Welfare Reform, DOGE, and the DSA | Jesse Arm on What Americans Actually Want vs. What They're Getting | The Brief

Americans say they want less government. So why does the welfare state keep growing?

In this episode of The Brief, host Shabbos Kestenbaum sits down with Jesse Arm — Vice President of External Affairs at the Manhattan Institute — to break down the Manhattan Institute's new poll on American attitudes toward welfare, the rise of the DSA inside the Democratic Party, and what voters across the political spectrum actually want from government in 2026.

Thirty years after Bill Clinton signed landmark welfare reform, Jesse walks through what the data actually shows: Americans broadly support a social safety net, but they want it targeted, tied to work requirements, and focused on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse — not on reducing income inequality. The problem? The welfare state has grown dramatically since 1996, and a new generation of voters is being told that everything from the post office to the fire department is "socialism."