JD Vance Defines Socialism in US as Replacing Americans “With Foreign Workers”

When asked to define socialism on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said that the rising left-wing ideology means a desire to “replace American workers with foreign workers” — a bizarre response coming from an administration that has made anti-socialist policies one of its central priorities.

Vance spoke to the press about the Trump administration’s announcement on Thursday that it is suspending Microsoft, Adobe, and other firms from a program that grants green cards to workers who work in the U.S. under H-1B visas.

Following his press conference, Vance was asked to give his definition of socialism in response to the growing number of socialist candidates running for office across the U.S. this election cycle.

Vance stuttered, saying “it’s a hard term to define these days” and that “I don’t know what the term means anymore.”

“Classically, you would think socialism is about prioritizing workers, and yet in reality I guarantee that most of the self-described socialists running across the United States of America are going to howl about this announcement today, which is prioritizing American workers over foreign workers,” he said, using a racist definition of “Americans” that excludes people who move from other countries.

H-1B visas are issued for highly skilled jobs, typically in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, that people already in the U.S. aren’t likely to fill. Because of that, H1-B visas are already highly limited, though research has found that such workers are a boon to the U.S. economy and can even help raise other U.S. workers’ salaries.

“I think in reality, what it actually means in the American context is that you want to replace American workers with foreign workers and you want boys to play in girls’ sports. That’s what unites the socialists I see running across the United States of America today,” Vance said.

“They love the idea of replacing American workers with foreign workers, which suggests to me it’s not really about the working class, it’s about their hatred of native-born citizens,” he went on.

It’s unclear what socialist proposals Vance is referring to.

Many left-wing candidates are opposed to the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies, which, along with being horrific and abusive, harm the economy. Time and again, research has found that immigration contributes to the growth of the economy, contributing to tax revenue and helping to bolster welfare programs and the labor market in the U.S.

As Vance suggests, labor is indeed a central tenet of socialism. Democratic socialist candidates and socialist organizations and activists in the U.S. have a strong focus on worker rights and the labor movement, which is a major source of power and unity on the left. Recent polls have found that democratic socialist candidates outpoll those who back Trump.

Additionally, there isn’t evidence of left-wing candidates for office saying that they have a “hatred of native-born citizens.” In fact, it is the Trump administration that has been endangering U.S. citizens with its fascist anti-immigration policies. President Donald Trump has famously sought to drastically upend birthright citizenship, and his Department of Homeland Security has detained at least 500 U.S. citizens in its mass deportation campaign across the U.S.