John Bolton tries to slam Bernie Sanders for Castro remarks, rams headlong into more recent history

(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

published 25 February 2020

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) got some blowback Monday for comments he made on Sunday's 60 Minutes in favor of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro's literacy program. It's not clear many people outside of Florida or under age 70 have strong feelings about Castro anymore — he died in 2016, after all, and Cuba is now mostly known as a hot vacation spot. And as Sanders also said on 60 Minutes, it's not like he thinks current, nuclear-armed despot "Kim Jong Un is a good friend," and unlike President Trump. "I don't trade love letters with a murdering dictator."

Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton clearly did not pay attention to that last part of the interview when he jumped in to slam Sanders for "revealing the extent of his extremism" by suggesting "Castro's communist Cuba is not all bad." So Twitter reminded him.

In any case, Sanders doesn't seem rattled by the criticism. "You know what? I think teaching people to read and write is a good thing," he said at a CNN town hall in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday night. "I have been extremely consistent and critical of all authoritarian regimes all over the world — including Cuba, including Nicaragua, including Saudi Arabia, including China, including Russia. I happen to believe in democracy, not authoritarianism." He still doubled-down on the not-all-bad motif, saying that China, while "becoming more an more authoritarian," has also clearly "taken more people out of extreme poverty than any country in history."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.