Topics: Alex Jones, Bernie or Bust, Bernie Sanders, Democratic National Convention, DNC 2016, Elections 2016, Green Party, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein, Elections News, News, Politics News

Even though the outpouring of rage from Bernie Sanders supporters on day one of the DNC was ugly, there are strong indications that it was little more than a childish fit. There is no real evidence that huge numbers think Hillary Clinton stole the primary or that we’re better off with Donald Trump as president.

But that doesn’t mean the Bernie-or-bust crowd has gone away. They are spending the Democratic convention outside in the blazing hot sun, trying to persuade the world….well, of something. There’s no coherent ideology being communicated, and my visit to a Tuesday Bernie or Bust rally, conducted by Revolt Against Plutocracy, did not do much to clarify matters.

Despite its ostensible left-leaning politics, the rally, held across the street from Philadelphia’s famous city hall, reminded me of nothing so much as the Alex Jones/Infowars rally I attended last week at the RNC. The only major difference is that the Bernout crowd doesn’t have nearly the same sway over the Democratic party as the Alex Jones fans have over the Donald Trump-controlled Republican party.

Like the Cleveland rally, this one was composed mostly of white men who really, really hate Hillary Clinton and aren’t afraid to make wild accusations about the first woman to be a major party nominee for president. Or to carry signs that they probably did not realize communicate subconscious phallic fears of Clinton’s ascension to power.

There were, however, no dudes openly carrying guns at this rally. So there is that.

Clinton was not the only woman who was being demonized in the shadow of the “Government of the People” sculpture. Sarah Silverman’s slight about Bernie-or-busters being “ridiculous” at the DNC created a grudge that was being well-nursed at the rally.

Tim Black, the host of various online talk radio shows who bills himself “unfiltered, politically incorrect and downright offensive,” was spitting nails about Silverman daring speak back to those who would boo her.

“Sarah Silverman has never been funny,” Black declared before going on a rant about how it’s Silverman and not the people at the rally who are ridiculous.

It was a moment of anti-comedian hostility from a talk show host that had strong echoes of Alex Jones, at his RNC rally, raving about “The Daily Show” and trying to make a spectacle out of the comedian Eric Andre. The main difference was that Jones had more of a sense of humor about it.

As with the Infowars rally, the theme of the day was extreme paranoia and intimations that shadowy conspiracies are aligned against the folks gathered. Many attendees sported signs suggesting that Clinton had somehow stolen the primary from them.