Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right, is introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., during a campaign rally, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the last Democrat holdout in the 2020 presidential primary race, didn’t even show up to vote on the stimulus package to help our economy during this Chinese virus epidemic because he decided it was more important to have a townhall alongside members of “The Squad,” including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, Sanders had not long ago snapped at a reporter over questioning his flagging presidential campaign with the excuse that he’s dealing with this “f***ing global crisis”:

Sanders skipped the vote to speak from his home in Vermont with supporters and far-left “Squad” congresswomen Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.). The vote was four days after Sanders snapped at a reporter that he was “dealing with a f—ing global crisis” after being asked about his struggling presidential campaign.

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez both slammed the bill:

“It is hard for me to believe that, in the midst of this terrible crisis, that we have a Senate Republican bill that will give the Trump administration a blank check to hand out corporate welfare to virtually any corporation in America without conditions as to how they can protect workers in this country,” he said. Ocasio-Cortez called the bill a “complete mockery of public service” during the town hall.

It’s rich that Sanders would become angry at reporters and use the Coronavirus as an excuse for his campaign becoming an afterthought in the 2020 race. Biden has, for all intents and purposes, trounced Sanders and is the presumptive winner unless Sanders can get 60 percent of the delegates in every remaining primary. He has yet to obtain 60 percent in any primary so the chances are pretty much nil.

Sanders choosing to spend his time conducting a virtual townhall with “The Squad” shows how desperate Sanders is to energize voters. Despite the effort Sanders has put into convincing the youth to get out and vote for him, his target base has failed to show up on his behalf.

(READ: More Trouble for Dems as Coveted Youth Voters Not Voting)

What’s more, Sanders is likely seizing the opportunity to be seen with AOC and her ilk in order to take advantage of the few and far between opportunities to be seen alongside them. Ocasio-Cortez had largely abandoned Sanders over disagreements on certain issues such as what to do with ICE.

One person close to the Sanders campaign said it was “like pulling teeth” to get AOC to attend Sanders rallies and boost his credibility with her voting base. It’s speculated that AOC’s sudden disappearance caused the Sanders campaign to lose a lot of its momentum though that has not been confirmed. If the Sanders campaign is putting a very important vote in the “unimportant” column in order to be seen next to AOC and her fellow hard-left lawmaker friends than we can assume there is a bit of truth to that.