Socialist candidates face ‘reality and bad math’ when pressed on stances: Joe Concha

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America have recently seemed ill-prepared when pressed on stances during primetime appearances, Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha said on Fox News.“When you talk about abolishing the police, abolishing the prison system, abolishing the presidency, defunding the Department of Defense, and leveling these punishing taxes, you better be able to explain how exactly that’s going to be paid for and then share the details around it,” Concha said Monday on Fox & Friends First.In an interview with Axios, one strategist who worked with the DSA said the group was blowing an opportunity to expand by looking to members like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). “We’re not in a book club anymore,” the DSA strategist told Axios. “You could be growing this organization by pointing to AOC, Bernie [Sanders], [Zohran] Mamdani — and instead they are going on cable news talking about abolishing the Senate, Fidel Castro, and other weird stuff.” Concha said Megan Romer, a national DSA co-chairwoman, uttered a word salad when asked what she meant by “taxing the hell” out of the rich during an interview with the New Yorker. “She said, ‘Oh, that’s a good question,’ and ultimately wasn’t able to answer the question,” Concha said.Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed has insisted he was not part of the DSA, despite receiving endorsements from members such as Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders. Concha lumped el Sayed in with DSA members, saying they all looked like a “deer in the headlights” when pressed on serious proposals.El Sayed had to backtrack on comments he made after the March 12 terrorist attack on a Jewish synagogue in Michigan. The attacker, identified as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, rammed a vehicle into one of Michigan’s largest synagogues before opening fire with young children inside. Ghazali was killed by law enforcement, and no children were injured.Although el Sayed condemned the violence, he added that “hurt people hurt people,” which critics said was an attempt to justify Ghazali’s actions, whose family was killed days prior in an Israeli airstrike. “I think when you’re playing defense in a campaign, and that’s what Abdul el Sayed has been doing for the past couple weeks, that’s not a place you want to be,” Concha said Sunday on Fox News Live.El Sayed has been at the center of political controversy, not only for past comments on the synagogue attack, but also for past association with Twitch streamer and influencer Hasan Piker, who campaigned with the candidate ahead of the primary election.Concha said Piker, who has made public comments against Jews, was a “mascot” for el Sayed during his campaign before the primaries. Piker’s comments included that the United States “deserved” 9/11, and most recently, he said American Jews who strongly support Israel were inviting violence against themselves.WHICH POSSIBLE 2028 DEMOCRATIC CONTENDERS COULD BE OPEN TO A DSA ENDORSEMENT?El Sayed now appears to be distancing himself from the streamer by saying he was “not interested in a conversation about a social media person in California,” seemingly downplaying the extent of their past association.“Abdul el Sayed knew all about these comments, knew all about [Piker’s] comments about Jews, the guy who said he supports Hamas, a terror organization that committed some of the worst atrocities that we’ve seen committed against Jews since the Holocaust, and still had him campaign with him,” Concha said.