Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders were surprised to see establishment Democrats saying the quiet part out loud—that the nominating process isn’t decided by voters, according to Anton Gunn, a former adviser to President Obama.

The former South Carolina state representative said on MSNBC that party elites decide who becomes the nominee, not the public.

“I will say that Bernie is moving the goalpost,” he said. “This is what people need to remember: The Democratic Party has a party. The party decides its nominee. The public doesn’t really decide the nominee. The public gets to vote for president of the United States, but people who are active in the party, who participate in the party, they decide the nominee.”

He continued: “Superdelegates are very influential in the party. Also, delegates are very influential. And just because you’re a pledged delegate for Bernie Sanders or a pledged delegate for Joe Biden doesn’t mean when you get to the convention floor that you’ll stay a delegate for Biden or Sanders. It’s a process.”

"The Democratic Party has a party. The party decides its nominee. The public doesn’t really decide the nominee." - Fmr. Obama Adviser Anton Gunn #RiggedElection pic.twitter.com/94KaZRwtuL — Francis Brennan (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@FrancisBrennan) February 27, 2020

Gunn said last year that he never believed Sanders should have been allowed in the primary to begin with since he's not a Democrat.

"He’s never been a Democrat, till it became politically expedient for him to say, 'I’m a Democrat,’" Gunn told the Spectator. "He chose to be an interloper."