(First off, shout out to Shane Ryan at Paste for writing up this issue already today; I’m hoping to do so in a way that documents a lot of the actual evidence provided as to why these stories are bullshit and not to be taken seriously.)
Monday featured no less than four publications– the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and The Economist— launching hit jobs on Bernie Sanders. (Actually, The Economist was on Sunday, but it was so egregious in just the headline’s falsehoods and accompanying anti-semitic caricature that I just had to include it.)
The Vermont senator's campaign slogan used to be “A future to believe in”; now it is just: “Bernie” https://t.co/Quy4PiryhK
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) January 27, 2020
It’s weird how often the media engages in anti-semitic caricatures of Bernie Sanders, isn’t it?
Here’s the photo the @washingtonpost chose to announce Bernie’s fundraising haul. Look familiar? pic.twitter.com/t3QKnAJRUC
— 29 U.S.C. § 157 (@OrganizingPower) January 27, 2020
He’s CONSTANTLY smeared by you jackals. He has been for his ENTIRE career. Just admit you’re anti Semitic and loathe progress. pic.twitter.com/r6x6nqaWS4
— #ANobodyForBernie (@BernieUpstateNY) January 27, 2020
(Oh, wait, that first picture in the last tweet isn’t from the media– it’s from a t-shirt for sale at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. You may have to click through to see the grotesque caricature.)
And while we’re hitting up the appetizers, let’s look at Chris Matthews bullshitting for MSNBC:
Chris Mathews: “You should vote based on who will pull over to help you if you’re hurt by the side of the road. Biden will. Liz might. I don’t think Bernie Sanders would.”
While Warren and Biden were racking up the lies Bernie was👇🏼https://t.co/meKh6ZH79i
— Yarnie in Iowa🌹 (@TweetingYarnie) January 27, 2020
Now, our main courses for Monday. First up, the Washington Post‘s latest smear attempt on Sanders is done by their chief Bernie hater, noted racist neocon Jennifer Rubin. I’ll let these tweets speak for themselves on what kind of a person Rubin really is.
— 𝘞𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭 🌹👰🏻❤️🤵🏼 (@Wade_Turnbull) January 27, 2020
jennifer,,, thank you. pic.twitter.com/HTx39zUWQa
— Thought/Prayer-Industrial Complex (@SansSandwich) January 27, 2020
— Δήţ𝓱σ𝕟𝓨 (@everequivocal) January 27, 2020
— Michael Sainato (@msainat1) January 27, 2020
— FL for Bernie 🌹12% 'Blue No Matter Who' (@Poli_NewSense) January 27, 2020
Not to be outdone in the “Iraq War cheerleaders who are lifelong Republicans but have been embraced by the Hashtag Resistance” department, The Atlantic fired up a vicious hit job from Mr. Axis of Evil himself, David Frum.
Imagine putting this article out on #HolocaustMemorialDayabout about stopping Bernie from becoming our first Jewish president with a grotesque war metaphor.
The Atlantic is an absolute trash rag for doing this, and David Frum, as always is a war hungry, corporatist ghoul. https://t.co/ENLIbfDV1X
— beth, purity test enthusiast (@bourgeoisalien) January 27, 2020
Frum, as we all know, was in an official capacity as cheerleader for the Iraq War as George W. Bush’s speechwriter. Maybe that explains his fetish for war metaphors, as well as his complete inability to learn anything from the last 75 years of warfare. But his tepid opposition to Donald Trump’s aesthetic has made him a hero of the Hashtag Resistance.
This is Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech guy who sold the Iraq War with utter lies. In a better world he'd have been tried at The Hague, or at the very least shunned for life for the unfathomable death and suffering he helped cause. Instead he's an @MSNBC darling. https://t.co/WZ14Tw2wxQ
— Bill Corbett (@BillCorbett) January 27, 2020
to be fair to david frum he knows a little something about dropping clusterbombs on helpless people https://t.co/Cyy6lfGtve pic.twitter.com/5rkZlFzTth
— grok (@g_r_o_k_) January 27, 2020
This is pretty rich coming from a former Bush speechwriter and Iraq War booster pic.twitter.com/PtOKMMoG1t
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 27, 2020
Did you also know he’s proudly white nationalist? Sure, maybe not in the overt, screaming way of a Richard Spencer or a Stephen Miller, but he really believes in America as a white country.
Hey remember when you published this story just days before the Christchurch shooter, who shared your ideology, murdered 51 people?
Nobody to the left of Stephen Miller should listen to your deranged ranting. pic.twitter.com/4feGBFU1NN
— Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) January 27, 2020
David Frum is a white nationalist who has attacked Trump for being too soft on immigration and was sharing Rebel TV articles about a Muslim takeover of Canada like 4 years ago
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) January 27, 2020
David Frum still loves calling undocumented immigrants “illegal aliens”, Democrats won’t you listen to this racist! https://t.co/0jgsCeWiLs
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) January 27, 2020
The two are inextricably related, Frum thinks generous social safety nets attract undesirables and thus views big govt liberalism as undermining the white majority he covets
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) January 28, 2020
I’m selling Frum short saying he’s been unable to learn any lessons from disastrous wars, including ones he caused. He hasn’t really learned anything from anything.
Who should I believe? 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/O0ZtGxpmxC
— Pavlov’s Devil Dog (@GunsAndSeeds) January 27, 2020
The real thing we can learn from Frum is what a narcissistic sociopath he is.
David Frum's Atlantic piece makes a rollercoaster journey from a fantasy about massacring socialists with cluster bombs to an admission that the most trying moment of the author's life was waiting for an acceptance letter from Yale. It's like modern Republicanism in a nutshell.
— Luke Savage (@LukewSavage) January 27, 2020
The king of today’s stories, though, is the New York Times, which needed three reporters to write a story about “Bernie’s Internet Army.” First off, let’s clear out the vapidity and lack of interest in objective fact (oddly common in our political media) which characterizes this sort of piece:
In America today, 500,000 people are homeless. Wages have stagnated for decades. Fascism is on the rise.
Humanity stands face-to-face with a potentially apocalyptic climate crisis.
…which is why NYT is sounding the alarm about Bernie Bro's posting snake emojis on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/MbGIBby0uu
— Samuel D. Finkelstein II (@CANCEL_SAM) January 27, 2020
it's so glaring that the question of whether stuff like this is true is considered incidental at best by the press pic.twitter.com/SjvTkiqqxy
— Shuja Haider (@shujaxhaider) January 27, 2020
is this polite and correct indication of different stakes in politics for people in different class strata supposed to be an example of online abuse pic.twitter.com/aqVBmwmJr4
— Shuja Haider (@shujaxhaider) January 27, 2020
Of all the idiocies in this article, I can't believe they're resurrecting the "thrown chairs in Nevada" lie! This has been debunked so many times that it only now exists in the minds of about 7 zombie reporters. Even Neera Tanden doesn't believe this https://t.co/eLKIj0D3mv pic.twitter.com/f620qd1tcD
— Matt Karp 🌹🦏🇺🇸 (@karpmj) January 27, 2020
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s time we put our foot down on this bullshit narrative. Here are some of the insulting, demanding, sexist, racist, vicious and vile comments Bernie supporters have received over the years, including people trying to (and sometimes succeeding) in getting people fired, or liberal media outlets firing them for being critical of Sanders or not supporting the war machine. (Of course, we’ve documented plenty of instances of racism, sexism, and other abusive behavior directed at Sanders, his team, and his supporters– not just from Twitter randos, but Dem operatives and media types.)
Ok I’m mad. The New York Times put THREE REPORTERS on this hit piece to character assassin Bernie supporters. If you’re mad, donate. Here are some highlights of the lies and innuendo. pic.twitter.com/paUTJAvYPf
— 29 U.S.C. § 157 (@OrganizingPower) January 27, 2020
Wow looking through my screen grabs from 2016 -2018 and being told last night to "cut it out" is now making me want to go harder. Nobody told centrists that poking bears are not a good thing, huh? pic.twitter.com/TLTi4WkoVi
— Lumpy Louise, Gritty Was Framed (@LumpyLouish) January 27, 2020
Thread https://t.co/UM9qMnMZmW
— Wedge Cap 🤯🙀🌪 (@KarateGrizzly) January 27, 2020
Or that there is a “special place in hell” for us? https://t.co/9mXdk6uKEV
— Dorkzilla, Duchess of Excess (@GhostAnneBoleyn) January 27, 2020
tom watson and sally albright are so anti Semitic if they had a baby they'd be legally required to name it Hitler pic.twitter.com/D6NoM6BiAQ
— optimism survivor (@abraveturtle) May 29, 2019
I’ve been trolled by conservatives, called a feminazi by Rush Limbaugh, screamed at by Trump supporters but @ewarren stans are the WORST harassment I’ve ever seen.
On top of the barrage of hate mail, I’ve had ppl call my work, find my cell phone #. It’s scary. https://t.co/q0B3y3upvJ
— Rebecca Nagle (@rebeccanagle) January 5, 2020
Here a sample of what I’ve gotten from Hillary trolls. Cakey found the person I work with and started commenting on her threads. pic.twitter.com/kuRBU2k6Ch
— #ANobodyForBernie (@BernieUpstateNY) January 27, 2020
#HillbotsAreSoCharming Episode 3,457,212 https://t.co/H4QXiDPo9l
— #ANobodyForBernie (@BernieUpstateNY) January 27, 2020
Here's a piece on Bernie Bros bullying his critics online. Attached are a couple of recent screencaps containing some commentary on my account from non-Sanders supporters. https://t.co/CRODhCKdKt pic.twitter.com/MVKbJ9SNMQ
— Elizabeth Bruenig (@ebruenig) January 27, 2020
And not to mention the numerous documented instances of actual physical assault perpetrated by male Clinton supporters/delegates/surrogates on women who dared support Sanders in 2016. Imagine if the roles had been reversed, we would never hear the end of it. Instead, crickets. pic.twitter.com/IbSN041CiB
— gato fumador ❼ (@QueenInYeIIow) January 27, 2020
NYT article today about how mean Bernie supporters are online. Incidentally in 2016 clinton supporters spammed Bernie groups with child porn pic.twitter.com/TqOhkAUWTT
— jack allison (@jackallisonLOL) January 27, 2020
How interesting Clinton supporters have easy access to child porn. Whoda thunk it
— jack allison (@jackallisonLOL) January 27, 2020
Wow Neera, I’ve been seeing a lot of that too. -From neoliberals who want unity. Do you have receipts? pic.twitter.com/zoP3if6w5f
— Thia is with Bernie 🩰😏✌️🔥 (@ThiaBallerina) January 27, 2020
Search: "from:@neeratanden death threat(s)" – with/without "s"
Other than the last 24 hours, "death threats" was only used twice by Neera – the second tweet having to do with the infamous 2016 NV Convention with the chair lie
Cc: @peterdaou pic.twitter.com/VJfQTFgULJ
— J̶O̸N̶ (@Bern2Bern) January 28, 2020
Bernie Sanders is the only candidate to ever call on his supporters to be civil.
So again, I repeat my request for you to stop gaslighting and erasing the most diverse, most working class collation in this race.
This extraordinary collation deserves more respect. 🙏🏽 https://t.co/8mqeUIVxOo
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) January 28, 2020
wow… i posted about unifying behind the Democratic nominee and now I am the target of vitriol and hostility. I think it's time these campaigns called out these kinds of supporters. THREAD
— jack allison (@jackallisonLOL) January 27, 2020
Tanden is, of course, lying, par for the course for someone “fiercely loyal to Hillary,” and who outed a sexual harassment victim at CAP, assaulted a journalist at ThinkProgress (coincidentally, who is now Sanders’ campaign manager), and disbanded ThinkProgress when they unionized.
Now let’s focus on one person in particular, since she was interviewed for the NYT article. Here are some examples of the absolutely vile behavior of Candice Aiston, an estate lawyer (class interests) so devoted to Hillary Clinton she photoshopped Hillary’s face onto her own as her Twitter avatar.
A woman quoted in this piece on “Bernie Bro” harassment has accused me of insufficiently “black” to have an opinion as a Black person becuase I lived in Kenya for 6 years as a child.
But go off @nytimes https://t.co/LYpKzAmYvP
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) January 27, 2020
"sparred with Sanders supporters" pic.twitter.com/Zo1ZBKAkDn
— Garbage Ape 🗑 🦧 (@GarbageApe) January 27, 2020
Come on pic.twitter.com/cJkWdRomqa
— Annie Shields (@anastasiakeeley) January 27, 2020
The toxicity narrative is so one-sided it’s to the point of parody. This article actually cites noted centrist Twitter troll Candice Aiston as a legitimate source. It fails to note that she has gotten booted from this site multiple times. pic.twitter.com/b7EYW9fK6a
— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) January 27, 2020
thank you for elevating such stellar sources NYT pic.twitter.com/ojuRXDKfJj
— wideofthepost (@wideofthepost) January 27, 2020
This is the person you claim is an innocent activist, someone who has been attacking Bernie supporters for years.
This is lazy shoddy journalism. pic.twitter.com/5rBJyLxxe3
— beth, purity test enthusiast (@bourgeoisalien) January 27, 2020
This is your star witness: pic.twitter.com/RDBMG6anS5
— 🌹ʙᴇɴɪɢᴍᴀ🌹 (@benigma2017) January 27, 2020
this is your star witness: pic.twitter.com/1U2bf48hOL
— 🌹ʙᴇɴɪɢᴍᴀ🌹 (@benigma2017) January 27, 2020
— 🌹𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓈,̲𝒶𝒫ℯ🍞🌹♂ᴵ ᴬᵐ ᵃ ᴳʰᵒˢᵗ (@AntApaes) January 27, 2020
remember this pic.twitter.com/BGMKQEzNz2
— lesbian simp (@dickdyke1312) January 27, 2020
Candice Aiston used @SloughWitch's rape survival story to score cheap anti-Bernie points. Here's the entire thread in case you're blocked: pic.twitter.com/qoAQ4SU7jj
— Voodoo Pork (@Voodoo_Pork) December 11, 2019
Yep, the NYT is so desperate to find people to bash Sanders they’ll promote an open racist who mocks and picks fights with sexual assault survivors to advance her narrative, as well as other similarly vile people.
In conclusion, the New York Times had three reporters write a 3,500 word hit piece on “Bernie Bros,” which relied on as its source almost exclusively people who vociferously despise Sanders, including Sady Doyle, Imani Gandy, and Candice Aiston. Incredible.
— 29 U.S.C. § 157 (@OrganizingPower) January 27, 2020
We covered Aiston already, so: If you don’t know who Sady Doyle is, this is a good start! Beyond being a transphobe, she’s also fond of trying to get people fired for supporting Bernie Sanders and claimed that him running for president is an attack on her mental health, the kind of claim that should disqualify anyone from being taken seriously as a commentator. She’s a serial liar, stalker, and harasser:
I have not threatened a baby. I have never threatened any babies. I don't have alts, I don't make secret death threats, I'm not involved in any conspiracies to threaten or harass anyone. I have had Sady Doyle blocked for years and just wish she would leave me alone.
— Elizabeth Bruenig (@ebruenig) January 28, 2020
And Imani Gandy is most famous for getting rich off the financial crisis as a foreclosure lawyer and her claim that she “didn’t give a fuck about drones,” which is about right for how rich liberals view the lives of POC in foreign countries.
Truly disgusting, but we shouldn’t be surprised by now; the only real surprise might be how desperate and open they are about it, and even that was bound to happen as it started to dawn on the political establishment that Bernie could actually win.
As @jackallisonLOL has said for months now, the New York Times will go full pro-Trump in order to try and stop Bernie. They botched their double endorsement. The garbage hit pieces won't stop. Don't worry, it just means he's winning.
— L. (@leslieleeiii) January 27, 2020
A few closing thoughts. One is how the desperately flailing anti-Sanders brigade continually holds contradictory arguments against him at the same time:
it’s funny that the two dominant narratives about the sanders campaign —often held at the same time by the same people—are “they are far too mean” and “they are weak pushovers” https://t.co/AXHVtwcs26
— Garbage Ape 🗑 🦧 (@GarbageApe) January 27, 2020
Where have I seen that before? Umberto Eco and “Ur-Fascism,” perhaps? Number 8?
8. The enemy is both weak and strong. “[…] the followers must be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”
— very cute dog haver (@pedrothedagger) January 27, 2020
Another is about what this is really all about:
Here's what the "Bernie Bros are mean on line" boils down to: professional management class liberals do not believe they should ever be made to feel uncomfortable. When Centrist Democrats are in power, they are comfortable. Trump and Bernie make them feel uncomfortable.
— Working Class Bro (@WorkingClassBro) January 27, 2020
As I'm sure this is the thousandth time this week you have seen the same headlines, remember this is all from the DNC "unity" people…
They never believed in unity. The establishment just assumed, incorrectly as always, that Bernie couldn't actually win. pic.twitter.com/4YHg6LGr6m
— citizen uprising (@cit_uprising) January 27, 2020
And the other underlines just how thin-skinned Sanders bashers are:
wait until the people clutching their pearls about bernie bros find out about the literal fucking nazis out there
— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) January 27, 2020
Maybe in a day or two I’ll try to cover the DNC’s attempted skullduggery. Or the bad faith criticism of Biden/Warren supporters over the Joe Rogan endorsement. Or the weird obsession anti-Sanders media personalities have with comparing everything in politics to high school social dynamics. Or some of the other ghouls the Hashtag Resistance is boosting in their anti-Bernie crusade, including a former writer for Breitbart. So much mendacity, so little time…