Former DSA member alleges communists have ‘captured’ socialist group, warns Democratic Party is next

Former Democratic Socialists of America member Jake Altman offered an inside look Saturday at the organization he says has been overtaken by communists — warning the same playbook is now being used to push the Democratic Party further to the left.

"Their organization has been captured..." Altman told Fox News.

"One of my real concerns is that we see a lot of resistance to anti-communism within the DSA, even from the moderate wing of the DSA, and I think this is very, very dangerous."

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Members of the Democratic Socialists of America gather outside a Trump-owned building during a May Day rally in New York City in 2019. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Speaking on "Saturday in America," Altman warned the organization is anything but "harmless," claiming its members are "perfectly willing to cohabitate with Maoists, with Trotskyists, with Leninists" — groups he said are intent on dismantling American institutions.

"People who want to pull down American institutions and are very clear about it. People who have this thrill to violence. That is just profoundly troubling at a time when our country is already facing many, many problems," he said.

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Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez and Brad Lander, all of whom identify or have identified as democratic socialists, have received national attention for the support they have received in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Altman also said some aspects of the group raised his eyebrows nearly 10 years ago when, while participating in a debate on the organization's behalf, he questioned whether he was the best person to represent its trajectory.

At the time, he claimed, he was reassured that the organization's increasingly radical direction was being driven by only a small faction clustered around "Jacobin" magazine.

"I was debating with Leninists who were saying Bernie Sanders isn't a socialist, and now we're hearing that from DSA, right? Bernie Sanders, AOC, they're not real socialists," he recalled.

"So I think this is just the level of extremism and radicalism we're seeing. People in DSA will try to minimize it and say it's just a few people... they're a small minority. But... look at the executive board. It's full of this alphabet soup of extremist caucuses."

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Altman urged Democrats to stand up against a "radicalized base," as far-left DSA candidates secure wins nationwide. 

"These people are not operating in good faith," he said. "DSA members are not in the Democratic Party to operate in good faith." 

"They are going to be targeting moderate Democrats. They're going to be targeting progressive Democrats, and they're going to be trying to smear these people any way that they can, because the ultimate goal is to get power," he added.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DSA for comment, but did not immediately hear back.