Radicals Are at the Door

    By Tal Fortgang

Thursday, February 19, 2026

 

The Democratic Socialists of America are ascendant, poised to remake the Democratic Party in their image. To hear Democratic politicians and major media outlets like the New York Times tell it, all the DSA wants is for America to be more like Norway: safe, egalitarian, and governed by an overweening yet benevolent state. America under the DSA would certainly resemble Norway — if Norway’s leaders loathed their own country, were committed to undermining its interests, and actively supported a global anti-Norwegian movement.

 

The slightest bit of digging into the DSA’s leadership, communications, publications, and activities reveals that the DSA is nothing less than an anti-American subversion campaign, rooted in Marxist ideas and maintaining terrorist sympathies. The DSA doesn’t even try to hide it — and why should they? Like all good Marxists, they believe that their revolution is imminent and inevitable.

 

Zohran Mamdani’s rise from no-name activist to gadfly New York State assemblyman to New York City mayor is emblematic of the DSA’s trajectory. The DSA vows that Mamdani’s victory is just the beginning of “a political movement of and for the working class that can defeat the oligarchy and win the political revolution.” Mamdani appeared to moderate his views slightly to ensure that he would cross the finish line, but he is already staffing his administration with classic DSA personnel — criminals, grifters, and America-hating radicals. New Yorkers and other Americans are about to see what that “revolution” entails.

 

Most Americans understandably see the DSA as essentially the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Left-wing commentators and politicians reinforce that view by discussing democratic socialism as a set of abstractions and principles. Senator Bernie Sanders, for instance, defines a democratic socialist government as one that “works for all the people and not just the billionaire class.”

 

After the DSA had conquered the New York Democratic Party, Governor Kathy Hochul decided to endorse Mamdani for mayor. His commitment to socialism, she wrote in the New York Times, only means building “a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family.” Barack Obama called Mamdani to lend his support, too. The New York Times ran interference for the candidate’s animating ideology by publishing an article titled “Zohran Mamdani Says He’s a Democratic Socialist. What Does That Mean?” According to the paper of record, “the simplest way to understand democratic socialism is as an ideology rooted in its opposition to capitalism and wanting to shift power to workers from corporations.” But the Times reassured readers that “the policies that self-described democratic socialists advocate for generally do not involve the complete abolition of capitalism.” Democratic socialists are “closer to social democrats — a common ideology in Europe that emphasizes strong social safety nets and government involvement in areas like health care.”

 

Rank-and-file democratic socialists may simply claim to oppose greedy corporations and fascism. But the reality is that the DSA is an organization, albeit an amorphous one that retains a decentralized structure as a matter of strategy. It has organizing principles, leadership, and a political program. And that program is radical.

 

The New York Times might insist that the DSA is not interested in replacing capitalism entirely, but the DSA’s 2021 convention platform says otherwise. “In overcoming the old, barbaric order of capitalism, the working class will not only liberate itself from its own shackles, but all of humanity from the parasitic death-drive of capitalism,” it states. “As capitalism’s climate crisis ravages the whole Earth, the well-being of the working class is ultimately aligned with the survival of the whole planet.” How very Nordic.

 

The DSA has since moderated some of its public language, while insisting that its chapters and subsidiaries may say things that do not represent the entire movement. That is belied by trends within the DSA’s leadership. Mainstream institutions and movements police their ranks to ensure that they don’t promote anyone who could sully their reputation. The DSA has promoted open Marxist-Leninists who seek to usher in communist revolution. Whistleblower Maurice Isserman, a professor of history and founding member of the DSA, quit the organization after leading figures within it justified the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023. He has described the rise of the “entryists,” communists who are now a majority on the National Political Committee (NPC), the DSA’s ruling body. The national co-chairwoman of the NPC — effectively the leader of the DSA — Megan Romer, is a self-professed “proud” member of the Red Star Caucus, which describes itself as one of several “Marxist-Leninist” subgroups within the DSA. “Socialist countries are not our enemy, U.S. imperialism is,” the caucus’s platform reads. Its central goal is to “abolish capitalism and, ultimately, to achieve communism,” the caucus states in its “points of unity” section. “We do not believe that capitalism can be reformed into socialism — it must be overthrown and replaced.”

 

Overthrowing capitalism and fighting American “imperialism” requires overthrowing America’s constitutional order. The DSA plans to abolish the Constitution, starting with the Senate and the Electoral College, and to “put workers in charge of the government” instead. Dismantling our constitutional republic will, of course, require universal suffrage and fully open borders — the group plans to “extend full voting rights to people with criminal convictions and noncitizens.” And after DSA leaders disarm the military, they will “allow workers to freely migrate between countries to seek employment without restrictive immigration controls.”

 

The DSA is similarly extreme on criminal justice. It calls for “demilitarizing” the police, ending prosecutions for all misdemeanors, and ultimately abolishing prisons, which are seen as instruments of capitalist oppression. With no prisons and no borders, the U.S. will finally have the democratic will to support those who most deserve it: terrorists and leftist dictators. The DSA has long co-hosted events and shared personnel with Samidoun, an organization sanctioned by the U.S., Canada, and some European nations. The U.S. government has designated Samidoun a “sham charity” that exists to raise funds for the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). But the DSA and Samidoun have maintained their alliance and continue their joint activities, co-hosting events in Washington, New York, and Philadelphia.

 

It’s no surprise, then, that only a few hours after Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, proceeding to slaughter, rape, and maim thousands and abduct hundreds, the DSA chapter in New York (NYC-DSA) announced a “Free Palestine” rally in Times Square the next day. At the rally — where attendees displayed images of swastikas on their phones and burned Israeli flags — the demonstration leader praised the “resistance” and salivated about murdered Israelis as the crowd whooped and cheered: “There was some sort of rave or desert party where they were having a great time until the resistance came in electrified hang gliders and took at least several dozen hipsters. . . . Our people from Gaza, our young people, are riding their bikes through these settlements.”

 

DSA members seem even more united by their love of terrorism than their hatred of the rich. Russell Rickford, a Cornell history professor who infamously described October 7 as “exhilarating” and “energizing,” is a card-carrying member of the DSA. DSA member Djamil Lakhdar-Hamina, a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, told NYC-DSA member Jack Lundquist over a Zoom meeting that “the only existing effective vehicle of resistance against Zionist barbarism right now is Hamas.” In May 2024, Romer, the DSA administrator, proclaimed that the DSA does “not, in fact, condemn Hamas,” and “no socialist should.”

 

In May 2025, Israeli embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Sarah Milgrim, an American, were murdered outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., allegedly by Elias Rodriguez, a leftist who chanted “Free Palestine” during his arrest. In a statement on X, the NYC-DSA claimed to “reject the violence.” (It blocked the ability to reply to the post, knowing exactly what the comments would look like if it didn’t.) But members soon questioned the condemnation, and the DSA backtracked. “Is it good to condemn violence against a genocidal apartheid state?” one member asked. The Liberation Caucus, a DSA coalition that describes itself as “Marxist-Leninist-Maoist,” proudly signed a statement that praised the shooting as a “legitimate act of resistance.” In a later post, it demanded, “Free Elias Rodriguez and all political prisoners.”

 

The DSA is even taking active steps to protect terrorists and other enemies of the U.S. In June 2025, NYC-DSA hosted an event on how to disrupt global trade and stop the flow of weapons and other goods between the U.S. and allied countries. The DSA’s seminar leader encouraged activists to impede American production of the F-35 fighter jet, arguing that “interrupting this logistic supply chain is actually key to interrupting genocide.” (For good measure, the DSA’s description of the event on YouTube praises the Houthis’ “heroic” efforts to target the “movement of weapons and capital.”) Ahmed Husain sits on the DSA’s National Political Committee, coordinating efforts to disrupt international shipping through a private citizens’ arms embargo. Admitting his support for the terrorist groups waging war against Israel, Husain said, “We’re inside the home of empire. . . . As they fight there, we fight here. There’s multiple fronts.” Another DSA member, Abdullah Farooq, has teamed up with the Palestinian Youth Movement activist group in its illegal effort to stop shipping giant Maersk from delivering weapons to Israel.

 

The DSA’s ties to enemies of the West run deep. It is a member of Progressive International, an umbrella group led by Maoist centimillionaire Neville Roy Singham, who is a chief funder of anti–U.S. and pro–Chinese Communist Party radicalism. Even the New York Times has questioned Singham’s activities. According to the paper, he operates “hidden amid a tangle of nonprofit groups and shell companies” and “works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide.” Singham’s organization regularly hosts gatherings in Cuba, Brazil, and elsewhere, bringing together American agitators and members of the PFLP, the Cuban intelligence community, and the CCP.

 

The DSA particularly sympathizes with the world’s worst human rights violators. According to its 2024 platform, the DSA seeks to “end economic sanctions that impact the sovereignty of countries whose governments act independently of the United States, such as Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran.” The DSA International Committee (DSA IC) defines its goal as “working toward a solidarity that knows no borders.” It specializes in advancing the interests of dictators.

 

Cuba plays a suspiciously large role in the DSA’s approach to international affairs. The DSA IC emphasizes “DSA Cuba Solidarity,” with the stated aim of “strengthening ties between the labor movements in the U.S. and Cuba.” That solidarity appears to extend to full-on public relations efforts. The DSA is a member of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), an umbrella organization of groups that aim to create a pro-Cuban U.S. foreign policy. The NNOC, in turn, is a partner of Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), an arm of the Cuban government that seeks to influence international affairs. The DSA — NNOC relationship has resulted in legally questionable advocacy for hostile foreign regimes. For example, DSA IC member Jorge Rocha recently joined Calla Walsh — a 21-year-old activist who praised the “Axis of Resistance,” Iran’s alliance with terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Houthis, before apparently defecting to Tehran — on the Guerrilla History podcast to advocate removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. In October, the DSA sent a delegation of “elected leaders & rank-and-file members” to Cuba to deliver “solidarity aid.” After visiting the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana — which, according to the DSA, “has trained thousands of doctors, including over 100 from Palestine” — they returned to the U.S. “more determined than ever to end the cruel U.S. blockade.” The Foreign Agents Restriction Act requires public bodies that perform work for foreign governments to report such activities to the Department of Justice. Though this is not quite a confession of a violation of the act, it certainly comes close.

 

After the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in January, DSA NPC member Luisa Martinez convened a web event titled “Hands Off Venezuela.” The DSA calls upon Americans to “stand in solidarity with President Maduro,” she declared. While Venezuelans celebrated their freedom from Maduro’s tyranny, Martinez called for his release and accused President Donald Trump of preparing America “to fight a future conflict with China.” Naturally, the DSA’s institutional position was to take Venezuela’s and China’s side.

 

The DSA IC’s support for repressive regimes extends further still. It sponsored the People’s Summit for Korea in New York last July, which was headlined by other Singham-funded organizations such as the ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The People’s Summit featured pro–North Korean speakers who seek to destroy South Korean sovereignty. “For decades,” the summit claims on its website, “US imperialism has blocked Korea’s path to peace, reunification, and self-determination.” After the U.S. bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities, meanwhile, the DSA IC rushed to affirm “Iran’s right to self-defense” on its website. “Iran has long been targeted by the U.S. and its allies for its efforts to establish national self-determination and champion Palestinian liberation,” the group declared. And while it regularly condemns Western capitalism as a source of environmental degradation, the DSA eagerly promotes CCP environmentalist propaganda, whitewashing the world’s worst polluter as an emerging “ecological civilization.”

 

The DSA’s defenders have historically dissembled by saying that the organization is diffuse and takes few institutional positions. Yet it continues to promote individuals and caucuses that express nakedly anti-American views and to organize events and campaigns that advance extremism. Perhaps because it is untenable to argue that Mamdani and other public figures can maintain clean hands as they remain affiliated with a massive subversion campaign, Democratic politicians and left-leaning media outlets have made an intense effort to help the DSA present itself as within the normal bounds of American politics. They are supporting a movement that openly seeks the violent overthrow of America on behalf of socialist radicals, foreign terrorist organizations, and an international alliance of communists. The Venceremos Fund — a central fundraising operation of the DSA IC — openly aims to “build a war chest” to “support the struggle to dismantle U.S. empire.”

 

Calling the DSA a subversion campaign might sound like a modern-day red scare, but the evidence is overwhelming and in plain view. It can be found in the statements and goals expressed by the DSA’s own personnel. The DSA’s Communist Caucus describes the stakes better than any modern-day McCarthy could: “We will seize control of the world that was built through our collective exploitation and domination. All of this we want, yet none can be had exclusively through the ballot box.”

 

Or, take it from Cliff Connolly, an irrepressible NPC member: “Undermining the genocidal U.S. government is one of the best ways to organize for world peace and prosperity. I’m proud to belong to the DS of A.”

 

Consider yourself warned.