America’s Current Socialist Trend Could End Badly
That’s because socialism follows an inevitable trajectory. The real question is whether America can reject socialism before a bitter end comes our way.
Allan J. Feifer | July 26, 2026
As J.R. Dunn noted in his July 17th Members Weekly Newsletter (you should subscribe!) in an article titled “Targeting the Socialists,” America’s socialist and socialist-adjacent movements have emerged in four major waves since 1920. Today, we appear to be entering the fifth.
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: you say socialists, I say communists. Why? Because socialism has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot sustain itself economically. Faced with one failure after another, socialist governments have historically responded by concentrating political power, restricting dissent usually violently, and expanding state control. That is, they start socialist (some private ownership) and end communist (the nationalization of all business and all power concentrated in the state).
In practice, socialism and communism often become different stages of the same process, all ending in enslavement. For this discussion, the distinction matters less than the ultimate destination.
This fifth wave differs from the previous four in one critical respect: it is no longer confined to the political fringe but is moving steadily into the mainstream across multiple geographic areas. Earlier socialist movements struggled to gain lasting influence outside activist circles, academia, and labor organizations, rarely penetrating America’s most influential institutions.
The current movement already possesses significant political power and has established itself within many of the institutions that shape how Americans learn, communicate, and govern. It has accumulated influence simultaneously in education, politics, parts of corporate America, activist organizations, and much of the media, where these institutions increasingly reinforce one another and normalize ideas that only a generation ago would have remained political nonstarters. That institutional foothold is what distinguishes this fifth wave from its predecessors—and what makes it potentially far more dangerous.
Among its most visible political leaders are Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Elizabeth Warren. They differ in style and emphasis, but all advocate a substantially larger role for government than has traditionally characterized American political thought.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/07/america-s-current-socialist-trend-could-end-badly/
