A Democratic Socialists of America leader just confirmed, on national television, that her organization wants to abolish the Senate, the presidency, the Supreme Court, prisons, borders, and the Pentagon. And almost nobody in the Democratic Party said a word about it.
Almost nobody.
On Sunday, Fox News anchor Shannon Bream asked DSA national co-chair Megan Romer to spell out what her organization actually stands for. Romer did exactly that, apparently with enthusiasm, ticking through a list of abolition proposals that would, taken together, dismantle the foundational institutions of American government. That includes defunding the Pentagon, which is worth noting because providing for the common defense is one of the primary constitutional obligations of the federal government.
As originally reported, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman watched the clip and posted a response that captured what many Americans were thinking. “This isn’t a big tent, it’s anarchy,” he wrote, listing the four abolition proposals and asking a pointed question that Democratic leadership has been unwilling to answer: “Why can’t Dems call out the DSA?”
It’s a simple question. The answer, though, is uncomfortable.
Chuck Schumer can’t call out the DSA because he needs their voters. Hakeem Jeffries said nothing when New York socialists gathered outside his office and chanted that he was next, apparently calculating that silence was safer than confrontation. The Democratic establishment has made that same calculation repeatedly, at every stage of the socialist push within the party.
The result is a party where 52 percent of its members now view socialism favorably, and where the DSA’s co-chair can appear on national television confirming she wants to abolish the Pentagon without a single party leader publicly pushing back.
That’s not coalition building. That’s a party that has already lost the internal argument and is hoping voters don’t notice.
Fetterman has been the exception. Last month he called DSA-aligned members of his own party “communists.” Last week he called New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a clown. Now he’s calling out the DSA’s abolition agenda directly and publicly.
His willingness to say what he sees out loud has put him in unusual territory. Conservatives find themselves appreciating a Democratic senator more than his own party leadership apparently does. At some point, his position within the party becomes complicated, not because of anything he’s done wrong, but because honesty is increasingly out of step with the party’s activist base.
The broader political stakes heading into 2026 are real. Democratic leaders cannot run a campaign focused on kitchen table issues while their party’s activist wing is going on cable news to confirm they want to abolish the Pentagon. Every Republican in a competitive district has a ready-made question to ask every Democratic opponent: do you agree with the DSA? On the record. Publicly.
Fetterman has already answered it. His colleagues have been conspicuously quiet.
That silence tells its own story.