Pennsylvania socialist Democrat Chris Rabb says he opposes mass incarceration, except for locking up the “lawless MAGA thugs” he blames for wrecking lives and communities.
State Rep. Chris Rabb, a Democratic Socialists of America member now running for Congress, made the remarks this week on left-wing podcaster Wajahat Ali’s show. He cast himself as a “decarceration person” who sees America’s prison rates as morally wrong, then carved out a loud exception for political opponents.
Fox News Digital reported the comments and sought a response from Rabb’s campaign, which did not immediately reply. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly answered instead, accusing Trump-deranged Democrats of lobbing unhinged attacks and saying Rabb should seek help.
Rabb’s own words leave little room for spin. He first laid out the standard left-wing case against incarceration, then flipped it.
"I’m a decarceration person,"
he said, adding that a country with 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the people “put in cages” is “morally wrong” and “bad policy.” Then came the pivot.
"It’s also bad policy, but I will make an exception for all of those f****** who are lawless MAGA thugs, who have destroyed lives and communities. Lock all of those f****** up. I know that seems a little hypocritical of me being on the left and being anti-incarceration, but lock those f****** up."
He asked for forgiveness for what he called a possible “weakness,” insisted it was not vengefulness, and declared “right is right.” He also urged members of Congress to impeach and subpoena people he accused of “destroying what’s left of our fragile democracy.”
Rabb tried to frame the stance as fairness. He pointed to mothers jailed for changing school districts so their kids could get a better education, then said Jared Kushner “should be experiencing some jail time.”
"We should have a level playing field. If there are moms who are going to jail because they changed what school district they are so that their kids could get a better education, and they get locked up, you better believe a Jared Kushner should be experiencing some jail time. So, if that makes me a conservative, gosh, but we need to send a message."
The message is selective. Ordinary defendants stay under the decarceration banner. Political enemies get the cage. Rabb offered no specific charges, case numbers, or convictions for the “MAGA thugs” he wants locked up. The label did the work.
That pattern fits a wider socialist wave inside the Democratic Party that keeps producing primary wins and sharper rhetoric. Rabb was among several DSA members who won Democratic primaries this year.
Rabb is not the only DSA-aligned Democrat floating jail for opponents. Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon, also tied to the DSA, told CNN’s Kasie Hunt she wanted Republican Sen. Ashley Moody “locked up and punished in jail for what she has done.”
Nixon first complained that ads accused her of wanting to abolish prisons and defund the police. Then she answered her own question.
"Why would I want to do that when I want her locked up and punished in jail for what she has done?"
When Hunt pressed her to clarify, Nixon said, “Basically, yes. Because of what she did, yes. I absolutely would want that to happen. Yes.” The interview did not spell out the concrete criminal acts she attributed to Moody.
Nixon’s rise itself tracked the same leftward current, including her primary win that ousted a more mainstream Democrat earlier in the cycle. The shared habit is plain: soft on crime in theory, hard on named conservatives in practice.
Rabb’s appearance fits a larger record. DSA-backed candidates keep advancing inside Democratic primaries while dodging basic questions about how public safety works without police or prisons. One recent DSA delegate sidestepped how rapists would face justice in that world. Voters notice the gap.
The same movement has already rattled sitting Democrats. A DSA-backed challenger ousted Rep. Shri Thanedar in Michigan, another marker of the socialist insurgency inside the party. Rhetoric about fragile democracy and selective handcuffs travels with those wins.
In New York, socialist activists have pressed elected officials from the left on policing fights, including demands that Mayor Mamdani fire the NYPD commissioner after an ICE-related shooting. The through-line is consistent pressure against ordinary enforcement paired with open appetite for punishing political targets.
Kelly’s White House response put the administration’s view in blunt terms. “Trump-deranged Democrats have no agenda except to lob unhinged attacks against the president and obstruct the agenda he was elected to implement,” she said. “This person is clearly disturbed and should seek help.”
Rabb’s campaign stayed silent after the outreach from Fox News Digital. The podcast clips remain the record. A candidate who calls incarceration morally wrong still wants an entire political movement caged, complete with the f-word and the thug label, while offering no bill of particulars beyond the politics he rejects.
When socialists preach empty prisons for everyone except their opponents, voters get the real platform in plain English.
