“OK, Boomer” incoming …
Mark Penn, the 71-year-old former Clinton adviser and strategist, had some harsh words Wednesday for Gen Z, the generation born roughly between 1997 and 2012. Three that stand out: “Useful idiot generation.”
Penn, a veteran strategist, Bill Clinton pollster and communications consultant best known for his work as chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, joined “America’s Newsroom” on Fox News to elaborate on his recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece “Gen Z, the Useful Idiot Generation.”
“Newsroom” host Bill Hemmer took a deep breath before introducing Penn, saying: “You had some humdingers in this piece … go ahead and explain yourself. … That’s tough.”
Penn didn’t pull his punch – he leaned into it.
“They don’t really know in depth the things that they’ve been adopted or indoctrinated with,” Penn said. “They have been taught to blame capitalism. You look at young people — close to 40% of young people now favor socialism over capitalism. What does that mean to them? It doesn’t mean Venezuela or Cuba to them. It means free stuff. Free rent, free buses. We all know you can’t have just free stuff. That never works. It always deteriorates. But they don’t have any history or knowledge.”
Hemmer noted that the generation that grew up with social media is getting its ideas there.
“Look at all these trends that come together,” Penn continued. “Lack of religion and belief in patriotism and American values. Belief that socialism, not capitalism, is the answer — and capitalism is really the problem here. The social media flood — particularly TikTok, which is, after all, still owned by the Chinese — that is getting directly to our young people. I think when you put this all together, you see how somebody like [NYC mayoral candidate Zohran] Mamdani, who has very antisemitic, socialist views, can come out ahead on top.”
Watch the entire exchange in the video above.
