Could Trump Cancel the Election? Possibility Seems Real as Virus Panic Spreads…

‘Without careful, realistic planning, confidence in the system will fall…’

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) As workplaces began to shutter last week, toilet paper dwindled, major events canceled and schools extended spring-break weeks to a month, some conservatives wondered how far the coronavirus hysteria would go.

The obvious red line, it seemed, was the November presidential election. Memes emerged, and at least one Change.org petition satirically floated the idea to cancel as a way to spur those on the Left to stop the madness and focus on practical solutions.

But as the days went forward, the coronavirus response grew only more serious and surreal.

Forced closures of businesses and religious institutions, as well as limits on the number of people allowed to assemble, raised grave questions about the suspension of constitutional rights.

Several states, including Louisiana, Georgia and Ohio, made the decision to reschedule their primaries.

On Monday, Democrats’ top election-meddling lawyer, Perkins Coie‘s Marc Elias, weighed in to dismiss the possibility that the presidential election may be suspended or canceled.

Rather, Elias—famous for representing Democratic candidates who lost on Election Night only to find bags full of uncounted, discarded ballots on recount—opined that the virus would increase the likelihood of mail-in voting.

“Unlike prior events, the virus poses a health risk to voters in every state, city, town and village in the country,” Elias wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post on Monday.

“Not only will voters not want to wait in line and file into schoolrooms in proximity to others, but election workers—many of whom are elderly—also may not eagerly sign up to staff polling places where they will come in contact with hundreds of strangers in a single day,” he wrote.

Capitalizing on the Crisis

Among those chiming in with approval was far-left Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

The suggestion to move to absentee voting was one of several ways the Left sought to capitalize on the Rahm Emanuel Doctrine during the coronavirus outbreak: You never want to let a serious crisis go to waste.

With each passing day, a foreboding sense warned that the government’s response to the coronavirus may already have entered into uncharted territory, subject to new forms of outrageous overreach under the auspices of a national health emergency.

Other suggestions floated by leftist radicals included lifting the terrorist-preventing sanctions on Iran (which has been ravaged by the virus), releasing incarcerated criminals, and ending the deportation and detention of illegal immigrants (despite the fact that Mexico has threatened to close its border to keep out cases).

That is on top of the $750 billion in stimulus spending that Congress seems likely to approve on a bipartisan basis, with Democrat wish-list items like abortion funding, free college tuition and a universal basic income all rearing their heads in the spending package.

A Cure Worse than the Disease

GOP Candidate Harris Calls for New Election During Ballot Fraud Hearing 1
Marc Elias / IMAGE: WRAL screenshot

But given the disastrous vote-counting efforts in places like California, which relies heavily on absentee and provisional ballots, Elias’s pitch is not likely to go over well with Republicans in power any more than canceling the election outright would entice Trump-haters on the Left.

Even the high-power attorney—notorious for commissioning the Steele Dossier that led to the FBI’s RussiaGate scandal—himself acknowledged that it would be an unprecedentedly messy solution.

“A push toward voting by mail will flood postal facilities with a surge of last-minute mail-in ballots. Post offices will have to handle these while dealing with the effects of covid-19 on their own workforces,” Elias said.

“Mail delivery times will grow in the wake of the pandemic, and frustrations will mount,” he continued. “Without careful, realistic planning, confidence in the system will fall.”

Thus, ruling out the Left’s bid to sow chaos and confusion in the election, the question of how to move forward with it remains, very much, the elephant in the room at a time when lawmakers must seek bipartisan cooperation to contain the pandemic.

Among the possibilities more likely to garner approval, one may be to declare Election Day a national holiday and encourage younger people, less vulnerable to the virus’s risks, to become more civically engaged as poll workers.

Extended time away from school could afford ample time for college students and younger teachers to be trained to replace the often elderly, retired poll-workers who may find it necessary to stay away.

Of course, if the virus threat is lingering in November, additional sanitation procedures, such as gloves and face masks, will be essential.

The Ripple Effect?

State of the Union compromise greatness 2
Sen. Bernie Sanders reacts to Trump vowing not to let America become a socialist country. / IMAGE: Screenshot via Yahoo News

The health concern is also likely to create other butterfly-effect ripples in the political landscape. For instance, the need for elderly voters to avoid the polls and the presence of younger voters home from college may yield an unexpected boon for Bernie Sanders as he struggles to regain traction in the Democratic primary.

Additionally, new “social distancing” measures could reopen questions of whether delaying the decennial U.S. census could follow. Trump last year abandoned a lawsuit over the inclusion of a citizenship question for the census while facing a tight, congressionally mandated printing deadline.

With Congress likely forced to acknowledge that a postponement is necessary, those lawsuits may yet face new life should the Justice Department decide to press forward.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the reason given by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for including the question seemed overly contrived, but it stopped short of saying that the question (which was included on every census until 1960) violated the Constitution.

At the very least, partisan Democrats seeking to use the coronavirus panic to advance an agenda should be mindful that any attempt to exploit the crisis now for their ill-gotten political gain may very well come back to haunt them in unanticipated ways by setting a dangerous new precedent.

De Blasio Ignores NYC’s ‘Social Distancing’ Mandates, Uses Public Gym

‘There was almost no one there. I had heard that information prior…’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was caught making his way to a Brooklyn public gym after urging city residents to avoid public spaces and large groups of people.

De Blasio immediately faced backlash online from both Republicans and Democrats.

Even members of his own staff slammed de Blasio’s hypocrisy.

“The Mayor’s actions today are inexcusable and reckless,” said Rebecca Katz, a longtime de Blasio confidante, according to the New York Post.

Another longtime adviser, Jonathan Rosen, agreed: “She’s right. It’s pathetic. Self-involved. Inexcusable.”

Jilted Bride Bill de Blasio Slams Amazon for Backing Out of Bad NYC Deal
Bill de Blasio / IMAGE: Meet the Press via Youtube

And another former City Hall employee told the Post, “Every New Yorker’s regular routine has been put on hold. His should be, too. Get to work. Set an example. This is embarrassing.”

De Blasio, however, defended his decision to defy his own directives and insisted that the public gym was a “very socially distanced situation.”

“There was almost no one there. I had heard that information prior,” he said.

“I suspected that we were all going to be about to close them down, and this would be the last time to get some exercise,” he continued. “… I have to stay healthy so I can make the decisions for the people of this city.”

Jim Clyburn Compares Trump’s Admin. to Hitler’s Nazi Party

‘I know the history of that word. That is a word that we ought to be very, very careful about using…’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., called President Donald Trump a “racist” and compared the Trump administration to Germany during the rise of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party.

“I used to wonder how could the people of Germany allow Hitler to exist. But with each passing day, I’m beginning to understand how. And that’s why I’m trying to sound the alarm,” Clyburn said during an interview with Axios on HBO.

Clyburn claimed Trump told more than 30 lies during his State of the Union address, yet the Republicans cheered him on anyways.

“Fully half of those lies, the Republican side of the House stood up and cheered they knew that was not true. But they cheered him on,” he claimed.

“I really believe that the people of Germany knew Adolf Hitler was lying,” Clyburn continued. “And before they knew it, they no longer had a chancellor but a dictator. Anything that’s happened before can happen again.”

Clyburn, the current House majority whip, is one of only two Democrats representing the Palmetto State in the US House of Representatives. He also is one of only two African–Americans representing the state in Congress, the other being Republican Sen. Tim Scott.

He attacked the state’s other GOP senator, Trump ally Lindsey Graham, as a “poster child” of Republican “incompetence,”

Clyburn has accused Trump of racism repeatedly over the past few years. After Trump credited Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee‘s skillful leadership, Clyburn accused the president of “glorifying a loser.”

“He always said that he hated losers,” Clyburn claimed. “Robert E. Lee was a loser.”

And when Trump compared the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry to a “lynching,” Clyburn was quick to condemn the president’s language.

“That is one word no president ought to imply on himself,” he said.

“I’ve studied presidential history quite a bit, and I don’t know if we’ve ever seen anything quite like this,” Clyburn continued. “Andrew Johnson never would’ve described what was happening to him this way, and certainly Bill Clinton didn’t, nor did Nixon. This president is hopefully an anomaly … I’m a product of the South. I know the history of that word. That is a word that we ought to be very, very careful about using.”

‘Squad’ Member Uses Coronavirus Crisis to Push ‘Compassionate Release’ of Prisoners

‘Many incarcerated men and women do not have access to soap, to alcohol-based hand sanitizers, to regular showers…’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., a member of Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez’s “Squad,” advocated for the “compassionate release” of prisoners as the coronavirus spreads.

“I think now would be the time, to commute some sentences, to exact clemency and to take care of our most vulnerable. Ten percent of those incarcerated are over the age of 60 and already have an underlying condition. We should be using compassionate release,” Pressley told MSNBC.

Overcrowded prisons are a “Petri dish” for the virus, she continued, noting that she and the other “Squad” members are already lobbying the Bureau of Prisons to take action and release prisoners.

“Given the overpopulating and the fact that many of these facilities are already subpar and that many incarcerated men and women do not have access to soap, to alcohol-based hand sanitizers, to regular showers, what is the guidance, both for those incarcerated and for staff?” she said.

Releasing prisoners, some of whom have violent histories, would only make a bad problem worse, as Republican lawmakers have frequently warned. Even nonviolent felons pose a potential problem, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., argued when the Trump administration was first considering the First Step Act, which released thousands of federal offenders.

Less than a year later, two felons released under the First Step Act found themselves back in prison. The first criminal was arrested for trafficking thousands of dollars of meth, and the second was arrested for stabbing a man to death.

“Most important, when there are manifest injustices in individual cases, the proper course of justice is not to simply let out thousands of serious felons,” Cotton said last year.

AOC Spreads Financial Misinformation to Advocate for Socialist Policies

‘This tweet is beyond misleading—it’s horses**t…’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., was caught spreading misinformation about the federal government’s response to the coronavirus and using the virus’s outbreak as an opportunity to push for socialist policies.

After the stock market crashed last week, the Federal Reserve announced it would push $1.5 trillion in capital into the market to offset the economic imbalance.

Ocasio–Cortez immediately claimed that the Fed’s response is proof that the federal government can and should forgive student loan debt.

This is false. The Fed did not just write a $1.5 trillion check to the banks. Rather, it engaged in “short term transactions with banks to ensure financial stability,” according to the National Review.

This is a significant distinction, said Justin Wolfers, an economist with the Brookings Institute.

The Fed is not bailing out the banks, as Ocasio–Cortez is suggesting. Instead, it’s “lending to banks and strategically purchasing assets,” said Richard Morrison, a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, according to Fox News.

“The short-term lending the Fed engages in is quickly repaid by the financial institutions in question, even when, as in this case, the Fed has decided to dramatically scale up certain categories of lending in response to a market downturn,” Morrison continued.

“Whether this policy is the best one is a different question, but at the very least, American taxpayers should know that it is definitely not the fiscal equivalent of $1.5 trillion in new federal spending,” he said.

STUDY: Plastic Bag Bans are BAD Idea if You Don’t Want to Spread Viruses

‘Senate Democrats’ desperate need to be green is unclean during the coronavirus outbreak…’

Sustainable ‘Green’ Shopping Bags Can Spread the Coronavirus
‘Sustainable’ shopping bags / IMAGE: The Grommet via Youtube

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) Paper grocery bags kill trees, and plastic shopping bags are as bad for the environment as they are for sea turtles, according to environmentalists and climate conscious government officials.

Their solution has been to ban paper-or-plastic in favor of sustainable, reusable tote bags.

But it turns out grocery tote bags have their own drawback. While sustaining the transport of consumer purchased food items, they can also sustain coronavirus, flu viruses and bacterial diseases—and they can even spread them throughout a store.

Researchers have been warning about the public-health issue for years, often in the face of draconian blue-state “green” laws.

Earlier this month, for example, New York state implemented a new law banning single-use shopping bags in most retail businesses after a previous attempt to impose a 5-cent fee per traditional bag failed in New York City.

Critics have long pointed to the futility of banning plastic bags as a way to improve the environment, and amid the recent coronavirus panic others are blasting the imposition of germ-carrying tote bags on the public.

“Senate Democrats’ desperate need to be green is unclean during the coronavirus outbreak,” said John Flanagan, the Republican leader of the New York State Senate.

Multiple scientific studies support Flanagan’s position, and they were recently compiled by the City Journal, a public-policy magazine produced the Manhattan Institute, a New York City-based think tank.

“The COVID-19 virus is just one of many pathogens that shoppers can spread unless they wash the bags regularly, which few people bother to do,” author John Tierney wrote. “Viruses and bacteria can survive in the tote bags up to nine days, according to one study of Coronaviruses.”

That study was published in the Journal of Hospital Infection in February, and was actually an analysis of several dozen previously published papers on human coronaviruses, indicating that the transmission risks of “environmentally-friendly” tote bags were well-known.

A 2018 study in the Journal of Environmental Health involved sending shoppers into several California grocery stores. Each shopper in the experiment carried a reusable plastic tote bag, which researchers sprayed with a “harmless surrogate of a virus” before the shoppers bought groceries.

The results were shocking. Not only was the surrogate found on the reusable bag after leaving the stores, but high traces were also found on “the hands of the shoppers, the checkout clerks, surfaces touched by the shoppers, packaged foods, unpackaged produce, shopping carts, checkout counters, and payment touchscreens.”

But that’s not all. A 2011 study conducted by scientists at the University of Arizona analyzed the “cross-contamination of food products by reusable bags.” Researchers visited supermarkets in Arizona and California and determined that nearly every single sustainable tote bag contained large amounts of bacteria. In contrast, zero contamination was found in traditional single-use plastic bags.

“Our findings suggest a serious threat to public health, especially from coliform bacteria including E. coli, which were detected in half of the bags sampled,” said Charles Gerba, a University of Arizona professor and co-author of the study.

In light of severe risks, green policymakers continue to push ahead. The New York state Department of Health insists that reusable grocery bags are a “smart choice,” provided consumers adhere to a list of semi-unreasonable caveats, such as using multiple reusable tote bags for separating different types of purchased foods; putting raw meat, fish and poultry into traditional plastic bags; storing reusable bags in cool, dry places; and not reusing for other purposes.

Befuddled Biden Caught in Lie/Flip–Flop Double Whammy over Bankruptcy Bill

‘Joe talked about bankruptcy—Joe, you helped write that bankruptcy bill…’

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Presidential contender Joe Biden was caught in another lie after announcing before Sunday’s debate with fellow Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders that he would support a radical, progressive-backed plan to ease penalties for filing bankruptcy.

As the conservative America Rising PAC noted, this appeared to be a 180-degree flip–flop from the 2005 legislation that Biden helped author in the Senate extending even more power to banks and credit agencies.

Sanders also called Biden out on his hypocrisy during the debate.

But that charge to take ownership of his record led Biden, instead, to flat-out lie.

“This is a little bit about leadership as well,” Sanders said. “Joe talked about bankruptcy—Joe, you helped write that bankruptcy bill.”

“I did not!” exclaimed Biden.

America Rising issued two contemporary articles—one from a 2019 Washington Post op-ed, and one from a 2009 Huffington Post piece as evidence, along with a link to information about the vote itself, which Biden supported.

Biden’s reversal on bankruptcy regulations was one of several ways the former vice president sought to lurch to the left as he sought to stave off Sanders’s challenge to his front-runner status.

While the former Delaware senator may, arguably, have been considered a “moderate” during some of his nearly 40 years in Congress, he has, indisputably, shed that label of late.

But one habit that Biden can’t seem to kick is his penchant for fabrications. Last week, for instance, Washington Post fact-checkers gave his campaign four “Pinocchios” for doctoring a video to mislead the public about President Donald Trump’s comments on the coronavirus.

Not only has he frequently denied his own record and reversed his past claims on the campaign trail, but he faced criticism for some of his confabulations during speeches, in which he seemed to embellish the details for dramatic effect.

Biden dismissed the charge during a September appearance on the Stephen Colbert show.

“Any gaffe that I have made—and I’ve made gaffes like every politician I know has—have been not about a substantive issue,” he claimed. “They’ve been about other—I’m trying to talk about what other people have done.”

Biden sought to deflect from his fact-fudging by claiming it still paled in comparison to the policies of the Trump administration.

“I don’t get wrong things like, you know, there is, uh, we should lock kids up in cages at the border,” he said. “… The devil lives in the details if the details that you’re talking about would affect the outcome of something that is about to happen or should happen.”

Biden neglected to mention, however, that similar border-detention policies also were in effect during the Obama administration, when he served as vice president.

Increasingly, as the weight of the campaign trail and his advanced age begin to take their toll, critics on both the Right and Left have expressed their alarm at Biden’s deteriorating cognitive functions.

Dr. Drew Says Press Should ‘Be Held Accountable’ for Coronavirus Hysteria

‘Businesses are getting destroyed and people’s lives are being upended. Not by the virus, but by the panic…’

Famous TV Doctor Fed Up W/Chronic Calif. Homelessness, Might Run Against Useless Adam Schiff
Dr. Drew Pinsky / IMAGE: Fox News via Youtube

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Celebrity psychologist and physician Dr. Drew Pinsky said that the media’s irresponsible rush to encourage widespread panic during the coronavirus frenzy was tantamount to negligence and it should be held accountable.

“[B]usinesses are getting destroyed and people’s lives are being upended. Not by the virus, but by the panic,” he said during an interview with a Los Angeles radio DJ, according to the Washington Times.

“The panic must stop, and the press, they really, somehow, need to be held accountable, because they are hurting people,” Pinsky said.

Pinsky said that the push for containing the virus was well-intended but had given way to the darker, more exploitative instincts of many in the media.

Many consumers already scoffed at the hysteria given the lack of credibility among most left-leaning outlets following recent over-sensationalized coverage, which has led to several defamation suits and embarrassing mea culpas.

But the press seemed unrelenting in the face of the current pandemic, huffing at any that dared question their dogma of universal quarantines and business closures.

Pinsky said putting the panic into perspective compared to the risks of other health concerns exposed the irrationality of the media-goaded public reaction.

“A bad flu season is 80,000 dead. We’ve got about 18,000 dead from influenza this year; we have 100 from corona,” he said. “Which should you be worried about, influenza or corona, 100 versus 18,000? It’s not a trick question.”

The statements echoed recent criticisms Pinsky made that his own elected congressman, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was failing his constituents by fixating on impeachment of President Donald Trump while ignoring a homeless epidemic in Los Angeles.

Trump, for his part, recently attempted to hold media accountable by filing libel lawsuits against three of his most biased media adversaries: the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN.

Left Uses Health Panic, Public Shaming to Continue to Advance Its Radical Agenda

‘Some of those basic liberties are going to be truncated for a brief period. Most Americans understand the need for that…’

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) The recent “social distancing” and closures of major events may be wise practices in the effort to contain the highly contagious coronavirus, but radical left-wing reactionaries have, predictably, taken it to the extreme in their hopes of tanking the economy and the Trump presidency.

After schools in many states announced closures, major sporting events and even religious services were canceled, public officials encouraged those that could to stay home and avoid risking contact that might spread the virus.

However, some detractors, such as Rep. Devin Nunes, doubted that the mass-quarantine was warranted, and noted that the economic toll of the proposals would make the cure worse than the disease.

Nunes told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that the hysteria had gotten out of hand.

“There’s no shortage of food in this country,” he said. “People don’t need to go to the store and fight over bottled water or toilet paper. … We need to focus all of our energy on our senior population with underlying health concerns.”

Moreover, he said, the emphasis on fear of contracting the disease rather than prioritizing treatment of at-risk populations was just one of the alarming dangers posed by overreacting.

“There’s a lot of concerns with the economy here because people are scared to go out,” he said. “But I will just say, one of the things you can do—if you’re healthy, you and your family, it’s a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant, likely you can get in easily.”

Left Uses Health Panic, Public Shaming to Continue to Advance Its Radical Agenda
Rosie O’Donnell / IMAGE: Late Night with Seth Meyers via Youtube

Left-wing pundits freaked out at Nunes’s suggestion that those in good health continue business as usual in order to support retailers and restaurants that were being forced to shutter due to newly imposed regulations and mass panic.

Their shaming was not limited to Republicans. Some articles, like one from the Reno Gazette Journal, sought to call out tourists who were continuing to gather in Las Vegas.

It is unclear whether the pressure of the public shaming or legitimate concerns led hotels such as Wynn Resorts and MGM to announce Monday that they planned to close their doors and undergo a deep-clean. But on Monday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal announced that the iconic Sahara hotel had begun layoffs. Other articles also seemed to gloat over the economic impact that the virus was expected to have on Sin City.

Naturally, one of those helping lead the way in shaming businesses for staying open was leftist entertainer Rosie O’Donnell.

Others on the Left projected their own agendas onto the supposed crisis, calling for drastic overreactions from opening the borders and discontinuing deportations (ironically, Mexico has said it may tighten its borders to avoid U.S. exposure) to lifting sanctions on Iran that were imposed to block its funding of Middle East terrorism, to enacting a “Coronavirus New Deal” to socialize the economy while they force the free-market to a halt.

Even the once fiscally conservative Utah Sen. Mitt Romney had given into socialism, proposing that Americans all be given a universal basic income to help stimulate the economy during the panic.

Most alarmingly, many seemed to be fine with leaders advocating for the suspension of constitutional rights—such as the Freedom of Assembly and the Freedom of Religion—during the crisis.

An article from the Sacramento Bee raised the issue by citing health officials who claimed public health crises superceded Constitutional authority.

“You don’t have a right to assemble against the backdrop of known public health risk,” James G. Hodge, director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy at Arizona State University, told McClatchy News.

Hodge said declaring a state of emergency, as President Donald Trump did on Friday, allowed officials to “expedite” their procedures by suspending the normal legal process.

“It’s not that we don’t have time for First Amendment interests, it’s that we must act fast,” he said. “What was opened today can be closed tomorrow.”

California, meanwhile, sought to go beyond the abridgment of First Amendment freedoms by crossing into Third Amendment “illegal quartering” territory with a threat to commandeer hotels.

“Some of those basic liberties are going to be truncated for a brief period,” Hodge said. “Most Americans understand the need for that.”

It raises considerable questions, however, as to when—with many governors and mayors declaring “indefinite” suspensions—they expect to resume normal proceedings, and what the lingering fallout may be once the virus runs its course.

Bernie Commends Authoritarians Again for Actions That Had a ‘Positive Impact’

‘What do you think the South Koreans think when they see him praise China like that?’…

Joe Biden Slams Bernie Sanders For Defending Authoritarian Regimes: 'It's Like Saying Jack the Ripper...'
Bernie Sanders/IMAGE: CNN via YouTube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders once again defended former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s communist regime during Sunday’s Democratic debate, leading Joe Biden to criticize Sanders for praising a regime known for “violating human rights.”

Back in the 1980s, Sanders visited Cuba and came back to the U.S. praising Castro.

He has continued to defend those comments.

“We condemn authoritarianism,” Sanders said during Sunday’s debate. “But to simply say that nothing ever done by any of those administrations had a positive impact on their people, I think, would be incorrect.”

When Biden tried to point out Castro’s extreme human rights violations, Sanders exclaimed: “Did China make progress in ending extreme poverty over the last 50 years, yes or no?”

“It’s like saying Jack the Ripper…” Biden began, before Sanders once again cut in: “No it’s not,” he told Biden.

Biden, however, made it clear that “praising a country that is violating human rights around the world” is not a good look.

“What do you think the South Koreans think when they see him praise China like that?” Biden asked.

Sanders has a troubling history of defending authoritarian regimes.

In regard to Cuba, Sanders has praised Castro’s literacy program, arguing we should not condemn it as a “bad thing” just because “Fidel Castro did it.”

He has also blasted the U.S.’s efforts to prevent the spread of communism in Cuba.

“I remember, for some reason or another, being very excited when [former Cuban dictator] Fidel Castro made the revolution in Cuba,” he said while speaking at the University of Vermont in 1986. “I was a kid … and it just seemed right and appropriate that poor people were rising up against rather ugly rich people.”