Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden said that she “never worked on welfare reform,” and the suggestion that she supported cutting from the program is a lie. | Getty Progressive blogger fired for calling Hillary Clinton ally a 'scumbag'

A progressive blogger was fired Friday for referring to a Hillary Clinton ally as a “scumbag,” igniting a fiery social-media exchange between the two and other high-profile writers who are at odds over the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The comment from Matt Bruenig, who wrote about philosophy and political economy at liberal think tank, Demos, came after a Twitter back-and-forth between Bruenig and Joan Walsh, a writer for The Nation, on a piece Walsh wrote, which is titled, “Bernie Sanders is hurting himself by playing the victim.”


Walsh tweeted that she rejects “the moral superiority of a coalition led by white men vs. the will of black, brown and female voters” while linking to the article. Bruenig responded directly, arguing that the divide between the two Democratic candidates is “really about old people versus young people.” He accused Walsh of having a “level of animus towards young people. It’s kind of disgusting.”

@joanwalsh Your dishonesty on these topics is only matched by your level of animus towards young people. It's kind of disgusting. — Matt Bruenig (@MattBruenig) May 19, 2016

Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress, eventually jumped in to the conversation, which by that point had shifted to welfare reform.

Bruenig said Tanden “tried to starve me and my mother because she wanted to be in Democratic politics,” and advanced the position that Tanden supported welfare reform in the 1990s, when Bill Clinton was president. Bruenig has been critical of Clinton in his writings, calling her "an enemy of the poor" and "a garbage rich person."

Tanden tweeted at Bruenig that “having been on welfare myself, don’t need lectures on this topic from you.”

Bruenig replied with this tweet: “Scumbag Neera uses welfare when she needs it then takes away from others when they need it. Disgusting.”

@neeratanden @joanwalsh Scumbag Neera uses welfare when she needs it then takes away from others when they need it. Disgusting. — Matt Bruenig (@MattBruenig) May 19, 2016

Tanden responded that she “never worked on welfare reform,” and that the suggestion that she supported cutting from the program is a lie.

Demos then responded to the ongoing Twitter thread, calling Bruenig’s tweets “unacceptable,” and apologized for his words.

The organization released a lengthy statement Friday night detailing its differences with Bruenig, who has more than 270,000 Twitter followers, and his departure from the group.

The statement also highlighted the ongoing feud between factions of the Democratic Party, saying “it has been a particularly challenging place for progressives on opposite sides during the Democratic primary, and we know that there is a Sanders versus Clinton overlay to the Twitter exchange on Thursday night.”

Later, Bruenig apparently set up a GoFundMe page for one cause, "The Bruenig Bailout." According to the page, 654 people raised nearly $25,000 in 13 hours. The listed goal was $10,000, and Bruenig has since closed off donations.

Bruenig declined to comment on the record when reached by POLITICO.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald also jumped into the conversation to suggest that Tanden had influenced Demos' decision to part ways with Bruenig.

@armandodkos I believe they bear the bulk of the blame. But the CAP President has a great deal of power in that world & used it. — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 21, 2016





Tanden and Walsh both tweeted as recently as Saturday morning to say they hadn't learned of Bruenig's firing until after it had happened.