A Brainwashed Youth : AU students prefer Castro to Trump

Fidel Castro’s recent death evoked conflicting assessments of his legacy from world leaders, but college students are no more prepared than prime ministers to justify their support for the Cuban dictator.



President-Elect Donald Trump, for example, referred to Castro as a “brutal dictator,” whereas Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called him a “remarkable leader.”



In order to gauge millennial feelings on the passing of the authoritarian Cuban leader, Campus Reform asked students at American University which political figure they viewed more favorably: Castro or Trump.



While several students identified the repressive elements of Castro’s regime, such as jailing and murdering his political opponents, few were willing to say that this made them view him less favorably than Donald Trump.



“I mean, right now I don’t think Donald Trump is very good, and I know that Fidel Castro has done some good things for the world so I’d say he’s proven himself at least in the long term to be more favorable,” one student opined after referencing Castro’s health care reforms in Cuba.



Another student borrowed language from Trudeau, calling Castro a “remarkable leader” and claiming that his regime “made possibilities for the Cuban people nearly endless.”



“I would say, at this very moment, I have, um, a better opinion of Fidel Castro,” professed one student, even after expressing her concerns about the repression of his people.



Several of the students who spoke with Campus Reform refused to name which leader they view more favorably, explaining that it was a “hard question” and that the two were not comparable, if only because Trump has not yet taken office.



One student, however, did extrapolate enough to assert that if Trump’s presidency is “anything like he said it will be, then I think that Fidel Castro will absolutely have been a better leader.”