ICYMI: RSC Members Tenney, Malliotakis Slam Democrats for Allowing DSA to Become Mainstream

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following the release of a brand-new episode of the Republican Study Committee's (RSC) Right to the Point podcast featuring Rep. Claudia Tenney (NY-24) and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), the Washington Reporter highlighted the Congresswomen’s firsthand experiences with socialism and communism and their warning about the Democratic Socialists of America’s growing influence in the Democratic Party.

Rep. Malliotakis, whose mother fled communist Cuba, and Rep. Tenney, who spent significant time in communist Yugoslavia, expose how socialists appeal to Americans, particularly young Americans, with promises of “free” goods and government benefits while history shows these systems ultimately lead to scarcity, economic decline, and greater government control. 

The Congresswomen also discuss the threat of foreign influence in America’s education system, and how House Republicans are cracking down on foreign funding to protect American institutions.

Reps. Tenney and Malliotakis warn that DSA-aligned politicians are promoting policies that threaten American prosperity and freedom. They point to New York City under Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a cautionary example, citing threats to private property and failures to address basic quality of life issues. 

In contrast, the Congresswomen highlight that President Trump and House Republicans’ agenda has delivered the lowest level of violent crime in 30 years, the most secure borders in American history, and the largest tax cut for Americans through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.

Read the Washington Reporter article HERE. Listen to the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Highlights of the article are below: 

“Socialism, Malliotakis said, ‘is sort of the baby steps where they begin to implement changes. They begin to take away freedoms. They begin to ration things, to implement price controls that are very destructive to the economy. And they do this in a way to test it and see how far they can get. And if they’re successful and if they’re able to consolidate more power, then they move on to communism, which is when you really start to lose your freedoms, whether it be freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble and to protest.’”

“While Cuba, Venezuela, and Greece are not within America’s borders, Malliotakis cautioned that those same devastating consequences could happen in America, too. ‘What they did were the very things that the Democrats here are saying that they want to do, the policies that they’ve said. They want to seize the means of production. They did that, particularly with the oil sector in Venezuela. They want to abolish private property rights. They want to have government-run supermarkets. At least those are the things that my mayor, Mayor Zoran Mamdani, campaigned on and was elected on. These are very dangerous ideas. They are right out of the communist playbook of Karl Marx.’”

“Closer to home, Tenney noted, ‘the Democratic Socialists of America claim that they are democratic.’ But, she explained, ‘there’s really nothing democratic about it.’ And she warned that the DSA’s successes are not limited to blue cities and blue states. ‘We’ve also seen socialist candidates win primaries not just in New York but in New York City, as well as in Colorado and Pennsylvania, candidates who were backed by the so-called Democrat Socialist organization won,’ Tenney said.”

“Both Tenney and Malliotakis lamented how DSA members like Chevalier, Lander, and Valdez will be joining them in Congress next year, and Malliotakis explained that ‘they’re not just socialist and communists. They’re actually anarchists who want to destroy America. Look at what some of them have said during their campaigns: they want no jails, no police, no borders, and they want to defund our military. One of the candidates [Chevalier] even went so far to say that she wipes her hands on the American flag because she didn’t have a napkin.’”

“In contrast with the policies of Mamdani, both Republican lawmakers noted that another New Yorker, President Donald Trump, is delivering for their constituents.”

“Trump, Malliotakis said, is ‘making the country safe, securing our border, deporting the criminals…We were literally being forced to pay for a crime on our own citizenry,’ she added. ‘The president put an end to that right away. We’ve seen New York City become much safer. The crime numbers have come down substantially since President Trump took office and stopped all this chaos from the Biden administration. But in addition to that, we’re respecting the taxpayers.’”

“Malliotakis also touted the House GOP’s successful push for the largest tax cuts in American history, which she called ‘a great package that reduce taxes for hardworking Americans, for our middle class families, for senior citizens, tipped workers, overtime work. It really was  significant, the largest tax cut for the middle class in history, and that’s a complete different ideology.’”

“Both lawmakers expressed concern that if Democrats retake the House majority next year, that sort of progress would be jeopardized.”