A year into the 2020 Democratic primary, the race remains essentially unchanged. Joe Biden sits atop the pack, with just under 30 percent support. In second place is Bernie Sanders who, in spite of having never really ended his quixotic 2016 campaign, is still 10 points behind the weakest frontrunner in recent memory, a former Vice President whom even the President he served under begged not to run.

These are facts, backed up by 12 months of polls, which have taken into account the preferences of millions of Americans. So why has an army of trolls taken my online identity hostage for simply (well, not so simply—I do like to spill a bit of tea) stating them?

The Bernie Bros: A Brief History

In late 2015, when Bernie Sanders’ then-protest candidacy inexplicably began gaining traction, the Senator’s attacks on frontrunner Hillary Clinton became sharper and more relentless, with more than a slight tinge of misogyny. As voters began heading to polls and caucus sites in early 2016, it quickly became clear that Sanders was not going to be the nominee, but his most vocal online supporters (mostly young white men) dialed up the harassment (mostly of women) to levels so high it garnered mainstream media attention.

Aided by Russian bots and more than a few Trump supporters, these “Bernie Bros” didn’t spend much time addressing that rather minute policy differences between Sanders and Clinton, or other criticisms of the former Secretary of State that were generally seen as fair at the time. No, this was personal. From hateful slurs like “b*tch” and “c*nt,” to threats of violence and rape, to “doxxing” campaigns that include the distribution of naked photos and real-life contact with employers and family members, this was war, even—especially—if Bernie lost the battle.

Bros in the K-Hive

Bernie Bros ratcheted up their attacks in the lead-up to the 2020 cycle, since the High Sparrow never really stopped running, in spite of having lost to Hillary Clinton by nearly four million votes in 2016. They targeted California Senator Kamala Harris as early as 2017, when the Sanders camp began circulating the “Kamala is a Cop” meme. This racist hogwash was arguably one of the main reasons Harris’ candidacy never caught fire, in spite of her superlative qualifications, likability and political prowess. But I digress.

As 2017 dragged on into 2018 and 2019 began, it became clear that members of the K-Hive (Kamala’s massive army of online supporters) were now the target of the Bros’ vitriol. As had been the case with attacks on Harris herself, the Bros were not shy about using racism, both covert and overt, in an attempt to silence and intimidate members of the K-Hive, who are disproportionately black and female themselves. Sanders’ polling remained largely stagnant throughout 2019, however, and it seemed like the 2020 cycle (at least in the primary) might avoid the most egregious abuses of 2016.

What Happened To Me

I’m a white man (albeit a very gay one), and in 2016 my identity largely exempted me from the very worse of Bernie Bro harassment; this held true throughout much of the early 2020 cycle. But as the Democratic field rapidly winnowed in the final months of 2019, including the unexpected suspension of Kamala Harris’ campaign in November, it suddenly felt like late 2015 all over again: Could Bernie Sanders have a shot, after all? (Spoiler alert: Obviously not—he’s still almost 10 points behind Joe Biden, as I mentioned in the intro to this post).

Around this time, my Twitter account @schradenfreude began to blow up on the back of a series of viral videos, the first few of which actually went after Mayor Pete Buttigieg (who is problematic for a whole other set of reasons). As the tea I served grew in popularity, and my reach and clout expanded, the Bernie Bros became more vicious and relentless, leading me to protect my account more than a few times throughout November and December.

Late last week I posted a video putting perennial Bro-favorite Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on blast, and all hell quickly rained down on me. This culminated not only with my Twitter account being suspended yesterday based on un-substantiated claims of anti-Semitism, but a massive doxxing campaign that saw Bernie Bro pages on Reddit and accounts on Twitter distribute explicit photos of me without my permission, and make truly heinous personal attacks on me. (Yes, for those of you concerned, I am now in contact with a lawyer about this gross cyber exploitation.)

Bernie is Going to Lose Again

Bernie Sanders will never, ever be president—he’s probably going to lose the nomination in 2020 even worse than he lost it in 2016. In addition to the fact that he hasn’t consistently topped 20 percent in national polling, Sanders’ support among black voters (especially black women) remains anemic at best. Like Clinton in 2016, Biden maintains a huge edge among this demographic—the base of the Democratic party—going into 2020, which will make it all but impossible for Sanders to clear or even approach a majority of delegates prior to the convention in Milwaukee in July.

If Bernie Bros really cared about the country (or indeed, their candidate), they would focus their energy not on attacking dissenting voices, but on helping Sanders do as well as he can in the primaries, so that a decent number of his policy ideas (some of which, I concede, are not terrible) make it into the platform of the eventual nominee. Instead, I fear they’ll continue trying to destroy the lives of anyone who calls into question the supremacy of Comrade Bernie, even if that person is relatively un-powerful like I was, even at the height of my influence on Twitter.

It would be nice if the media, as they publish a rash of puff pieces that greatly inflate Sanders’ chances of winning the nomination, would remind America that the Bernie Bros are back in town. They never left, actually, and if Democrats want any hope of beating Trump in 2020 (or, if Trump loses, rooting out the hatefulness and divisiveness of Trumpism from American society), it’s time to shine a light on these trolls and get them out from under the dirty mattresses in their moms’ basements, once and for all.