United States | What’s in a name?

Florida Democrats have taken to calling Republicans socialist

Americans of all stripes are confused about what socialism is

Florida state Sen. Annette Taddeo, center, speaks during a news conference on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, in Doral, Fla. The political crisis in Venezuela is a major foreign policy test for the Trump administration but it's an important domestic one as well. Thousands of Venezuelan refugees in South Florida and are closely watching to see if Trump can help get Maduro to give up power. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Oct 20th 2022|MIAMI

To the voters in a South Florida congressional district, the political advertisement lays out a stark choice: “This election will determine if we remain a beacon of freedom or we become a socialist dictatorship.” Surprisingly, though, the candidate speaking—with a bejewelled American flag on her lapels—is the Democratic candidate, who casts herself as the warrior for freedom and her opponent, a Trump-supporting Republican, as a socialist menace. What is going on?

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “What’s in a name?”