Democratic Socialism Explained: How It's Different From Social Democracy and Communism
Plus: The Barista Grinding For Team USA & A Sky-High NYC Proposal
Good evening,
Behind every World Cup team is a support staff that rarely gets the spotlight—including a full-time barista. ☕ ⚽
Keeping the team energized throughout the World Cup is team barista Becky Reeves.
The 33-year-old professional barista makes 150 to 200 drinks a day on her own for Team USA.
She has been working from a coffee cart overlooking the Pacific Ocean outside the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. But she will travel with the team throughout the tournament, bringing her espresso machine wherever the team goes.
It’s part of U.S. Soccer’s partnership with La Colombe Coffee.
Some players have even gotten into the process, like Joe Scally.
He goes behind the cart to make his own latte art and has said he would be a barista if not for soccer. The 23-year-old ranked coffee ahead of his dog and fiancée among the things he could not live without.
“I think Becky’s an unbelievable woman who gets us fueled in the mornings and in the afternoons to kind of get us mentally feeling good, to give us that energy, that extra kick, to get us over the edge. So she’s a vital point to our success,” Scally said.
Mo News Team
🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING
Democratic Socialists Oust Another Democratic Incumbent
Democratic socialist candidates continue to score wins in deep-blue Democratic primaries. Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist lawyer, unseated 30-year incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in a Denver-area congressional district in Colorado’s Democratic primary Tuesday.
NOT A CLOSE RACE: She won by a nearly 10-point margin in the Denver-based district.
MORE THAN POLICY: These wins also reflect a broader anti-establishment mood within the party. Many of the candidates are younger, fresh faces challenging longtime Democratic incumbents, appealing to voters looking for generational change as much as ideological change.
BIGGER PICTURE: Democratic socialists have racked up a string of victories in major cities over the past six weeks — from Washington, D.C., where Janeese Lewis George is poised to become the next mayor, to New York City, where Darializa Avila Chevalier, Brad Lander, and Claire Valdez won Democratic primaries, to Philadelphia where Chris Rabb won a primary for another seat, and LA, where democratic socialist Nithya Raman advanced to the mayoral runoff.
Like Kiros, both Chevalier and Lander defeated incumbent Democrats who were already viewed as progressive, signaling growing momentum for the party’s left flank.
Many of you have asked what Democratic socialists actually stand for — we break it down below ⬇️
WHO IS KIROS
Kiros centered her campaign on affordability and economic inequality, arguing Democrats had become too tied to corporate interests while backing policies like Medicare for All, affordable housing, universal childcare, and ending U.S. military aid to Israel. The wave of democratic socialists winning these primaries is also drawing increased scrutiny over the foreign policy positions they made central to their campaigns.
Just last week, Kiros described the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda terrorist attacks as an “inevitable” consequence of U.S. policies in the Middle East.
She argued that U.S. actions destabilized the region and created conditions that led al Qaeda to launch the attack that killed nearly 3,000 civilians. Kiros has also said the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel was an inevitable consequence of Israeli policies.
Kiros, who was born in Ethiopia, was fired from the law firm Sidley Austin in 2023 after publishing an article criticizing major law firms’ response to antisemitism, arguing that calling for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state is not antisemitic.
She won in a district that is majority white, relatively young — with a median age of 35 — predominantly native-born, and has a median household income about 13% higher than the national median, according to 2024 Census data. It is a trend we have been seeing throughout a number of the recent democratic socialists wins.
Her success comes as a recent Pew poll shows that support for democratic socialists is strongest among younger, white, and college-educated Democrats.
WHO ARE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS?
Many of the progressive candidates winning are members of or endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
The group, founded in its modern form in 1982, argues that the Democratic Party has become too closely tied to wealthy donors and corporate interests. It doesn’t run candidates as a third party, but instead using the Democratic party as a political vehicle to get elected. It supports many progressive priorities, including Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, tuition-free public college, and opposes Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.
But its vision extends beyond those policies. The organization says it doesn't just want to reform capitalism—it wants to eventually replace it with what it calls a democratic socialist economy, handing key parts of the economy to the government.
WHAT IT’S NOT: EUROPEAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACIES
Several European countries are considered social democracies, including the Nordic countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.
The countries provide generous social welfare programs, universal healthcare, subsidized higher education, and stronger labor protections than the U.S.
But these countries are social democracies, not democratic socialist systems. They still operate capitalist economies where private individuals and businesses own most industries and compete in open markets.
Democratic socialists argue that the model doesn’t go far enough. Their goal is to replace—not simply reform—capitalism with an economy where workers and communities have greater control over major industries.
In practice, that means shifting sectors such as healthcare, housing, transportation, and energy away from private companies and toward public or collective ownership.
WHAT IT’S NOT: COMMUNISM
Communism, as envisioned by Karl Marx and later implemented in countries such as the former Soviet Union, Cuba, and North Korea, calls for a classless society in which the government controls virtually the entire economy and private ownership of major industries is eliminated.
Marx viewed socialism as a transitional stage between a capitalist society and a communist one.
Democratic socialists argue they are fundamentally different because they support multiparty democracy, free elections, civil liberties, and pursuing economic change through the ballot box—not one-party rule.
They also say they do not seek total government control of the economy. Instead, they argue that key sectors should be publicly or collectively owned, while other parts of the economy could remain privately owned.
As the Democratic Socialists of America puts it: “Our vision pushes further than historic social democracy and leaves behind authoritarian visions of socialism in the dustbin of history.”
Blurred lines: At least one DSA candidate, Chevalier, who won the primary for NY’s 13th Congressional District, has repeatedly praised communist ideas.
In a deleted X account, she called Marx a “must-read” and also re-posted calls to abolish private property and borders.
BY THE NUMBERS: The DSA started off with just a few thousand members for its first few decades, but more people joined after Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign brought mass attention to democratic socialism. Today, it has over 100,000 members and branches in all 50 states.
Around a third of Democrats say they like leaders who describe themselves as democratic socialist, according to Pew.
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⏳ THE SPEED READ
🚨NATION
Trump Made $2.2 Billion Last Year, Most From Crypto (MO NEWS)
Trump takes first flight on new Qatar-gifted Air Force One (USA TODAY)
GOP infighting over SAVE America Act leaves critical legislation in limbo (THE HILL)
U.S. won’t renew USMCA, opening door for negotiations with Canada and Mexico (CNBC)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
‘Leave or return in a coffin’: South African protesters demand migrants self-deport (MO NEWS)
1 person dead, 4 others hurt after firebombs hurled at homes of Greece’s governing party members (AP)
Roof of Pakistan tutoring center collapses, killing at least 14 children, officials say (CBS)
China tells its ethnic minorities to integrate or face consequences with sweeping new unity law (CNN)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
Scientists say they have built a cell from scratch for the first time (CNN)
AOL’s owner, Bending Spoons, hits Wall Street with $1.7 billion IPO (AP)
Automakers report mixed U.S. sales results as hybrid vehicles drive market (CNBC)
DOJ reaches settlement with major egg producers over alleged price manipulation (FOX)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Victor Willis, Village People lead singer, dies at 74 (ABC)
Taylor Swift’s super top-secret wedding Is getting kinda ridiculous (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)
Ravens’ Calais Campbell’s mother found dead in Atlanta; brother a suspect in death (NBC)
Serena Williams tweaked knee during singles return, agent says (ESPN)
ICYMI FROM THE 📲
In case you missed it… Russians Ivan “Vanya” Beerkus and Angela Nikolau are in custody after illegally climbing to the top of New York City’s Empire State Building on Wednesday. The rooftoppers/artists, featured in the Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story, made the stunt look like it was a marriage proposal.
The two unfurled a banner with the message, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.”