Vice President JD Vance was asked to define the word "socialism" on Thursday, since it's an enemy his administration laser-focuses on constantly — and the answer he gave turned quite a few heads.
"I think in reality what it actually means in the American context is you want to replace American workers with foreign workers, and you want boys to play in girls' sports," said Vance.
In reality, socialism is a set of economic theories that advocate for worker control of the means of production, or state control of the means of production on behalf of workers.
Vance's attempt to redefine the word got broadly panned by commenters on social media.
"THIS IS NOT THE DEFINITION OF SOCIALISM," wrote Zeteo News founder Mehdi Hasan.
"Sure why the hell not, nothing means anything anymore," wrote Seven Monacelli of the Texas Observer.
"The dumbest VP in history," wrote Democratic strategist Mike Nellis.
"This is why, when Republicans use the word socialism to tag Democrats, it has no relationship with the actual definition of the word," wrote Meidas Touch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski.
"This is what they say when they're scared of people learning the real definition, when they're scared of people demanding more from their government and an economy that actually works for everybody," wrote the official More Perfect Union account.
"In the VP's defense, if he accurately defined socialism, it would arguably apply to the 35 government ownership stakes the Trump administration has taken in the last 16 months," wrote Scott Lincicome of the libertarian Cato Institute.
