Recently it has occurred to me that many Hillary 2016 supporters are adamantly Anti-Bernie Sanders. Immediately following his 2020 Campaign Announcement, a barrage of attack pieces started circulating on social media. As an avid Bernie supporter, I too lived the intensity of the 2016 Democratic Primary. It was not a clean race by any means, and both campaigns suffered. What does not make sense to me, however, is the lasting vitriol that seems determined to divide rather than unify the left. At a time when our own president will be trying to tear us down, we need to be building each other up.

In a piece titled, “Bernie Sanders, It’s Over,” Froma Harrop tries to extinguish Bernie’s campaign before it even begins [1]. What you may be surprised to find is Froma Harrop is not new to attacking Bernie. She attacked him in 2015 and later apologized for it:

“Finally, I never tire of hearing you describe your smart liberal ideas with force and conviction. I still don’t think you’re going to be IT. But if I ever came off as not respecting you, Bernie, I apologize.” [2]

In her most recent article, she calls him out for fighting to the very end of the primary, but in 2015 she says:

“Bernie, the poll numbers show you slipping further behind Hillary among Democratic voters. That alone is not reason enough to downplay your quest for the presidency. Candidates have come roaring back, and Hillary’s performance over the years has not been flawless.” [2]

Harrop’s hypocritical stances aside, I’d like to focus on the BernieBro controversy. What started as a political tactic to discredit Bernie Sanders impeccable history of fighting for woman’s rights [3] (and an uninspired copy of the 2008 “Obama Boys” attack) became something much more nefarious.

Hillary supporters were being attacked on social media by so-called BernieBros with misogynistic language. I imagine this is why a lot of Hillary supporters remain anti-Bernie to this day. There is now a growing body of evidence that suggests, “the sexist responses on Twitter purportedly from male Sanders supporters may have been actually Russian bots intended to disrupt the election [4], a suggestion supported in part by testimony at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings on Russian election interference” [6]. Obviously, my own personal anecdotes don’t lend much credence to this argument, but in my time campaigning for Bernie Sanders I never came across someone so disturbed as to violently attack Clinton supporters in person or online.

Is it possible some of them were real? Of course, I bet some were (this is the internet, people are crazy). But it was certainly not the Bernie Sanders masterplan that some media journalists want you to believe. In the midst of that crisis, “Sanders criticized “Bernie Bros” for their sexist attacks against rival Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. “It’s disgusting. […] Anybody who is supporting me and who is doing sexist things, we don’t want them. I don’t want them. That is not what this campaign is about [7].”

Bernie may not be your cup of democratic-socialist tea, but attacking a politician with an incredible voting history, because of media sensationalism or foreign disinformation efforts, is giving them exactly what they want. We are stronger when we unify, and we unify by supporting those candidates we like, not by tearing down our partners.

—

Jesse Checkla

2/21/2019

Sources:

[1] Harrop, F. Bernie Sanders, It’s Over. (2019, February 21). Retrieved from https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/02/21/bernie_sanders_its_over_139527.html?fbclid=IwAR1txN8M9aAeefSno_0F3D-vSEgLMZv_VNPok4ztLj_ppCMnxjLzXQ05asE

[2] Harrop, F. (2015, December 22). An Apology to Bernie Sanders, by Froma Harrop. Retrieved from https://www.creators.com/read/froma-harrop/12/15/an-apology-to-bernie-sanders

[3] FeelTheBern.org. (n.d.). Bernie Sanders on Women’s Rights. Retrieved from http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-womens-rights/

[4] McElrath, L. (2018, February 07). Watching the hearings, I learned my “Bernie bro” harassers may have been Russian bots. Retrieved from https://shareblue.com/watching-the-hearings-i-learned-my-bernie-bro-harassers-may-have-been-russian-bots/

[5] Shane, S. (2017, September 07). The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html

[6] Bernie Bro. (2019, February 20). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Bro

[7] Shastry, A. (2016, February 07). Sanders addresses ‘Bernie Bros,’ says he doesn’t want support from sexists. Retrieved from https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/7/sanders-addresses-bernie-bros-says-he-doesnt-want-/

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