Ouch: CBS Fires Hardballs at Florida DSA Candidate, Pennsylvania Governor on Socialism

In addition to a more traditional recap of Tuesday’s primary election results, Wednesday’s CBS Mornings went hard in the paint after socialism (read: communists) with tough questions for Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro about where he stands in this fight and then an entire interview of hardballs for socialist State Representative Angie Nixon, the upset winner of Florida’s Democratic senatorial primary.

It was tough from the get-go as featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers first praised her for how she was able to win despite being dramatically outspent and having a near-zero chance in prediction markets, but pivoted because her far-left views now have to translate in a general election:

[R]egistered Republicans, they outnumber Democrats by 1.5 million in Florida. I just want to go through a couple of issues you’ve been campaigning on. You want Medicare for all, and free universal child care, and pre-k. How are you suggesting taxpayers pay for that?

Nixon struggled to answer, insisting “we’re already spending the amount we would be paying for Medicare for All right now, even while folks are still paying for co-pays and deductibles and co-insurance” and that salaries for childcare workers would be reinvested into the economy.

Duthiers snuffed out hr filibuster: “So, representative, how would you pay for that?”

Nixon replied she would simply “repeal that Big BS Bill because...[i]t wasn’t beautiful, and I would make sure that these big-time billionaires, the ultra-wealthy millionaires, pay what they owe.”

Seeing how she continued to duck, Duthiers used Nixon’s non-answer against her: “[Y]ou want a billionaire tax, you want a national rent freeze. Which of these policies are you prepared to tell moderate voters and perhaps even some Republicans who may be intrigued by this that this should become federal law, and how do you convince them that the cost will be worth it?”

The socialist insisted she’s had “conversations with” voters, which are “resonating” because Washington, D.C. is “broken and people like unelected Ashley Moody and Donald Trump are working less and less and less and meanwhile getting richer.”

An exasperated Duthiers called her out: “[Y]ou really haven’t articulated how you would pay for it.”

He moved onto the issue of anti-Semitism since “[l]ike other Democratic socialists, you’re advocating for ending unconditional aid to the state of Israel” and she’ll have to grapple with the fact that “Florida has the third-largest Jewish population in the country” and “voters who are perhaps worried about your position, given that we’ve seen an enormous spike in anti-Semitism in this country.”

Nixon also dodged, aside from answering “yes” to Duthiers as to whether Hamas should disarm (click “expand”):

NIXON: I will let them know that I have continued to fight for the safety and well-being of all Floridians, despite their religion or whatever their ideology is. I’m going to continue to advocate as such. So, back to your previous question, I’d articulate how I would pay for it, I told you that I would make sure that we made these billionaires and ultra-wealthy millionaires pay their fair share.

DUTHIERS: But —

NIXON: A budget is a moral document. It lets us know what our values are —

DUTHIERS: — I just —

NIXON: — and, right now, we can see that they care more about spending a billion dollars on a ballroom that many of us will never get to dance in.

DUTHIERS: Okay. I just want to get, again, your position on funding and providing material and support to the state of Israel. For example, do you believe that Hamas should be completely disarmed and removed from governing Gaza?

NIXON: Yes, I do.

DUTHIERS: You do. And what do you say, then, to those voters in the state of Florida who say to you that they are worried about the fact that the United States would not support a key ally in the Middle East?

NIXON: What I would say is the same thing I would say about every ally. We need to make sure that we are scrutinizing all military aid or all aid to them, to ensure that they are doing right by their citizens or their neighboring countries. 

Co-host Gayle King had the next set of questions, first acknowledging the “socialist message seems to be resonating right now,” but might not in the general because “[m]any people are very frightened of the positions: defund the police, abolishing ICE.”

Hilariously, Nixon argued “it’s not necessarily a socialist message or a progressive message,” but a way to fulfill “the needs of the people” and their “rights....which are healthcare,” “housing,” and “voting rights.”

Following a flub from King falsely claiming Nixon had campaigned with far-left, pro-Islamist podcaster Hasan Piker, King asked if she “would...want him to campaign with you.”

Nixon played dumb: “I don’t really know who Mr. Piker is. I’ve heard about him, and so I said I don’t really know who he is personally or anything like that.”

Moments later, Duthiers came back around to conclude with another damaging question she also avoided, this time pertaining to socialism being unpopular in a state where many fled such regimes in Latin America (click “expand”):

DUTHIERS: Representative, really quickly before you go, you are a Democratic socialist running in a statewide race with a large population of people who have fled governments that call themselves socialists. How do you convince those voters when they hear socialists that they may see that as disqualifying?

NIXON: Yeah, for sure. So, I want to be clear, I just recently became a member of the Democratic Socialists. I’ve also just recently became a member of the Working Families Party, and I let people know that nothing has changed about me. I am someone who is going to stand up for them, to make sure that I listen to them, and continue to fight for them and what their needs are.

As for Shapiro, he received prominent and rare billing with a lengthy interview in the first half-hour about his executive order that amounted to an about-face on data centers. Thankfully, Saturday co-host Kelly O’Grady pressed him on this blatant flip-flop in both a reelection year and as he’s talked about as a 2028 presidential contender.

Surprisingly, King was the one with the socialism question: “Another big win for the socialist party — the socialist part of the Democratic Party in Florida. Are you concerned about this? Do you think that the party is on the right track? They seem to be gaining traction — the socialist part of the Democratic Party. Are you concerned?”

Shapiro continued to make clear he’s in the please-eat-me-last camp of the Democrat Party by insisting he didn’t know anything about what happened in Florida, but instead focused on a special election for a state House seat in rural, wooded Butler County that was won by a Democrat even though it voted for Trump in 2024 by 18 points.

“[W]hat we’re seeing are common sense folk from the community who I think reflect a lot more my values and my approach to governing, who are winning and upsetting Republicans in deep-red districts,” he asserted.

King followed up: “[T]here seems to be the Democratic socialist part of the party is picking up steam. Are you concerned at all about that or do you think it’s okay for now, when it comes to the general, it’s going to be a whole different ballgame?” 

Shapiro praised the “ton of passion in the electorate right now, and a desire to defeat Donald Trump’s chaos, and cruelty, and corruption,” so he welcomed those individuals ahead of the coming “ideological battle” after “winning these midterms.” 

To see the relevant CBS transcript from August 19, click here.