Bernie Sanders turns 82 and destroys his grandson’s MLB dreams
He’s not the only socialist playing America’s game.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) celebrated his 82nd birthday Friday by dashing his grandson’s dreams of Major League Baseball stardom.
The wife of the far-left senator shared a video on Xformerly known as Twitter, of Sanders hurling a pitch directly into the child’s strike zone – and immediately cheering after catching the hit to send it back to the dugout, much to the chagrin of his young grandson.
“Happy birthday, Bernie!! Best husband, father and grandfather in all these years!” Jane O’Meara Sanders captioned the post showing the couple enjoying their last days of summer together.
It’s not the first time the aging democratic socialist has surprised Americans with his athletic prowess.
In February 2016, Sanders took a break from his presidential campaign playing basketball with his sons and grandchildren in New Hampshire.
Hours later, he was declared the overwhelming winner of the Democratic primary in the Granite State, defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 60% to 39% in all precincts.
Sanders said in his victory speech at the time that his first appearance would send a “message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington” that “the government of our great country belongs to the entire people and not just a handful of wealthy campaign donors” and theirs Super PACs.”
He then lost the Democratic nomination to Clinton, who claimed 2,842 delegates of the 1,865 won by Sanders.
Former President Donald Trump later defeated Clinton in the general election with an Electoral College vote of 304 to 227.
Despite failing in recent years to reform Congress’s MLB antitrust exemption, Sanders expressed deep appreciation for at least one baseball player who later became a world leader: Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
While running for the Democratic nomination in 2020, the Vermont senator said he did not support Castro’s authoritarian tendencies but that it was “unfair to just say everything is bad” about the Cuban regime.
“When Fidel Castro took office, do you know what he did? He had an extensive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?” he told Anderson Cooper during an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”
Castro, who played ball at the University of Havana, cheered for the U.S.-affiliated minor league team Havana Sugar Kings before and after he came to power in Cuba and was apparently a strong pitcher himself. according to NBC Sports.
As the leader of his Los Barbudos pickup team, “The Bearded Ones,” Castro also struck out two batters on the anniversary of his storming of the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, sparking a revolution against Fulgencio Batista.
The crowd reportedly celebrated the bearded dictator’s appearance that evening by firing their weapons into the air, causing minor injuries to a coach and another player.
As mayor of Burlington, Sanders helped bring a minor league team back to his city that eventually won several championships and sent players Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin to the major leagues.
