On February 7, 2020 MSNBC analyst Chris Matthews was right when he said, “I believe if Castro and the Reds had won the Cold War there would have been executions in Central Park and I might have been one of the ones getting executed. And certain other people would be there cheering, okay? So I have a problem with people who took the other side.” He also raised the point that he was unsure about “who Bernie has supported over these years, I don’t know what he means by socialism — one week it’s Denmark, we’re going to be like Denmark. Okay, that’s harmless. That’s basically a capitalist country with good social welfare programs. Denmark.” Matthews continued, “What does he think of Castro? That’s a good question, what’s he think of Fidelismo?”
Reason Magazine in June 2019 produced an overview of Senator Sanders political views throughout his career titled “Why Bernie Sanders’ Communist Misadventures Still Matter.” They point to a lifetime of statements and actions that demonstrate solidarity with communist dictatorships in Cuba, Nicaragua, and the Soviet Union.
There have also been video recordings of Senator Sanders field staff advocating political violence, justifying Gulags and re-education camps in the United States. Americans should not ignore the threats coming from some young members of Sanders’ campaign team about the kind of country they want to build.
Newsweek, February 8, 2020
MSNBC Host Chris Matthews Ties Bernie Sanders to Fears of Socialist ‘Executions in Central Park,’ Fidel Castro
By Benjamin Fearnow
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews demanded to know Bernie Sanders’ stance on Fidel Castro, tying the Vermont Senator to “executions in Central Park” led by communists.
MSNBC host Chris Matthews warned that if Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wins the 2020 election there could be socialist-led executions in Central Park.
Matthews offered his latest on-air rant against the Sanders campaign and his supporters after the Democratic presidential debate Friday night. The longtime MSNBC political analyst warned viewers what might have happened if Fidel Castro and “the Reds” had won the Cold War, suggesting Sanders would have supported public executions of the late Cuban leader’s perceived enemies. Matthews demanded to know if Sanders supports Castro’s style of communism or if he’s truly a backer of democratic socialist-style governments such as Denmark.
Visibly-shocked fellow MSNBC panel members Chris Hayes and Lawrence O’Donnell attempted to interject, as Matthews said he may have been executed in Central Park if capitalism hadn’t defeated socialism during the Cold War.
“I have my own views of the word ‘socialist’ and I’d be glad to share them with you in private,” Matthews said Friday night after the Democratic debate. “They go back to the early 1950s. I have an attitude about them. I remember the Cold War, I have an attitude towards Castro. I believe if Castro and the Reds had won the Cold War there would have been executions in Central Park and I might have been one of the ones getting executed. And certain other people would be there cheering, okay?
“So I have a problem with people who took the other side. I don’t know who Bernie has supported over these years, I don’t know what he means by socialism — one week it’s Denmark, we’re going to be like Denmark. Okay, that’s harmless. That’s basically a capitalist country with good social welfare programs. Denmark.”
MSNBC panelist and host Joy Reid also expressed her fear about videos or comments Sanders may have made in the past “praising the version” of socialism which could be used against him in a general election.
“What does he think of Castro? That’s a good question, what’s he think of Fidelismo?” Matthews continued. “We all thought he was great when he first came out. I cheered like mad for him when he first went in and then he became a communist and started shooting every one of his enemies. You’ve got to make those judgments.”
Hayes interjected that Sanders is “pretty clearly in the Denmark category” of mixed capitalist and socialist-style policies, which Matthews promptly questioned: “Is he? How do you know? Did he tell you that?”
During the recent Iowa caucuses, Matthews claimed the only reason Sanders could win the contest is because “socialists love meetings,” similar to the caucus process. He referred to an Oscar Wilde quote about how socialism is hard to sell because “it takes too many meetings.”
Newsweek reached out to Matthews’ representatives for comment Saturday.
Matthews continued his rant against socialism as a term: “Some people like it, younger people like it, but those of us like me, who grew up in the Cold War and saw some aspects of it, if there visiting places like Vietnam, like I have, [and seeing countries] like Cuba, being there, I’ve seen what socialism’s like, I don’t like it. It’s not only not free, it doesn’t fricking work!”
Daily Wire, January 28, 2020
Sanders Campaign Rocked Again: More Staff Caught Advocating Violence Against Opponents
DailyWire.com
2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) campaign was rocked again on Tuesday after James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas released more undercover footage exposing paid Sanders campaign staffers appearing to advocate for violence against political opponents.
The new video from Project Veritas allegedly shows Sanders campaign South Carolina field organizers Mason Baird and Daniel Taylor advocating for “extreme action” and “militancy” against political opponents and private property.
Project Veritas provided the following highlights of things that Baird said:
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“I’ve canvassed with someone who’s an anarchist, and with someone who’s a Marxist-Leninist. So, we attract radical, truly radical people in the campaign … obviously that’s not outward-facing.”
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“A lot of those people who do that kind of work, are … their politics fall well outside of the American sort of norm. So, they’re Marxist-Leninist, they’re anarchists, they’re these types of folks, and um, and they have more of a mind for direct action, for engaging in politics outside of the electoral system.”
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“A lot of the stories we’re told in the United States about, you know, the gulags and the persecution of the Kulaks and things like that are exaggerated … we certainly don’t have, uh, a straight perspective on that stuff here in America.”
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“We would need a federal government and a labor movement that is working together to strip power away from capitalists and preferably directing that violence towards property.”
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“It would, it’s gonna take, you know, it’s gonna take militancy … like a militant labor movement that’s willing to … strike, and if necessary, you know, just destroy property and things like that.”
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“… after we abolish landlords, we don’t have to kill them …”
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“… once we break up Google, YouTube, Facebook, nationalize these things, then that would be a huge thing forward so far as education stuff goes.”
Project Veritas provided the following highlights of things that Taylor said:
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“For me personally, I have no problem going all in on the campaign stuff because you’re planting a seed … yeah, the whole socialist thing four years ago was a whole lot more toxic than it is today …”
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“We don’t want to scare people off, you first have to feel it out before you get into the crazy stuff … You know we were talking about more extreme organizations like Antifa, you were talking about, Yellow Vests, all that but we’re kinda keeping that on the back-burner for now.”
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“We have all this momentum, where do we go, regardless of the outcome, after it’s all over? Change won’t come easily, regardless. Even if Bernie is elected, change will not come swiftly or easily, so the connections we make now in the campaign with people, and volunteers, it’s important we retain that regardless of the outcome. It’s unfortunate that we have to make plans for extreme action but like I said, they’re not going to give it to us even if Bernie is elected.”
The new release from Project Veritas comes after the group released undercover videos involving a paid Sanders campaign staffer in Iowa and in South Carolina in recent weeks that showed the staffers allegedly advocating for violence against political opponents. The Sanders campaign has largely ignored media requests on the matter and even called the police on journalists who pressed for a response from the campaign on the videos.