...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...
for supporting Black Lives Matter, said he wanted to be the "Dennis Rodman" of the Assad regime, and used his Twitter account to defend some of the world’s most notorious dictators and repressive regimes.
On Jan. 1, 2015, Barnes applauded a Twitter post by Khamenei that slammed the U.S. government over slavery.
"The issue of US govt oppression against blacks is a 100s year-old issue," wrote Khamenei, adding the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
Barnes "liked" Khamenei’s post on Twitter and responded to the Iranian leader: "The first tweet of 2015 from @khamenei_ir is #BlackLivesMatter. Let that sink in. May This be a most wonderful year for you and yours."
Barnes’s social media posts could raise questions about the candidate’s willingness to align himself with anti-American and undemocratic leaders. The news comes as Barnes, the Wisconsin lieutenant governor and former state politician, has faced criticism over his repeated appearances on RT, a Russian state-run news network that the U.S. State Department has described as "propaganda support for the Kremlin's foreign policy objectives."
Barnes also wrote several posts opposing any U.S. effort to oust Syrian president Bashir al-Assad in 2013, while the embattled dictator was massacring his own people and using chemical weapons
...have not been used since WWI except for in Iraq, by the late, unlamented Saddam Hussein and in Syria, but really, honest, not by the Syrian government. And in Germany in WWII, but that was against civilians. Lots of them, just one of many reasons Hitler's also late and unlamented..."I'd like to pull a Rodman next. I should have hopped that fence to Syria when I had the chance," wrote Barnes on April 9, 2013, a few weeks after Assad’s regime carried out a deadly Sarin gas attack against its opposition.
He also opposed efforts by the United States to aid the Syrian opposition after Assad’s use of chemical weapons.
"Seeing school administrators plead for more state aid, but seeing that our country is able to send weapons to Syria makes me more anti war," wrote Barnes in June 2013.