ANALYSIS: Bernie Sanders quickly trips over foreign policy as Democratic front-runner

The quick blowback is just a taste of things to come for the Vermont senator if he does capture the Democratic nomination in future primaries, starting with the South Carolina primary on Saturday, followed by a slew of contests on March 3, Super Tuesday.

President Trump’s campaign is no doubt keeping track of Sanders’s foreign policy comments and is ready to deploy them in a general election campaign. The Trump administration has made a number of moves favorable to Israel, including moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, and the country figures to be a major issue in his reelection effort. On Cuba, Trump in April warned the island nation it would face a “full and complete embargo” and high-level sanctions if it fails to stop military operations in Venezuela.

Sanders, 78, in a 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday, praised elements of the communist regime imposed on Cuba by the late strongman Fidel Castro after seizing power in 1959 — and perpetuated to this day by his younger brother, Raul Castro.

“We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba, but it’s unfair to say everything’s bad. When Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a literacy program,” he said.

The comment is in line with foreign policy views articulated by Sanders over the past four decades. Mayor of Burlington, Vermont, from 1981-89, he once viewed his municipal challenges as comparable to those faced by the Marxist Nicaraguan government.

Cuba has long been a thorny issue in presidential politics. The populous Cuban exile community in South Florida and its descendants have taken a dim view of rapprochement efforts with the island’s government. And in New Jersey, anti-Cuba sentiment runs strong, with a significant number of the island’s former residents having settled there. Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is a vociferous critic of the Castro regime.

“Say goodbye to Florida. And prepare to spend money in New Jersey. If he’s the nominee,” tweeted Rory Cooper, a former senior House Republican leadership aide now with Purple Strategies.

And Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles said Sanders’s Cuba remarks glossed over the Castro regime’s terror, including its treatment of political prisoners.

“Every dictator has done good things. I’m sure the thousands of political prisoners and executed rivals were grateful for the uptick in literacy,” Wolpe tweeted.

Sanders’s Cuba remarks aired hours after he declined to attend the annual convention, in Washington, of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which promotes strong and enduring ties between the United States and Israel.

“The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security. So do the Palestinian people. I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason I will not attend their conference,” Sanders tweeted. “As president, I will support the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians and do everything possible to bring peace and security to the region.”

Sanders, who would be the first Jewish president, is a longtime critic of Israel. In 2016, he wildly overstated the number of Gaza residents killed in Israel’s defensive war after rockets were launched from the coastal territorial strip.

“I’ve attended AIPAC more than ten times. Every time Palestinian rights were mentioned people applauded. There are a range of views presented, left, right and center. This dismissal is unwarranted and unworthy,” tweeted Wolpe.