By Bill Maher warned Friday that the Democratic Socialists of America are not simply pushing the Democratic Party to the left but openly embracing communism as socialist candidates accumulate primary victories across the country.
The longtime liberal comedian devoted the closing monologue of HBO’s “Real Time” to statements from DSA leaders, candidates and influential figures surrounding New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
I'm not voting for anyone who thinks the wrong side won the Cold War or cheers for the Intifada like it's the World Cup. pic.twitter.com/0iBVs5poXg
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) August 1, 2026
“Donald Trump has told one trillion lies, but when he says the Democratic Socialists of America are actually communist, that’s not one of them,” Maher said.
Maher argued that Democrats and their allies could no longer dismiss Republican warnings about the socialist movement as partisan exaggerations. Rather than relying on conservative descriptions of the organization, he read statements from DSA factions and prominent supporters.
He pointed to Mamdani’s past use of a Karl Marx quotation and criticized Hasan Piker, the popular left-wing online personality who has lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union and communist China.
Maher also highlighted statements attributed to Cea Weaver, a prominent housing activist and Mamdani administration official. He said Weaver had promoted government seizure of private property, called for the impoverishment of the white middle class and encouraged voters to elect communists.
When the studio audience reacted with stunned silence, Maher responded, “Yes. Good, I’m glad you’re shocked.”
“People got to realize this is going on,” he added.
Maher then turned to the Marxist Unity Group, a communist faction operating within the DSA. He said the faction had grown increasingly influential and openly described its ultimate objective as the creation of a classless society.
“That’s communism, which we tried and it doesn’t work,” Maher said.
The comedian framed the DSA’s rise as an attempted capture of a party that still presents itself to much of the country as center-left.
“You know what’s being colonized now? The Democratic Party,” Maher said.
Maher acknowledged that most elected Democrats are not communists or revolutionary socialists. His concern was that comparatively few establishment Democrats appeared willing to confront the movement directly even as DSA-backed candidates defeated longtime incumbents.
He pointed to the “Promise to America,” a declaration organized by Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi of New York and Adam Gray of California. The document states, “We are capitalist, not socialist,” while supporting secure borders, public safety, fiscal responsibility and national pride.
Only 10 Democratic House members and five congressional candidates had signed the declaration, according to reports. The small number allowed Maher to question whether the party’s supposedly moderate majority was prepared to defend its own stated beliefs.
Maher said his vote remained undecided and indicated that he would not support candidates who romanticize communist governments, celebrate anti-Israel violence or appear embarrassed by the United States. He even joked that he would vote for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin before supporting a DSA-aligned Democrat.
The monologue came as the socialist organization recorded one of its most successful election cycles.
The DSA’s 2026 election tracker listed 38 victories as of Sunday, with dozens of additional endorsed candidates still running. The organization said its national endorsements are reserved for candidates whose platforms align with its political program and “theory of power.”
DSA-backed candidates have won congressional primaries in New York and Colorado, advanced in major municipal races and challenged establishment Democrats in states once considered inhospitable to openly socialist campaigns. New York City’s election of Mamdani in 2025 gave the movement its most visible officeholder and a national platform from which to recruit candidates and organizers.
The organization’s influence has become particularly apparent in New York.
Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th Congressional District after receiving support from Mamdani and the socialist left.
Deleted social media posts subsequently resurfaced in which Chevalier promoted abolishing police, prisons and national borders. Other posts called for nationalizing industries and seizing private property.
Aber Kawas, another Mamdani-backed socialist, won the Democratic nomination for a state Senate seat in Queens despite controversy over past comments placing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks within a history of American capitalism, colonialism and foreign policy.
Kawas has said critics distorted her remarks by removing them from their broader context without providing what that context could possibly mean.
In Wisconsin, Democratic state Rep. Francesca Hong has become a leading contender for governor while campaigning as an open democratic socialist.
Hong has supported publicly operated grocery stores, a state-run bank, race-conscious grant programs and sweeping changes to policing and incarceration. She has also faced criticism over a deleted 2020 post declaring, “Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621.”
Her emergence as a frontrunner in a closely divided swing state has alarmed Democrats who fear that policies popular with socialist activists will prove much harder to sell in a statewide general election.
The broader Democratic ticket is also confronting controversies beyond candidates formally associated with the DSA.
Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico has faced renewed attention over his support for transgender activism and a 2021 post celebrating an Anthony Fauci action figure. Maine Democrats selected progressive former state Senate President Troy Jackson after their original nominee withdrew, only for Jackson to face reports that his longtime partner and the mother of his two adult sons is his second cousin.
Those personal controversies are not evidence of communism, but their circulation has contributed to a growing Republican effort to portray the Democratic slate as culturally radical, politically extreme and disconnected from ordinary voters.
Socialist candidates argue that their success reflects widespread frustration with housing costs, healthcare expenses, corporate power and an establishment political system they say has failed working-class Americans. They dismiss attacks involving old social media posts and personal histories as attempts to avoid discussing economic policy.
National polling, however, suggests the movement remains a difficult sell.
🚨 NEW IPsos Poll among Democrats:
Would you prefer a Democrat or a Democratic Socialist?
🔵 Democrat: 57%
🔴 Democratic Socialist: 38% pic.twitter.com/urnm2SfJ0H— DSA Watch (@DSA_Watch) August 2, 2026
Maher’s warning was aimed principally at Democrats rather than Republicans. His argument was that party leaders have spent years insisting that conservatives were dishonestly labeling ordinary liberals as communists while failing to confront candidates and activists who increasingly use communist language themselves.
That reluctance may become harder to maintain as DSA-backed candidates move from safe urban districts into gubernatorial, Senate and competitive congressional races.
The remaining primaries and November general election will test whether the socialist movement can expand beyond heavily Democratic constituencies. They will also show whether moderate Democrats can distance themselves from the movement after allowing it to build substantial influence inside their party.
For Maher, the danger is no longer that Republicans will successfully invent a socialist takeover. It is that the Democratic Party will refuse to acknowledge one already taking place.
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