Even while protesters in Cuba are marching and waving U.S. flags and calling for freedom, Democratic Socialism, as shown by lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is on the rise in both the federal and state levels, and that "inch toward Socialism" is a "huge issue," Rep. Claudia Tenney told Newsmax Monday.
"Democratic Socialism is on the rise in New York," the Republican New Yorker told Newsmax's John Bachman. "AOC did not come out of nowhere. This has been going on in New York for a long time. I served in the New York State Assembly. In my last term, I could see this was happening and in 2018, we lost a number of I would call left Progressive Democrats to these so-called socialist wing justice Democrats."
She added that she's heard from her colleagues on the Republican side of the table that "Socialist Democrats are starting their own caucus in the state legislature."
"We hear the Cuban people standing up in a poignant way, waving American flags, which is the symbol of freedom, and standing up to this repressive communist regime, an authoritarian regime, and the Democrats, I don't see a whole lot coming out about it," Tenney continued. "I don't know if earlier sometime earlier today. Nancy Pelosi and other leaders around the nation finally responded, there was nothing as of early this morning from Bernie Sanders or leaders in Congress standing up and supporting the Cuban people in this really unusual moment that we could actually see a free democratic Cuba."
She also dismissed the claims made from the White House that the protests are being spurred in part because of the lack of COVID vaccines in Cuba, and said she doesn't think the White House is "that concerned about freedom."
"Look what they're doing in this country," she said. "The Cuban people ... I'm sure they would rather have their fundamental freedoms before they had the COVID vaccine."
Democrats, she added, "don't seem to want to stand up or understand how important freedom is. That's one of the greatest things about these Cubans that you see in America. The people that absolutely love America tend to be people that come from communist regimes that realize the last bastion of freedom is the United States and we've got to preserve and protect that, or we're not going to have a country anymore."
Tenney also slammed Vice President Kamala Harris over her comments about people in rural areas having trouble getting voter identification, calling it a "classic case of the soft bigotry of low expectations."
In an interview with BET News, Harris said that it should not be underestimated what a compromise on voter ID means, because "in some people's mind, that means you're going to have to Xerox or photocopy your ID to send it in to prove who you are. Well, there are a whole lot of people, especially people who live in rural communities, who don't — there's no Kinkos, there's no OfficeMax near them."
"We just did a televised town hall with thousands of my constituents and we did a poll; 91% favor voter ID," said Tenney. "We see the numbers on voter ID, especially among minority communities. and even Democrats and independents...more are realizing how important it is to have voter ID because we have to recognize the sacredness of our right to vote."
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.