MS NOW may be a network that exists solely to give assorted left-wingers a platform to call conservatives and Republicans fascists and Nazis, but business analyst Ron Insana confessed on Friday’s Money, Power, Politics to getting “triggered” by various Republicans for calling the DSA radicals trying to take over the Democratic Party communists.
During a larger panel discussion, Puck News congressional correspondent Abby Livingston hypothesized that Democrats find themselves in the same situation Republicans found themselves in 2010. By that, Livingston meant that all the fundamentals favor Democrats, but the wave election will not be as big as it could be because the party has nominated some candidates who cannot win a general election. All that led her to say, “And so I think there's a situation where a wave is coming, but it may not go as far as it normally goes.”
A bitterly sarcastic host, Stephanie Ruhle, replied, “Communism is coming. That’s what they’re telling us. Maybe they know because Trump knows a lot about oligarchs.”
MS NOW may be a network that exists to call other people fascists and Nazis, but don't you dare call the DSA a bunch of communists. Business analyst Ron Insana laments "But this triggered me when Marco Rubio started talking about communism. Mike Johnson starts talking about… pic.twitter.com/pRjjb7SjXn
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 24, 2026
That set Insana off with a historical analogy, “Yes. And some of his policies, by the way, are far more socialistic than they are capitalistic. But this triggered me when Marco Rubio started talking about communism. Mike Johnson starts talking about communism. The president starts identifying the Democrats as communism. And I went back and looked at the late David Brinkley's memoir, where his sister worked for Joe McCarthy in the 1950s, and Joe McCarthy, of course, who was red-baiting in the 1950s. We had hearings on Capitol Hill about alleged communists who were working in the State Department, 205 of them.”
According to Insana, the same thing is happening today, “After Joe McCarthy passed away, David Brinkley asked his sister what was on that alleged list of 205 communists who had infiltrated the State Department, and she said, ‘Nothing. He made it up.’ It was absolutely untrue. The entire process. And they're doing the same red-baiting today that was done in the 50s. And it's you know, it inflames passions, obviously, but the DSA—”
After Ruhle interrupted to add, “It scares people,” Insana resumed, “It scares people. DSA is not communist in the sense that we understand that word. They're the social democrats. And granted, not my cup of tea, necessarily, but as you know, I'm more in favor of moderation. But this is the type of, you know, scare tactics that can motivate an electorate to go in a different direction than we currently expect.”
Yes, praising communism and mass-murdering communist dictators on the internet will typically lead to accusations of being a communist. That's not exactly trying to make America more like Norway. Politicians like Zohran Mamdani and Darializa Avila Chevalier are not exactly George Marshall, but MS NOW wants to pretend that they are.
Here is a transcript for the July 24 show:
MS NOW Money, Power, Politics with Stephanie Ruhle
7/24/2026
ABBY LIVINGSTON: And so I think there's a situation where a wave is coming, but it may not go as far as it normally goes.
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Weigh in here.
RON INSANA: So—
RUHLE: Communism is coming. That’s what they’re telling us.
INSANA: Yeah, you know
RUHLE: Maybe they know because Trump knows a lot about oligarchs.
INSANA: Yes. And some of his policies, by the way, are far more socialistic than they are capitalistic.
RUHLE: I know.
INSANA: But this triggered me when Marco Rubio started talking about communism. Mike Johnson starts talking about communism. The president starts identifying the Democrats as communism. And I went back and looked at the late David Brinkley's memoir, where his sister worked for Joe McCarthy in the 1950s, and Joe McCarthy, of course, who was red-baiting in the 1950s. We had hearings on Capitol Hill about alleged communists who were working in the State Department, 205 of them.
After Joe McCarthy passed away, David Brinkley asked his sister what was on that alleged list of 205 communists who had infiltrated the State Department, and she said, “Nothing. He made it up.”
It was absolutely untrue. The entire process. And they're doing the same red-baiting today that was done in the 50s. And it's you know, it inflames passions, obviously, but the DSA—
RUHLE: It scares people.
INSANA: It scares people. DSA is not communist in the sense that we understand that word. They're the social democrats. And granted, not my cup of tea, necessarily, but as you know, I'm more in favor of moderation. But this is the type of, you know, scare tactics that can motivate an electorate to go in a different direction than we currently expect.
