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Rise of Communism in America: Jim Pfaff on DSA, Medicaid Fraud & the Daszak Cover-Up | Jul 21, 2026

Published: July 21, 2026
Network: Worldview Tube
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff

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Joe McCarthy must be rolling around in his grave. That was Jim Pfaff’s verdict on the rise of communism in America during his July 21 Worldview Tube appearance. Three fronts in one half hour: CMS pausing more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota over suspected fraud, New York City DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo declaring that no one has a right to double-digit investment returns, and newly released federal documents showing the FBI told Customs and Border Protection to stand down from questioning EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak.

Topics Covered

• The $1 Billion Medicaid Fraud Pause
• The Rise of Communism in America: The DSA’s New Spokesman
• A $30 Million Grocery Store and the Definition of Government
• Capitalism’s Record: From Rome to Less Than 5% Poverty
• The Daszak Stand-Down: FBI, CBP, and a 6-Year Cover-Up
• Key Takeaways

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The $1 Billion Medicaid Fraud Pause

The show opened with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announcing that CMS is pausing more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota because of suspected fraud and non-compliance — more than $867 million for California and over $200 million for Minnesota. If those states want the money, they must document that the payments are legitimate, verified through traditional financial checks and AI.

Pfaff praised Kennedy as a real American doing what needs to be done in the agency — while opposing the Medicaid program itself on constitutional grounds. His larger point is structural: Medicaid, No Child Left Behind, USDA programs, and federal transportation funding all make states do things the federal government has no business dictating. The states have become surrogates of the U.S. government.

The fraud runs deeper than money flowing to political benefactors — the states themselves retain a lot of it fraudulently. Pfaff traced the pattern to the Obama administration’s first major wave of bailouts to pad state budgets gone bad, continued under Biden; as that money receded, states began pulling it in indirectly through these programs. That history frames his answer for Gavin Newsom and Xavier Becerra if they object to the requirement:

“They need to just not take the federal money and they need to do the program themselves.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Then there is no requirement and no waiting on a check from Washington. Of course, California won’t do that — which is why Pfaff says we’ve got to get rid of federal programs entirely. One of the great lessons of this Trump administration, in his words, is how much of the money coming out of Washington to the states is wasted. We documented the same machinery in our analysis of state-level Medicaid fraud schemes worth billions.

The Rise of Communism in America: The DSA’s New Spokesman

The bulk of the broadcast confronted the rise of communism head-on, through Fox clips of New York City DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo with Martha MacCallum. Gordillo’s claim: landlords in New York have been making a 12% return on their investment, and no one should have a constitutional right to double-digit returns.

Pfaff’s rebuttal went straight to the founding document. The Ninth Amendment reserves to the people the rights not granted to the federal government nor reserved for the states — so the right to a double-digit return is absolutely in the Constitution. Second, the Constitution promises a republican form of government — not a communist or socialist one — a guarantee adjudicated to be required of the states. Since states create cities, Pfaff sees an interesting legal case that rent control itself is unconstitutional.

Then he dismantled the number. The 12% figure is before any costs — it counts no taxes, insurance, or building maintenance. Rent control has run in New York City in one form or another since the 1940s, and its failure follows a chain: there is no upkeep in rent-controlled apartments not because landlords are neglectful, but because they can’t afford to update and upgrade the units — because they can’t charge higher rents. The very problems Gordillo blames on the market are caused by the system he wants to expand.

Pfaff also noted who is making these arguments: a young activist who, by his account, has never had a job in his life — a pattern he tied to Bernie Sanders, a senator for dozens of years who never held a job before politics. This is the same movement we tracked in our report on communism inside the Democrat Party.

A $30 Million Grocery Store and the Definition of Government

The second Gordillo clip defended New York City’s publicly owned grocery store project — $30 million for one store — with this standard: if one publicly owned grocery store that brings prices down is enough to put a bodega out of business, then maybe they shouldn’t have been in that business in the first place.

Pfaff put real numbers on who that crushes. Bodegas are small — some smaller than a gas station convenience store. An owner doing really well makes $70,000 to $100,000 a year while paying $5,000 to $6,000 a month in rent and supporting a family. These are not billionaires. And the mechanism starts from first principles: the definition of government is legal force. You cede rights to government, and it uses force — the threat of jail if you don’t pay your taxes — to compel compliance. Those taxes then pay $30 million for the store that puts the bodegas under.

“the government uses its authority and force to kill your business.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Gordillo is a believer in owning the means of production: he implicitly believes the bodega owner who works hard and serves his customers does so at the behest of government. That is not how this works, and it is not constitutional thinking. Pfaff’s forecast for the store was specific: shiny at first, a dump when the economics stop working, a bad food supply, and no bodega left as an alternative because they’ll already have been run out. His prescription for every listener: buy Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson — these people don’t know how economics works, and Karl Marx certainly didn’t.

Capitalism’s Record: From Rome to Less Than 5% Poverty

When Gordillo blamed the imposition of capitalism and American imperialism for driving immigration from Latin America, Pfaff answered with the historical ledger. We haven’t imposed capitalism anywhere. What capitalism actually did over the last 120 years is the part Gordillo is too young and too ignorant to know:

“Grinding poverty in the world has been nearly eliminated.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The statistics Pfaff has reviewed put grinding poverty at less than 5% worldwide today, down from nearly 50% at the beginning of the 20th century. For the first 1,800 years after the birth of Christ, life was horrible for most people on Earth. Pfaff cited his friend Colin Elliott, an Indiana University professor of Roman history whose book Pox Romana covers the Antonine Plague era — the glory of Rome belonged to the elite of the elite, while people literally lived in makeshift shanties in the hillsides outside the city.

“The average American lives better than kings, even going back to Rome.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

What changed it was free markets, free enterprise, and individuals making their own decisions and building their own lives — with the United States leading that bandwagon. It is the exact opposite of Gordillo’s claim. Even Bill Maher sees it: in an ABC clip, Maher said his vote is in play because he refuses to live in communist America, citing the DSA’s own platform language on government takeover of key industries as communism by definition. Pfaff called Maher a classical liberal who has long spoken against communism and socialism despite persistently voting Democrat — like Elon Musk, standing still while the line moves farther left away from him. That drift is the same movement, measured from the other side of the aisle.

The Daszak Stand-Down: FBI, CBP, and a 6-Year Cover-Up

The final segment turned to internal federal documents released through Senator Rand Paul: the FBI asked Customs and Border Protection not to stop, search, or question Peter Daszak when he returned from China through JFK in 2021, during the WHO’s COVID-19 origins investigation. CBP had flagged Daszak as an extremely high person of interest and planned to search his devices and question him about his ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology — then stood down at the FBI’s request.

“Peter Daszak led the effort that was funded by Anthony Fauci to do the gain-of-function research in cooperation with Wuhan against federal law, by the way, and against also executive order.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Pfaff’s account of the mechanism: Daszak knew he was going to get caught, the cover-up was already underway, and someone convinced then-FBI Director Christopher Wray to call CBP down from questioning him at all. That is why the story has taken 6 years to surface when it should have taken about 2 — because the cover-up has been intense and conducted in cooperation with the media and with Democrats.

Key Takeaways

1. CMS Paused Over $1 Billion in Medicaid Payments – More than $867 million for California and over $200 million for Minnesota, over suspected fraud and non-compliance; the states must document that payments are legitimate.
2. States Have Become Federal Surrogates – Pfaff’s answer for states that object: refuse the federal money and run the program yourselves. Better yet, get rid of the federal programs.
3. The Rise of Communism Has a Face – DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo claims no one has a right to double-digit returns. Pfaff answered with the Ninth Amendment and the Constitution’s guarantee of a republican form of government.
4. Rent Control Causes What It Blames on Landlords – The 12% figure ignores taxes, insurance, and maintenance. Since the 1940s, NYC apartments decay because landlords can’t afford upgrades — because they can’t charge higher rents.
5. Capitalism Nearly Eliminated Grinding Poverty – From nearly 50% of the world at the start of the 20th century to less than 5% today, over 120 years of free markets led by the United States.
6. The FBI Shielded Peter Daszak – CBP flagged Daszak as an extremely high person of interest in 2021 and stood down at the FBI’s request. The gain-of-function research ran against federal law and executive order.

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About The Conservative Caucus:
The Conservative Caucus is a grassroots public policy action organization, formed in 1974. Headed by President Jim Pfaff, the Caucus is committed to advancing free enterprise, limited government, and traditional values.

Originally broadcast Jul 21, 2026 on Worldview Tube.