A prominent former leader of the Democratic Socialists of America is urging remaining members to leave, warning that the organization has embraced an increasingly extreme and anti-American ideology.
According to Western Journal, Jake Altman, a onetime executive board member of the Boston chapter of the DSA, sounded the alarm in a Saturday interview with Fox News, accusing the group of trying to force their agenda down other peoples throats. Altman, who once sought a reasonable home on the left, now portrays the DSA as captured by radicals who are hostile not only to American institutions but to any dissent within their own ranks.
Altman explained that his political journey began in organized labor, where he first encountered the hard left and was unsettled by what he saw. I had been involved in my local union and met some people who were far, far to the left, in like, a frightening way, he described.
Hoping to find a more measured alternative, he initially turned to the DSA as a vehicle for serious economic debate rather than ideological extremism. I was looking for a more pragmatic and thoughtful option on the left that was focused on economic policy.
However, as his involvement deepened, Altman said the organizations rhetoric and priorities began to mirror the very fringe elements he had wanted to avoid. He recalled that the group was beginning to sound more and more like those extreme groups on the left that I, you know, certainly didnt want anything to do with.
One turning point came in 2019, when Altman objected to the DSAs defense of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, despite the fact that the democratic socialists and social Democrats in Venezuela are in the opposition. The person disagreed with me and defended, you know, essentially defended the Maduro regime, Altman described.
In his view, that reflexive support for anti-American regimes has only intensified as the DSA has grown in influence during the 2026 election cycle. Flash forward to today you have DSA members saying, Bernie Sanders, AOC, theyre not socialists, Altman added.
Altman argued that the organizations foreign-policy posture is driven less by principle than by a blanket hostility to the United States and its allies. Theyre willing to fall over themselves apologizing for any regime that opposes the United States, simply because it opposes the United States.
That radical posture has not been merely rhetorical, as DSA and socialist-aligned candidates have toppled establishment Democrat incumbents in several primaries, pulling the party further left. Altman warned that there is a marriage between Marxist utopianism and third worldism characterizing the DSA.
He described this fusion as this view that America is a unique evil in the world and that its enemies have a point. Thats when he advised Democrats who are still members to leave.
Altman stressed that internal debate has been effectively shut down as the most hardline voices consolidate control. I personally think that just, given the organization and the structure inside, that a lot of dissident voices have been silenced, he continued.
A lot of dissident voices have left the organization. For voters wary of the far lefts growing clout, Altmans experience underscores a broader concern: that a movement increasingly defined by contempt for the United States is gaining power inside the Democratic Party, even as President Donald Trumps administration confronts mounting global threats that demand national unity rather than ideological self-loathing.
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