Senator Bernie Sanders gave a town hall rally to wildly enthusiastic supporters last night, allegedly moderated by the curiously incurious Wolf Blitzer on CNN. The Czar notes Wolf’s utter lack of interest in follow-up questions, taking Sanders’ word for everything.

Case in point: a young woman in attendance stated that she was a little reluctant to support Sanders, given the latter’s inability to respond in a meaningful way to accusations that one or more members of his campaign abused women. Sanders said he wasn’t particularly interested in the situation at the time, but has learned quite a bit since then and now takes matters like this seriously. Delighted applause by his sycophants in the seats, and complete disinterest by Blitzer in asking what the living goshdamned hell that non-answer meant. In fact, Blitzer moved on to another questioner, rather than posing the obvious counterpoint: when candidate Donald Trump described some of his actions as locker-room-talk, from which he has developed greater sensitivity, the media laughed for months and still brings up his non-answer. Sanders and Trump used different words, but the brush-off was identical.

What a weird world Sanders inhabits. In fact, his delusional fantasies are so encompassing that you’re perfectly welcome to contribute more to it. Don’t want to pay for college? Let the millionaires and billionaires pay for it. Want the federal government to cover the cost of day care for your toddlers? Let the millionaires and billionaires pay for it. Not sure whether you could survive socialized medicine? Guess who should pay for that! Go on, guess.

Right you are. Really, whatever you don’t want to do anymore, let someone else pay for it. This is a switch from the usual zero-sum economic understanding that most socialists have. Most of them assume that there’s a finite amount of economy in the world, and the rich get richer by taking more of it, and the poor get poorer because there’s less and less for them. Not to Sanders: there’s an infinite supply of money—septillions of it, maybe—and we just need to pry it out of the Milburn Pennybagses who live across America.

And it’s not just money. Sanders’ observations on America assume you believe the following:

• Russia actively hacked the 2016 election to defeat Hillary Clinton.*
• Scandanavia has free healthcare that is top-notch.
• College is a fundamental human right, not an option.
• College is free in Scandavia, too. Anything you want, no cost.
• Donald Trump is rounding up homosexuals.
• Donald Trump has set back women’s equality over one-hundred years.
• All immigrants are being collected and thrown over the border…by Donald Trump.
• Donald Trump is openly racist. You can tell, because he just is.
• Science agrees that in order to combat climate change, we need a total takeover over the world economy by progressives. Science, incidentally, is silent on whether nuclear power works or whether babies feel pain until a day or two after they’re born.
• We need a takeover of the healthcare system by the government, and yes, you can keep your doctor. What, something happened in 2009?
• We need to reduce fossil fuels and significantly increase wind and solar farming. Wait, something else happened during 2009? Why is no one saying anything?
• Donald Trump has wrecked the US economy, and nearly everyone is out of work and miserable.

As a moderate person of typical thinking ability listens to Senator Sanders, he or she is certain to wonder “Where is he getting all this?” Sanders seems utterly unaware, in his sputtering rage, that none of these claims seems to hold water, or in fact have been implemented to an astonishing lack of success. Maybe we didn’t try hard enough, he would propose in a typically socialist way.

He seems to have no understanding of foreign affairs, has probably never talked to anyone from the magical country of Scandavia, is unaware of the Obama presidency’s dismal experiments in identical progressivism, and seems to be absolutely obsessed with Donald Trump as the most evil thing in creation. And this went on and on… with him repeating himself over and over.

But that’s Bernie Sanders the candidate. Bernard Sanders, the person, is much different: he’s a cold-hearted schemer who enjoys living a stunningly luxurious life and moving money around in questionable deals. His ethics, to say the least, are so questionable that many on his staff are in serious trouble. Indeed, as of today (and since last night), most of his advisers have bolted from his campaign.

Senator Sanders is a profoundly unserious person living in a world that doesn’t quite sync up to experience. He’ll probably advance quite far in 2020.

* The irony here is that someone did get hacked: the Democratic National Committee, with the result being the discovery that it was Hillary Clinton who rigged the primaries so that Sanders would lose. Sanders, if he really believes Russia was behind it, ought to send a thank you.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.