Bernie Sanders '60 Minutes' Interview: "Unfair To Say Everything Is Bad" About Cuban Revolution, Castro

In an interview with '60 Minutes' correspondent Anderson Cooper after his victory in the Nevada caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders talked about Michael Bloomberg, Donald Trump, democratic socialism, and what he would do if elected president.



Anderson Cooper interviews Bernie Sanders:





ANDERSON COOPER, '60 MINUTES' CORRESPONDENT: Sanders says the change he envisions most closely resembles Scandanavian and European countries with democratic governments and comprehensive social programs. But that's certainly not how President Trump has characterized it.



And it's not just President Trump. At the debate this past week in Las Vegas, this is how former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg responded to one of Sanders' proposals to require greater employee ownership of large companies.



FORMER NYC MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: I can't think of a way that would make it easier for Donald Trump to get re-elected than listening to this conversation. This is ridiculous. We're not going to throw out capitalism. We tried that. Other countries tried that. It was called communism. And it just didn't work.



COOPER: You said it was a cheap shot that he said that. What's going to happen on the stage w-- with President Trump, he's going to be doing shots all the time on you, on this.



SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): And you know what? We will fight back. And this is what we will bring up. We will bring up is that the president of the United States is a pathological liar. And it is increasingly clear that many people just don't believe anything that he says. He is a fraud. I look forward to taking him on.



COOPER: What is democratic socialism?



SANDERS: When Donald Trump was a private businessman in New York, he got $800 million in tax breaks and subsidies to build luxury housing. That's called corporate socialism. What democratic socialism is about is saying, 'Let's use the federal government to protect the interests of working families.'



COOPER: Back in the 1980s, Sanders had some positive things to say about the former Soviet Union and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.



Here he is explaining why the Cuban people didn't rise up and help the U.S. overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro: "…he educated their kids, gave them health care, totally transformed the society, you know?"



SANDERS: We're very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it's unfair to simply say everything is bad. You know? When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?



COOPER: A lot of political dissidents were imprisoned in Cuba.



SANDERS: That's right. And we condemn that. Unlike Donald Trump, let's be clear, you want to-- I do not think that Kim Jong Un is a good friend. I don't trade love letters with a murdering dictator. Vladimir Putin, not a great friend of mine.

Bernie Sanders says he would meet with Kim Jong Un as president:Bernie Sanders on the experiences that helped shape his political beliefs: