Days after Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, I asked Xi Van Fleet — an activist and survivor of Mao’s Cultural Revolution — to offer her thoughts on the socialist upstart. “The danger of Communism is not that it comes all at once,” Van Fleet wrote in July, “but that it creeps in gradually. I’ve seen where that road leads. And I’m here to say: don’t go down it.” Now that Mamdani is poised to be the next mayor of New York City, and his future in Democratic politics all but guaranteed, this warning is more important than ever. That’s why The Daily Wire is proud to introduce a new series of essays this week from Van Fleet and Sasha Gong, a scholar and survivor of the Cultural Revolution. “American Maoists: Warnings From The Cultural Revolution” lays bare the similarities between Chinese communists and American Leftists on everything from political violence to gender insanity. The result is a chilling and timely warning about the state of American politics. — Tim Rice *** On September 10, the world was shaken by the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and a bright star of the conservative grassroots movement. He was gunned down by a 22-year-old man while doing what he always did: engaging students in open debate on a college campus. An even darker reality followed. While legacy media outlets scrambled to whitewash the murder, social media platforms, especially TikTok, were flooded with posts openly celebrating this unspeakable act of political violence. How did we reach such a point where assassination is not only excused but openly applauded? And where will this path of legitimized violence take us next? We, two immigrants from China, have seen this descent before. And tragically, we know all too well where it leads. August 1966 in Mao’s China is forever remembered as Red August, also called the month of Red Terror. Less than three months into the Cultural Revolution, Mao’s indoctrinated Red Guards — youths ranging from college students to even elementary school children — unleashed a wave of political violence against “class enemies” in Metropolitan Beijing. The Red Terror claimed more than 1,772 lives. Many victims were randomly picked by the mob. This was only the beginning. The violence soon swept across the nation, and by the end of the Cultural Revolution, as many as 20 million had perished. You may wonder how Mao turned children into killers overnight. But the truth is, he didn’t. It took nearly two decades of relentless indoctrination in schools and universities — 17 years from the time the communists seized power in 1949 — to mold a generation ready to carry out Mao’s will. At the core of this indoctrination was a single lesson: to love the Party with absolute devotion and to hate its ‘class enemies’ with equal passion — even if those enemies were one’s own parents. Showing loyalty was the only path to societal recognition and status elevation. The more extreme, the better. Some in the West may remember Bo Xilai — once a promising contender for the CCP’S top job, until his rival Xi Jinping put him in prison for life. The son of Vice Premier Bo Yibo, Bo Xilai became one of the earliest Red Guard organizers, when he was only 17. After so many ordinary people were killed by the Red Guards, Mao turned against his political opponents, the true target of the Cultural Revolution. Among them was Bo’s father. To prove his loyalty, the son took part in the public humiliation and beating of his father, and reportedly broke three of his father’s ribs. In America, the Left has had even more time — far longer than Mao’s seventeen years — since taking control of the educational system and the media. Their relentless indoctrination and propaganda have now borne the bitter fruit they labored so hard to cultivate. Although America has not experienced anything on the scale of China’s Cultural Revolution, the soil has been made disturbingly fertile for it. Both the CCP and American Leftists use the same Marxist operating system: pitting the oppressors against the oppressed to divide people and define enemies. Simply by labeling their opponents Hitler, Nazi, Fascists, KKK — all extremists on the left of the political spectrum — they are able to empower the indoctrinated army to take the step to eliminate the threat to their “our democracy.” When a society accepts, justifies, and even cheers political violence, the license to kill has been granted. In just the past few years, we have witnessed the 2020 BLM and Antifa riots that burned cities and cost dozens of lives, assassination attempts on President Trump, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and escalating attacks on ICE. The survival of our republic and our civilization depend on us taking away that license to commit violence. Otherwise, we will descend into something akin to Mao’s China. Xi Van Fleet is a survivor of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, activist, and author of “Mao’s America: A Survivor’s Warning.” Sasha Gong is a writer, scholar, journalist, and filmmaker. A dissident in Mao’s China, she holds a PhD from Harvard University and was previously Director of the China Branch at Voice of America. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

In a stunning political comeback, Argentine President Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party secured a decisive victory on Sunday in the midterm elections, capturing approximately 41% of the national vote. This marks a significant rebound from a previous setback in the Buenos Aires province, underscoring Milei’s growing influence across Argentina’s political landscape. The election results grant Milei’s coalition substantial leverage in the Chamber of Deputies, increasing its seats from 37 to 64. This enhanced representation positions the LLA to effectively defend presidential vetoes and advance critical economic reforms. Notably, the LLA won 16 of Argentina’s 24 provinces, including Buenos Aires, a traditional stronghold of the left-wing Peronist party. In the Buenos Aires province, the LLA narrowly edged out the Peronists, securing a 0.5% lead — a remarkable turnaround from a 14-point deficit in the previous month’s local elections. Gracias Presidente @realDonaldTrump por confiar en el pueblo argentino. Usted es un gran amigo de la República Argentina. Nuestras Naciones nunca debieron dejar de ser aliadas. Nuestros pueblos quieren vivir en libertad. Cuente conmigo para dar la batalla por la civilización… https://t.co/L2OVP11kyH — Javier Milei (@JMilei) October 27, 2025 President Milei hailed the outcome as a “turning point for Argentina,” emphasizing that the electorate had decisively rejected the Peronist era of economic mismanagement. He characterized the election as a mandate for his libertarian economic agenda, which includes aggressive deregulation, austerity measures, and a commitment to reducing public sector expenditures. Internationally, the United States has been a pivotal ally in supporting Milei’s economic reforms. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have provided substantial financial backing, including a $40 billion aid package comprising a $20 billion currency swap and a proposed $20 billion debt investment facility. Trump lauded the election results, stating that Milei’s “big win” had “made a lot of money for the United States.” Bessent echoed this sentiment, noting that the U.S. intervention had stabilized Argentina’s financial markets, with the peso strengthening and sovereign bonds surging in value. Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to DailyWire.com/Subscribe to join now. Economically, Milei’s administration has achieved notable successes, including a significant reduction in inflation from 12.8% to 2.1% since his inauguration. While these measures have been accompanied by public-sector job cuts and reductions in social spending, they have garnered support from investors and segments of the population that favor fiscal discipline. The midterm election results bolster Milei’s position as he seeks to implement further reforms to revitalize Argentina’s economy. With a strengthened mandate and continued international support, President Milei is poised to navigate the challenges ahead, steering Argentina toward a future defined by economic liberalization and reduced state intervention.

An elderly pro-life Catholic sidewalk counselor who was brutally beaten outside of a Baltimore Planned Parenthood wants the Trump administration to intervene after his attacker was given a slap on the wrist earlier this year.  Mark Crosby, 75, sent a letter to the Justice Department on Thursday requesting that they “consider prosecution” of the 28-year-old man who assaulted him and 84-year-old Richard Schaefer outside of Planned Parenthood in downtown Baltimore on May 26, 2023. The letter, obtained by The Daily Wire, suggests that their attacker, Patrick Brice, could face federal charges for targeting them based on their religious beliefs.  “The attack is shocking for its violence and brutality and was captured on surveillance video,” Terrell Roberts, a lawyer for Crosby, wrote to Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. “He was [at Planned Parenthood] with another counselor, Dick Schaefer, age 84. They hand out rosaries and religious literature to women and offer religiously based counseling with the goal of preserving the life of the unborn.” Footage of the May 26 assault shows Brice getting into an argument with Schaefer before tackling the octogenarian into a potted plant and knocking him out. When Crosby runs up to check on Schaefer, Brice throws him to the ground before punching and kicking him in the head.  As a result of the attack, Crosby has photophobia, which is extreme sensitivity to bright lights.  Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to DailyWire.com/Subscribe to join now. In August, Brice escaped jail time after Baltimore City Circuit Judge Yvette Bryan sentenced him to just one year of home detention and three years of probation. State prosecutors requested a total of 10 years in prison, asking that the judge send a “strong message of deterrence” against attacking people in broad daylight over their political and religious views. Brice also dodged a more serious first-degree assault charge in both a jury trial and a bench trial. Bryan acquitted Brice of the charge because she claimed Crosby provoked him by coming to Schaefer’s aid. “Finding Brice not guilty of a violent felony in the face of overwhelming evidence and showing extraordinary leniency by imposing a sentencing without any imprisonment in the face of the prosecution’s request for a 10-year sentence of imprisonment was a gross miscarriage of justice,” Roberts wrote. Crosby accuses Brice of ripping off a crucifix he was wearing around his neck at the time of the attack. During sentencing, Brice disputed this and claimed that he had no animosity toward Christians.

A U.S. Navy fighter jet and helicopter crashed in the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other on Sunday in two separate incidents that President Donald Trump called “very unusual.” The five crew members aboard both aircraft were rescued and are in “safe and stable condition,” according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Both Navy aircraft were conducting routine flights from the USS Nimitz when the crashes occurred, while President Trump was in the region. The first aircraft that went down was a U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, which crashed at approximately 2:45 p.m. local time. The helicopter was assigned to the “Battle Cats” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73 and had three crew members on board. After the MH-60R Sea Hawk went down, search and rescue teams were deployed from Carrier Strike Group 11, and all three crew members were rescued. Just 30 minutes later, at around 3:15 p.m. local time, an F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet crashed during “routine operations.” The two crew members ejected before the crash and were also rescued by Carrier Strike Group 11 search-and-rescue personnel. The F/A-18F Super Hornet was assigned to the “Fighting Redcocks” of Strike Fighter Squadron 22. Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to DailyWire.com/Subscribe to join now. On Sunday, Trump was in Malaysia, where he attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit before he departed for Japan, where he is scheduled to meet with the country’s newly elected prime minister. Trump was asked about the crashes while speaking to reporters on Air Force One en route to Japan, and said they were “very unusual.” “They think it might be bad fuel,” he added, according to The Wall Street Journal. “We’re gonna find out. Nothing to hide, sir.” The U.S. Pacific Fleet said on Sunday evening that it is investigating the back-to-back crashes. The USS Nimitz was on its way back to port in Washington after being deployed to the Middle East over the summer. After the crashes, China said it would “provide necessary assistance in a humanitarian spirit if requested by the U.S. side,” but the communist nation’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun also criticized the United States for conducting military operations in the region. “I need to stress that the U.S. aircraft crashed while conducting military drills in the South China Sea. The U.S. has been flexing muscles by frequently sending military vessels and aircraft to the South China Sea,” Guo added. “This is the root cause of security issues at sea and disruption to regional peace and stability.” Trump is expected to meet with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, as the United States threatens to impose a 100% tariff on Chinese goods. Trump said that he is hopeful that the United States will reach a trade deal with China in the coming days. “I have a lot of respect for President Xi. I think we’re going to come away with a deal,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the nation’s largest federal workers’ union, is once again applying political pressure in Washington, demanding that Democrats abandon their current negotiating stance and pass a clean funding measure to end the government shutdown. AFGE President Everett Kelley, whose union represents more than 800,000 federal and D.C. government employees, urged Congress to reopen the government immediately under a short-term continuing resolution and ensure full back pay for federal employees, both those who have been furloughed and those forced to work without pay. The federal employees’ union is no friend of President Trump and even they agree: pass a clean CR and reopen the government. Democrats’ political posturing needs to end. https://t.co/BU2H8N35qb — Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) October 27, 2025 “It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today,” Kelley said in a statement. “Senate Democrats have insisted that they won’t vote to reopen the government without a commitment from Republicans and President Donald Trump on extending health care subsidies through the Affordable Care Act, which are set to expire at the end of the year,” NBC News noted. Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to DailyWire.com/Subscribe to join now. While AFGE frames the shutdown as a purely humanitarian issue, the union has a long history of political alignment with the Democratic Party. It endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and has participated in Democratic-aligned protests, including demonstrations against President Donald Trump. AFGE has also taken legal action to enforce its agenda, suing over Trump-era mass layoffs and claiming partisan messaging unfairly blamed Democrats for previous shutdowns. AFGE also has a checkered past, with numerous officials convicted or pleading guilty to corruption offenses. Kelley’s statement portrays federal workers as innocent victims caught in political crossfire, highlighting employees from the TSA, the Army, and the USDA who are working without pay while struggling to cover basic expenses. “These are patriotic Americans—parents, caregivers, and veterans—forced to work without pay because of political disagreements in Washington. That is unacceptable,” Kelley wrote. The union’s demand for a “clean” continuing resolution — without conditions or policy negotiations — effectively undercuts Democrats’ negotiating leverage and aligns with Republicans’ repeated calls to fund the government immediately. As the standoff approaches a full month, AFGE’s demands illustrate the growing tension between the federal workforce and the Democratic Party.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Sunday acknowledged that much of the country thinks New Yorkers who embrace her socialist views and those of New York City Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani are crazy. Speaking at a rally for Mamdani titled “New York is Not for Sale,” held at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, AOC declared, “We must remember in a time such as this, we are not the crazy ones, New York City. We are not the outlandish ones, New York City. They want us to think we are crazy.” She then launched into her typical anti-Israel rhetoric and laundry list of leftist demands from the government: “We are sane to demand affordable and decent housing, a decent wage, the right to health care, that we pay to care for our people instead of the flattening of Palestinians and oppressed people abroad.” AOC just delivered the worst speech you’ll ever hear. “We are not the crazy ones. We are sane.” pic.twitter.com/tgvHch49ws — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 27, 2025   When New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul — who has endorsed Mamdani — spoke, the crowd began chanting, “Tax the rich!” She capitulated, “I hear you, I love to see this energy and this passion.” Mamdani, obviously pleased with the chant, laughed, “Hell, yeah. Obviously.” He later pronounced, “Our work has only just begun. On 4 November we set ourselves free.” Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to DailyWire.com/Subscribe to join now. Ocasio-Cortez’s socialist prescriptions have included a massive 70% marginal tax rate on income above $10 million, making public colleges tuition-free and canceling all federal student debt, pushing the Green New Deal, which would cost trillions of dollars, pushing Medicare for All, which, according to economists at the University of Pennsylvania and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget could cost between $30–40 trillion over 10 years, and championing rent control, which could reduce housing supply by discouraging new construction and maintenance. In mid-October, after Ocasio-Cortez joined Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at a CNN town hall to discuss the government shutdown and repeatedly attacked House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Johnson fired back, “With every ounce of Christian character that I can muster … bless her heart.” “With every ounce of Christian character that I can muster, Laura, let me just say, bless her heart,” Johnson replied. “This would be comical if it were not so dangerous. You’re looking at the two leaders of the modern Democratic Party. We say all the time, ‘This is not your father’s party.’ It’s not. These guys are full Marxists. You hear how vapid their ideology is; what empty suits they are.”

Republicans on Monday introduced a bill that would sanction Chinese entities linked to Beijing’s persecution of Christians. The “Combating the Persecution of Religious Groups in China Act” aims to “strengthen America’s response to combat the CCP’s ongoing acts of religious persecution targeting Christians and other religious minorities,” a copy of the bill reviewed by The Daily Wire reads. If passed, the United States will sanction any official of the People’s Republic of China who is responsible for or has directly carried out “abuses of religious freedom.” Abuses include “Arbitrary detention, forced sterilization, torture, forced labor, and serious restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, expression, and movement.” Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced the bill on October 27, International Religious Freedom Day. Congressman Mark Alford (R-MO) introduced the bill in the House. The legislation comes just weeks after the Chinese Communist Party detained more than 30 pastors and staff from Zion Church, a well-known Christian house church in China. Zion Church was shut down in 2018 but re-emerged in multiple locations, NPR reported. In response, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement condemning the detentions and calling for the immediate release of the church members. Rubio said the incident shows how the CCP “exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches.” Co-sponsors of the bill in the Senate include Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn (TN), Ashley Moody (FL), Thom Tillis (NC), and Todd Young (IN), while co-sponsors in the House include Republican Reps. Greg Steube (FL), Dan Crenshaw (TX), and Michael McCaul (TX). In a statement, Budd said China’s “disdain for religious freedom is not new,” noting it is an “ongoing and brutal pattern of abuse that must be met with steadfast American strength.” “As the leader of the free world, the United States must promote religious freedom around the world and hold China’s authoritarian regime responsible for decades of persecution targeting Christians and other religious minorities. The CCP’s restrictions on freedom of religion and cruelty toward religious minorities in China must come to an end,” Budd said. Alford said the CCP “has perpetrated heinous abuses against religious groups for decades.” He said he believes it’s time for the United States to “stand up for religious freedom in China as we have in other parts of the world.” The bill would also bolster State Department efforts to combat the ongoing persecution of Protestant Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and other religious minorities. A 2024 report said that the CCP “tortured, physically abused, arrested, disappeared, detained, sentenced to prison, subjected to forced indoctrination in CCP ideology, and harassed adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups.” On October 23, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a resolution calling on the CCP to release the members of Zion Church and all other wrongfully detained religious leaders.

Senate Democrats were dealt a severe blow on Monday morning when the country’s largest federal workers union called for a swift end to the government shutdown. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union representing more than 800,000 government workers, released an open letter calling on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his caucus […]

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