On Monday, CNN's "Reality Check" with John Avlon slammed Sen. Bernie Sander (D-VT) for his support of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, both communist dictators.
"Sanders' reluctance to condemn [Fidel] Castro completely is an honest assessment of his beliefs. For decades, he celebrated aspects of the Cuban Contra's Revolution," Avlon explained.
The network played a clip of Sanders previously saying he remembered when the so-called revolution took place when he was a kid.
"I was a kid and I remember reading that and it seemed right and appropriate that poor people were rising up against ugly rich people," Sanders said in the clip from his past.
"This is, to use a favorite phrase of the progressive left, 'problematic,'" the CNN host said. He referenced Democratic Congresswoman Donna Shalala who said she hoped Sanders would meet with her constituents "before sing[ing] the praises of a murderous tyrant like Fidel Castro."
Avlon referenced numerous "problematic" instances in Sanders' past, including when he called Ortega "a very impressive guy" and decided to honeymoon in Moscow in 1988.
"His praise for the Soviet Union's public transportation and youth programs while somehow never finding the time to meet with Noble Prize-winning Russian dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – who lives in Vermont in the time – may speak to Sanders' general sympathies at the time," Avlon said.
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The CNN host also mentioned Sanders' calls to nationalize most industries during the 1970s, his more recent desires to abolish the CIA and his belief that the United States' actions in Vietnam were "almost as bad as what Hitler did."
"I'm simply pointing out that Sanders' vision of 'democratic socialism' has extended far beyond the dangerous style of welfare states he likes to claim," the CNN host said.
Bernie can call himself a "democratic socialist" but at the end of the day, the policies he advocates for are communist principles. He doesn't want people to work hard to earn wealth. He wants everyone to be treated exactly the same, with the exact same amount of money, health care, child care, and education. It sounds great on paper, but the application has been disastrous with bloody results. There's no incentive to pull yourself up by your bootstraps to make a living. The idea is to have other people pay for things until there is no money left. Under a Sanders presidency, there wouldn't be wealthy or poor. Individualism would seize to exist. Rights would go out the window and Big Brother would become a reality. Oh, and the only thing equitable about this society is that we all suffer together.
?? @CNN exposes @BernieSanders and his lifelong support for communist dictators and communism. (Playing some of the videos we uncovered)
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) February 24, 2020
Segment ends with this: @BernieSanders’s vision of socialism has extended far beyond the danish style welfare state as he likes to claim. pic.twitter.com/yNL0wi2MO4
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