During a town hall on CNN Monday night, socialist Bernie Sanders was asked about his long history of supporting socialist and communist regimes around the world.
"My father's family left Soviet Russia in 1979 fleeing from some of the very same socialist policies that you seem eager to implement in this country. So my question is, how do you rectify your notion of democratic socialism with the failures of socialism in nearly every country that has tried it?" student Samantha Frenkel-Popell asked.
"Is it your assumption that I supported or believe in authoritarian communism that existed in the Soviet Union? I don't and never have. And I opposed it," Sanders replied.
In his answer, Sanders claimed he hasn't supported authoritarian communism, but his record clearly shows otherwise.
First, he honeymooned in the former Soviet Union. When he arrived back in the United States, he talked about how great it was.
BREAKING: @SenSanders like you’ve never seen him!!
— M. Mendoza Ferrer (@mgranville1) January 28, 2019
Bernie and Jane on their honeymoon in Russia singing “This land is Your Land” with their Russian comrades!!
Trigger Warning: Bernie is sitting at a table shirtless in his briefs. So are most of the rest of the men... pic.twitter.com/2DPyDY2WV0
Next, Sanders believes bread lines are an indication of a healthy economy in a country. He said so about Nicaragua.
Third, he's been an advocate for the government takeover and nationalization of entire industries.
Bernie Sanders advocated for the nationalization of most major industries, including energy companies, factories, and banks, when he was a leading member of a self-described "radical political party" in the 1970s, a CNN KFile review of his record reveals.
"I favor the public ownership of utilities, banks and major industries," Sanders said in one interview with the Burlington Free Press in 1976.
And most recently, Sanders backed the socialist and tyranical regimes of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. He's also refused to call Maduro a dictator, despite the withholding of food, electricity, water and humanitarian aid from the Venezuelan people.
