Make no mistake, Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for 2020 on Tuesday night when he delivered the State of the Union address.
Expect "socialism" to become a very dirty word (if it isn't already).
"Here in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country," the President said, adding: "Tonight, we resolve that America will never be a socialist country".

Huh?

Where did that come from, you may well ask?

Well, with a growing list of leftist Democrats declaring their intent to run for the presidency, a so-called migrant crisis on the border and political and economic chaos in socialist Venezuela, why not?
Some democratic policies look like socialism to the Trump base
In his remarks, Mr Trump was targeting the liberal policies of the likes of Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and newly minted Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (who's not running for President but is an "influencer&quot .

They're promoting:

universal healthcare
subsidised tertiary education
big taxes on the rich
pro-environment initiatives in the form of a "New Green Deal" to reduce the use of fossil fuels

It's a weird thing living in America coming from a country like Australia where Medicare and heavily subsidised education are taken for granted.
To us, their policies are not quite radical. Fuel for valid political debate and prioritisation of public funds to be sure, but to suggest the United States might imminently turn into Venezuela seems like a big leap.

And it is.
Universal healthcare and subsidised education are hardly precursors to state control and the death of the American free market.