Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt mocked 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in a tweet Monday.
The tweet shows a 1988 video of Sanders, along with several others including his wife, attending an unidentified panel in the Soviet Union just three years before the socialist empire collapsed.
Bildt said in his tweet that Sanders was lucky to visit and “praise all [of] its stunning socialist achievements before the entire system and empire collapsed under the weight of its own spectacular failures”:
Bernie Sanders was lucky to be able to get to the Soviet Union in 1988 and praise all its stunning socialist achievements before the entire system and empire collapsed under the weight of its own spectacular failures. pic.twitter.com/bENmwVKi0g
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) February 25, 2019
Sanders praised many of the social works in Moscow, saying, “All of the people here were extremely impressed by their public transportation system. The stations themselves were absolutely beautiful, including many works of art, chandeliers that were beautiful; it was a very, very effective system.”
Sanders also added how impressed he was with the Soviet Union’s youth and cultural programs, even comparing them to those in America: “Their palaces of culture for the young people, a whole variety of programs for young people, and cultural programs: which go far beyond what we do in this country.”
Sanders also sang praises for the arts in Moscow, which includes a puppet show, saying, “The highest price of a ticket that you can get is the equivalent of $1.50.”
Writing from France, long-time EU official @carlbildt decided to try to meddle in the 2020 US election by implying pretty strongly that Bernie Sanders was a fan of the Soviet Union and Communism and got special access (“lucky to be able to get to”) from the Kremlin. #Meddling https://t.co/0ODkHW9fbV
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 26, 2019
Sanders’s wife, Jane Sanders, also made an appearance in the video and praised the Soviet Union. (RELATED: Bernie Sanders Calls To Fight Corruption Despite Wife’s Corruption Case)
“I think the things that struck me the most were the way that they dealt with children and with the cultural life of their community,” Jane Sanders said in regard to the regime’s community centers, which, according to her, were paid entirely by trade union dues.
Bildt served as Swedens Prime Minister from 1991 to 1994 and as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2014.
He currently works for Covington and Burling law group and is on the board of trustees for the European Council on Foreign Relations