Americans on the left have to stop being afraid of the label democratic socialist. The hate mongering and hysteria around that label will like just help democratic socialists. Look at how much hate Trump got. Still he won. There is some truth to the fact that even bad publicity helps sell your message.

Leaning into democratic socialism is just going to give more people talking about you. And some are going to ask themselves: Is socialism really as bad as they say?

Once people are willing to explore the history of democratic socialism outside of the right-wing echo chamber they will learn that democratic socialism has a great and proud history of helping ordinary people.

My country Norway, was built by democratic socialists. It works. The problem isn't the track record but beating back the smears and propaganda pushed by not only the right but also liberals.