Thom Hartmann Laments Tiananmen Square Massacre as 'Downside' of Chinese Communism

Yes, it was indeed unfortunate that the Chinese government cracked down on protesters in Tiananmen Square 25 years ago, Thom Hartmann told his radio audience in noting the anniversary.

But on the bright side, Hartmann exclaimed, at least there aren't any billionaires like the Koch brothers in China. Providing, of course, that one overlooks China's government kleptocracy. (Audio after the jump)

In the spirit of giving credit where due, Hartmann is transparent about his enthusiasm for socialism, much like his frequent guest, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Bolshevik of Vermont, with whom he has "Brunch with Bernie" every Friday, and unlike so many left-wingers who obliquely signal their devotion, most often with fawning praise for Sanders.

Hartmann's ardor for collectivism and contempt for private property occasionally lead him down the path of Stalinists of yore. When cornered about atrocities committed for the sake of their ideology, they'd infrequently concede that such "excesses" did occur -- then claim that the perfect omelet of utopia can't be created without breaking more than a few dissidents.

Here is Hartmann's curiously worded commentary on the butchery at Tiananmen (audio) --

China, by the way, has announced that they are going to cap CO2 emissions, this was yesterday. Today, they said they are going to set an absolute cap on CO2 emissions from 2016. It was the day after the President said that he was going to put in place something like that. China's now the world's largest emitter of carbon and they said this is going to happen when the next five-year plan comes into force in 2016. 

You know, the good thing I suppose about the Chinese form of government is that they don't have to deal with the Koch brothers, they don't have to deal with billionaire oil, you know, petro-billionaires, people who make their money off carbon being in the ground and the extraction of it. They just say, hey, you know what's the best thing for the country? OK, we'll do that. And if somebody doesn't like it, screw them. I mean, you know, the downside of that is, if somebody doesn't like that, and Tiananmen Square. This week is the anniversary of Tiananmen Square, I think June 5 is the day that it happened, and there's just an absolute amnesia in China about it, which is a fascinating phenomenon.

The "downside" of Chinese communism, you say? Its "true face" would be more accurate. But hey, that's what it takes to get the bullet trains running on time -- and "screw them" who aren't on board.