Prominent liberals have turned on left-wing billionaire George Soros over his defense of former Democratic Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who resigned in January following allegations that he repeatedly groped women without their consent.

Soros slammed Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for her role in pushing Franken to resign over the allegations. Soros accused Gillibrand of turning on Franken, whom Soros said he admired, “in order to improve her chances” for the 2020 presidential elections. (RELATED: Dem Donor Network Wants Reparations On Agenda By 2022)

“With midterms approaching and a larger-than-ever bench of female candidates running for office — and after that, a presidential race where several of the potential contenders are women — we’ll see just how well Democrats, especially those with the power to influence elections, learned the lessons of 2016,” feminist author Jill Filipovic wrote in a Tuesday column for CNN titled, “If Democrats agree with Soros’ sexist comments, they’re in trouble.”

“If Soros’ comments are any indication, there’s a significant chunk of the Democratic electorate — I imagine a mostly male chunk — who haven’t learned much at all,” she concluded.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes called Soros’s defense of Franken “sexist garbage,” which he said “should be lit on fire.” Others made similar arguments.

Vox writer Dylan Matthews described Soros as “misogynistic.”

The Washington Post’s Eugene Scott noted Monday that Soros’s comments — and the ensuing backlash — have real potential to further divide the Democratic Party.

“A lingering debate over the consequences of misconduct seems like a recipe for poisonous internal strife within the Democratic coalition,” Scott wrote.

“If Soros and like-minded donors punish Gillibrand and the other aspiring female lawmakers who wanted to see Franken and other men in Congress removed because of their alleged behavior, it could remind voters that misconduct lingers on the left as well as the right.”

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