Oops! Fox News is making democratic socialists sound cool. | Opinion
Fox News has found a new way to scare the public. Too bad it seems to be backfiring.
Prior to the state of New York's primary election on June 23, the media company aired a segment dedicated to the perceived rise of socialism in the United States and the potential that an "ultra-progressive agenda" would radicalize the Democrats.
As host Harris Faulkner lamented the "anti-police, anti-Israel, anti-capitalist rhetoric" of candidates affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a graphic with the title "NY's Far-Left Slate" flashed on the screen, along with pictures of several New York City area congressional candidates and a list of the radical ideas they were proposing.
The far-left agenda in question? Ending military aid to Israel, abolishing U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, supporting housing and Medicare for all, and taxing the wealthy.
Instead of making democratic socialism sound scary, Fox News is making it sound awesome.
Faulkner shared photos of smiling, energetic politicians like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and infographics about things that are objectively popular in the United States ‒ with the hopes that it will terrify people like my grandparents so that they stay glued to their televisions and continue to vote for the status quo. All the while, Fox News seems to be ignoring the things that voters are saying they want from their candidates.
Imagine thinking helping people is something to be scared of.
Fox News isn't wrong. Polls show Americans want this.
Fox News anchors might be terrified of the left-wing agenda, but the American people aren't. In fact, it seems that the democratic socialists are more closely aligned with the public than either mainstream political party.
Take Israel, for example. A July 7 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 40% of Americans believe that the United States is "too supportive" of Israel, while a May poll from The New York Times/Siena found that more than 75% of Democratic voters opposed military aid to Israel.
Ending U.S. support of Israel sure seems like a more popular position than Fox News is making it out to be, and it doesn't mean that people are antisemitic for believing government should be held to account.
Or take Medicare for all. In November, 66% of Americans told Pew Research Center that they believed the federal government "has a responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage," which sure sounds like broad support for universal health care.
Take even the thorniest of the democratic socialist platform – abolishing ICE (something I have called for previously). An Economist/YouGov poll published in March found that half of the country supports getting rid of the immigration agency.
So if there is widespread support for these so-called communist policies, why is Fox News presenting them like they're something we should be terrified of happening? God forbid the country's politicians actually listen to what the broader public wants.
Americans are suffering under capitalism – and Republican extremism
This was not the end of Fox News' fearmongering. It seems like it has a new article every hour talking about the downfall of the West because a few democratic socialist candidates won primaries in safe blue districts.
On July 1, Jesse Watters spent a segment of his television show warning about "Ethiopian-born, communist barista" Melat Kiros, who unseated Democratic incumbent Diana DeGette in a June 30 Colorado primary, only to follow it up with a story about Mamdani telling everyone to turn up the temperature on their air conditioners to prepare for the impending heat wave.
What bugs me the most about the focus on democratic socialists is the fact that there has been a huge rightward shift in the Republican Party since the Reagan era that culminated in the election of President Donald Trump. It seems as though it's only a problem for one party to become "more extreme," while the other party is allowed to inch toward authoritarianism every chance it gets.
Remember that Trump, who has had the support of the Republican Party, has broken our economy, started a war with Iran and attempted to destroy the social safety net of the United States.
Opponents of democratic socialism constantly say that it doesn't work in practice and strive to portray capitalism as perfect – even though millions of people in this country who are living paycheck to paycheck would tell you that the current system isn't working. Fox News personalities may think they're killing it with the graphics decrying the evils of socialism, but they're just making it sound rational – maybe even cool.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky: @sarapequeno.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oops! Fox News is making democratic socialists sound cool. | Opinion
Reporting by Sara Pequeño, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 4:31 AM.