An 'alarmed' Trump says the U.S. 'will never be a socialist country'

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

President Trump blasted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, two weeks after the U.S. recognized Juan Guaidó as its interim president.

Because of Maduro's "socialist policies," Venezuela is now in "a state of abject poverty and despair," Trump said. He then tried to tie such policies to democratic socialists in the U.S., saying, "Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control." 


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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.