Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Sunday rejected Republican-fueled rumors that she’s a socialist, saying instead that she’s a capitalist who believes in markets that operate on “a level playing field.”
The 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful denied that her proposal to split up tech giants such as Facebook and Google should be considered “anti-capitalist.”
“It is not capitalism to have one giant that comes in and dominates,” Warren said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.” “What I have supported all the way through are the kinds of things that help level the playing field.”
Asked if she would describe herself as a capitalist, Warren said yes and that it’s “just wrong” for people to say she’s a socialist.
“I believe in markets ― markets that work, markets that have a cop on the beat and have real rules and everybody follows them,” she said. “I believe in a level playing field.”
As the 2020 election inches closer, Republicans have peddled the false claim that the Democratic Party has wholly embraced an anti-capitalist, pro-socialism agenda.
Several lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have identified themselves as democratic socialists. But democratic socialism is not the same as socialism.
Warren also said Saturday during a panel discussion at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, that she is not a democratic socialist.
“Bernie has to speak to what democratic socialism is,” she told moderator Anand Giridharadas. “All I can tell you is what I believe. And that is there is an enormous amount to be gained from markets. That markets create opportunities.”
Warren also declined to discuss a conversation with Sanders in which he reportedly urged her not to run for president, according to CNN.
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