Trump blasts socialism as ‘destroyer of societies’ in UN address

President Trump on Tuesday decried socialism during an address to the United Nations, lambasting it as a “destroyer of societies” in comments that doubled as a swipe at some of his Democratic rivals.

“One of the most serious challenges our countries face is the specter of socialism. It’s the wrecker of nations and the destroyer of societies,” Trump said during his 35-minute address to the General Assembly.

{mosads}Trump cited Venezuela as an example of the failures of socialism, describing embattled President Nicolás Maduro as a “Cuban puppet.” The Trump administration has backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó but Maduro has remained in power.

“Events in Venezuela remind us all that socialism and communism are not about justice, they are not about equality, they are not about lifting up the poor and they are certainly not about the good of the nation,” Trump said.

“Socialism and communism are about one thing only: Power for the ruling class,” Trump continued. “Today I repeat a message to the world that I have delivered at home: America will never be a socialist country.”

As Trump spoke, cameras captured the Venezuelan delegate reading a book.

This is the diplomat that Venezuela has sitting at their placard while Trump is speaking. It looks like she’s reading about Simon Bolivar?#UNGA pic.twitter.com/7GeDs8MysT

— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) September 24, 2019

While the president’s remarks were directed at Venezuela, the commentary also served as a thinly-veiled shot at some of the candidates seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), two front-runners in the race, have supported policies like “Medicare for All” and the Green New Deal that Trump and other conservatives have blasted as socialist.

The president has made railing against socialism a mainstay in his campaign addresses, seeking to make the self-described democratic socialists Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) the face of the party.

Still, Trump has trailed Sanders, Warren and the more centrist former Vice President Joe Biden in recent polling of hypothetical 2020 match-ups.