Nobel laureate Paul Krugman is dismantling the right’s attack on what some see as an increasing embrace of socialism in America — by defining what actual socialism is, explaining that most Americans support European-style social democracy, and revealing that right-wing radicals’ attack on so-called socialism is really just an effort to dismantle social democracy and democracy.

Actual socialism, Krugman says, is government ownership of the means of production. What some on the right decry as socialism is social democracy, which Krugman explains is “an ideology that is OK with living in a mostly market-driven economic system in which some people make much more money than others, but one that advocates policies to tame markets and inequality with progressive taxation, safety net programs, and regulations.”

Americans overall support social democratic priorities, Krugman finds, citing a YouGov poll. That includes replacing private health insurance with national government insurance, government paying college tuition, and government building public housing.

But social democratic programs, which Krugman calls “as American as sliced bread,” also include programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, a national minimum wage, and progressive taxation.

“There is,” Krugman writes, “a real groundswell of dismay over an economy that increasingly favors a tiny group of billionaires, and a political system that all too often works on these oligarchs’ behalf. When people say that they favor socialism, surely what they are often really saying is that they are angry about the rise of oligarchy. They are not demanding a dictatorship of the proletariat.”

Krugman asks, “Why, then, does it look as if socialism is on the rise?”

“Mainly,” he answers, “because right-wing propagandists continually smear social democratic policies as socialist, trying to make popular, mainstream policy ideas sound extreme. And some Americans who are basically social democrats in effect respond by saying, ‘Well, if that’s socialism, I guess I’m OK with socialism.'”

Krugman concludes that while there are “left-wing radicals in America, they have no realistic prospect of getting their way.”

He says that it’s “important to understand what the current uproar over socialism is really about. For the most part, it’s an attempt to distract from the danger posed by the important radical movement in America — that of right-wing radicals who want to dismantle both social democracy and democracy itself.”

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CNN data analyst Harry Enten says President Donald Trump is dragging down Republican Senate candidates in six battleground states Democrats hope to win to flip the chamber in November — and Trump will bear the blame if Democrats retake the majority. Democrats need to pick up four of the six to help turn the Senate blue.

“Donald John Trump is an anchor dragging down these Republican candidates across the board,” Enten said. “If they lose the Senate, it will be because of Donald Trump becoming so unpopular, especially on the cost of living.”

The issue of affordability will “drag those Republicans down and boost the Democrats to a Senate majority,” he added.

According to polling Enten cited, Trump is underwater in Alaska, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, and Maine — and on affordability, he is down by double digits in those six states.

“If Democrats are going to take back control of the United States Senate it will be in large part because of one man and one man alone,” Enten said. “And it is this man right here, Donald John Trump, because he is an anchor, he is an anchor, on Republicans running for the United States Senate.”

Enten compared Trump’s popularity in 2024 to recent polling in those six states. Just two years ago his net approval rating was plus eight points. Now, it is negative 11 points.

“In 2024, on average, he won those states by eight points,” Enten explained. “And most of them he won by double digits. But look where he is now on his net approval rating. Down down, he goes into the Ohio River. Look at this, he’s at minus 11 points. It’s a nearly 20 points switcheroo in the negative direction.”

“So Donald Trump across the board, across the board, in each of the six key Senate states is now underwater in all of them, despite winning in five of six of them.”

“Why have the people in these states so turned against the President of the United States in five of the six of these that he won? It comes down to the cost of living.”

Enten showed that Trump is underwater on affordability — voters’ number one issue — by 22 points in Alaska, 21 points in Texas, 24 points in Iowa, 26 points in Ohio, 29 points in North Carolina, and 36 points in Maine.

If affordability remains an issue in November, “it will drag those Republicans down and boost the Democrats to a Senate majority.”

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In a wide-ranging discussion spanning recent Supreme Court decisions, the direction of the Democratic Party, and corruption, longtime Democratic political strategist James Carville shared his fear for the future of the nation.

“I’m really scared for the United States,” Carville declared on his Politicon podcast with Al Hunt.

Carville explained that “four people on the Supreme Court … don’t believe in birthright citizenship,” which is “as clear as a bell, is right there in the Constitution.”

He was referring to the decision this week that overturned President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. Some appeared dismayed that the decision, which is based on the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, was not unanimous.

“I, frankly, was very depressed by that Supreme Court final couple days,” Hunt added. “I mean, the narrative, which is what they wanted was, well, they called balls and strikes.”

“I mean,” Hunt continued, “birthright citizenship was enacted by constitutional amendment, in 1868, the 14th Amendment, and, you know, suddenly Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, and really Brett Kavanaugh, say, ‘Hey, you know, we’ve been wrong for 170 years,’ or whatever it is.”

Carville explained that the 14th Amendment “says that people who are born here are citizens thereof.”

“It’s not a … They didn’t do you a favor. They didn’t do you a favor, it wasn’t some act of objectivity.”

“They don’t believe in the 14th Amendment,” Carville lamented. “They don’t believe in any of the Reconstruction Amendments. They never have, and they have never believed in the First Amendment.”

Ratified after the Civil War, the Reconstruction Amendments are the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments that abolished slavery, enacted birthright citizenship, and guaranteed certain equal protections and voting rights.

“Look at just what they doing in the wrecking ball, what the whole thing is,” Carville said.

He then moved to news of President Donald Trump’s financial disclosures this week.

“We know Trump’s made $2 billion since he’s been there,” Carville exclaimed, referring to his recent time in the White House.

“I’m just really fearful for the United States. I mean, in ways that I don’t think I could have ever been. It’s just, it’s beyond awful.”