Bernie supporters hate Beto O'Rourke.

Bernie supporters fear Beto O'Rourke.

Bernie supporters are at WAR with Beto O'Rourke.

Bernie supporters couldn't give two shits about a centrist candidate like Beto O'Rourke who lost to Ted Cruz.

I believe what the media is doing is creating "a war" amongst "the left" that doesn't exist in reality.

It's actually kind of brilliant in a way.

It keeps people distracted from the issues by focusing on a candidate that has no chance at all, by creating a misleading narrative about who Beto is and what progressives care about.

Lie #1: Beto is a progressive.

TheHill: From Bernie to Beto, a progressive era begins

CNN: Bernie Sanders supporters should worry about Beto O'Rourke

TheWeek: Beto is the new Bernie

Lie #2: Beto has a chance

VanityFair: “Trump Got Lucky”: Why G.O.P. Insiders Fear Beto and Biden Over Warren and Sanders

And then, with the hype machine getting some momentum, actual progressives looked at Beto's voting record.



Given their at-times extreme antipathy toward Bernie during his first presidential run, mainstream news media are likely to have an appetite for a 2019 storyline that Sanders’ support is eroding. O’Rourke is apt to be quite useful for such a narrative. The Democratic Party establishment that went all-out to get Hillary Clinton the 2016 nomination is palpably eager to block Bernie. And some in that establishment are already indicating that they believe O’Rourke might do the trick. A revealing sign came early this month from a leading sentinel of the Democratic Party’s corporate wing—the relentless Clinton loyalist Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress. What set her off was a matter-of-fact tweet from investigative reporter David Sirota, who told people “Something I didn’t know: Beto O’Rourke is the #2 recipient of oil/gas industry campaign cash in the entire Congress.” Sirota provided a link to campaign finance data. Tanden quickly went into onslaught overdrive with a tweet lashing out at the sharing of such information about the three-term congressman: “Oh look. A supporter of Bernie Sanders attacking a Democrat. This is seriously dangerous. We know Trump is in the White House and attacking Dems is doing Trump’s bidding. I hope Senator Sanders repudiates these attacks in 2019.”

Pointing out the facts is seen as an attack according to the establishment press. Reality is seen as the enemy to mainstream liberals.

Which brings us Lie #3: Bernie supporters are being hateful, intolerant and unreasonable.

TheAtlantic: Beto O’Rourke and the New Democratic Purity Test

WhyY: Bernie versus Beto: Democratic cannibalization begins

MSNBC: Inside Bernie-world's war on Beto O'Rourke

NewYorkMag: Why the Bernie Movement Must Crush Beto O’Rourke

VanityFair: “They Are Suspicious of Beto”: Why Are Democrats Trying to Annihilate an O’Rourke Campaign Before It Has Even Started?



The howls about O’Rourke from the Chapo wing of the Internet say as much about Bernie Sanders’s diminished stature as they do about the golden boy from Texas.

This is a huge, manufactured joke.

Bernie supporters aren't at war with Beto.

Beto isn't even on the radar for progressives.

This is just another false narrative intended to cast Bernie supporters in a negative light and to distract us from the important issues.

Demographically, Beto's base overlaps with Bernie's base. So if Bernie people are leading the attack on Beto in this non-existent war, it could alienate potential Bernie supporters.

All this proves is that the Democratic establishment still feels threatened by Bernie Sanders and his supporters, and that's a good thing.