism. Republicans know that this is the message that is going to not only root out Trump, but root out the conditions that led to him rising in the first place. I think that if Democrats are actually interested in winning again, then they would heed those words, follow the voters where they’re at, meet them where they’re at and start taking on some of these policies for our own platform.
