President Donald Trump declared that America will never be socialist. He’s beating up a strawman, since there has never been a fully socialist country. That’s because, throughout history, every country, whether it considers itself socialist or capitalist, engages in capitalism to some degree, which is essentially the existence of a marketplace, where goods, services, information, and labor are exchanged.
Regardless of what is exchanged, everything exchanged becomes a commodity whose value shifts in line with the demand for it. The dynamics of the market also result in the gradual accumulation of wealth for some while denying essential items, such as housing and food, to those who cannot afford them.
While Wikipedia identifies two dozen different kinds of socialism, two primary approaches support its goal of upholding a society’s welfare. One approach is to realistically regulate the marketplace to ensure it provides everyone in society with their basic needs, allowing them to lead a satisfactory life. The other is pursuing the ideal communal society without a marketplace that forces competition for obtaining basic needs.