Since Bernie Sanders came onto the scene as a serious presidential candidate, he’s been an easy target for the right and the moderate left. “He’s a communist!”, “socialism doesn’t work!”, etc.. Bernie supporters have repeatedly rebutted such claims with “it’s democratic socialism, like the Nordic countries. Don’t you people like having roads, schools, and a fire department?” The Bernie crowd hates constantly having to go on the defensive about gulags and communism. Any talk of Cuba, Venezuela, or the former Soviet Union gets shot down. “That wasn’t real socialism”, says the hipster at your local coffee shop.
A Project Veritas video showing the sentiments of some staffers in the Bernie Sanders campaign was just released. If you wanted some insight on how some in the Bernie crowd think and feel about the current state of affairs, here’s a look. Certainly not every Bernie supporter thinks this way, but the idea that Bernie’s own campaign staffer talks in this manner is revealing. This type of rhetoric is indistinguishable from what you would hear from Antifa thugs.
Over the last few years, more people have become receptive to the idea of socialism, mostly my fellow millennials. I understand the appeal. The idea of not having to pay off student loans and pay for expensive health insurance sounds awesome. But as with a lot of far left policies, there are always unintended consequences. Instead of the free market setting prices, the government sets them. Artificial controls almost always diminish the quality of goods and services. Wealth is redistributed, but very little is created. It’s zero sum.
As we can see with the whack job in the Project Veritas video, it’s not always about compassion for the poor and working class. It’s often just about hatred for the rich. Envy is a big driver of these ideas. By many historical accounts, Karl Marx was driven by envy.
It’s also startling to see the sheer arrogance of these folks. The “we need to re-educate Trump voters like they re-educated Nazis in post-WW2 Germany” is quite the hot take. Accepting political differences is not part of the far left agenda. They’ve made it more and more clear recently, but now we have it straight from the campaign of a major presidential candidate. When politics is your religion, live and let live isn’t a thing. Dave Rubin puts it perfectly here:
I’ll say it again, not every Bernie supporter thinks this way. Many just want a break from paying student loans and health insurance premiums.
As this activity is being revealed, there’s a feud breaking out between Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. It was reported that in 2018, Bernie told Warren that a woman couldn’t be elected president. Bernie denies that this happened, and honestly, I believe him. Nobody honestly believes that Bernie himself thinks this. This seems to be a Hail Mary from the floundering Warren campaign to steal some of Bernie’s voters, since these two are seen as the most progressive candidates. The media seems to be helping Warren’s team as well.
Time will tell, but both of these things could spell the beginning of the end for Bernie. What will happen? Bernie supporters such as this deranged staffer seem to have a bone to pick not only with the right, but with the mainstream left as well. Bernie was screwed over by the DNC in 2016, and it looks like the DNC is once again up to something shady.
What will be the reaction when it happens again? Who will Bernie fans vote for? What happens when crazy people like Kyle Jurek lose all faith in the democratic process? Clearly he and others like him see violence as justified. We can all hope that things don’t get too heated leading up to the election, but I’m not holding my breath. Any ideology taken to this extreme is dangerous. Bernie and other leaders on the left need to purge extremism from their ranks.
I propose the following conspiracy theory: Warren accusing Bernie of making this comment is a completely made up story that allows Warren to take out her biggest rival in the field. This accusation was crafted when knowledge of the Project Veritas exposé got out. Warren, other Dems, and corporate media could take their shots at Bernie without acknowledging the Veritas findings. I would be shocked if any Democrat or corporate media outlet took a shot at Bernie over the video just because the left and the corporate media doesn’t want to legitimize Project Veritas. This made up “scandal” about the private conversation Bernie and Warren had over a year ago is provides cover for Warren and other Dems to attack Bernie, so they don’t have to use anything from Project Veritas. If they wanted, they could take Bernie out of the race right now by reporting on those findings, but they run the risk of legitimizing the same organization who may very well take them down later on.
Instead of talking about this, media is talking about a likely fake accusation made over a year ago.
Mind. Blown.