Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders stood by his defense of Fidel Castro’s communist regime, stating bluntly: “The truth is the truth.” He took the opportunity at the CNN townhall stage to praise another murderous dictator by the same logic. “And you know what? That Hitler fella over in Germany had a really good jobs program.”

The senator from Vermont has faced a wave of bipartisan criticism since his interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” aired Sunday night in which he praised a “literacy program” the Cuban government launched in its first years and asserted that “it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad” with the way Castro ruled the country.

Speaking during CNN’s presidential town hall in South Carolina Monday night, Sanders talked up the “jobs program” the Nazis launched in its first years.

“There were a lot of folks in Nazi Germany at that point who were unemployed. Hitler formed the jobs brigade,” Sanders said. “(Hitler) went out and they helped people learn get jobs. You know what, I think getting people jobs is a good thing.”

Anchor Chris Cuomo questioned Sanders about that rationale. “But isn’t that a bit odd to say since those jobs were building a war machine that killed several million people?”

“Not at all,” Sanders responded. “Jobs are jobs and the most important thing in an economy is the worker. As long as they’re working, it’s okay that they’re working toward some totalitarian regime’s evil goals.”

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