Thread by @RGC_BPPA

OK...so, I just did this an hour ago.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen....I am now fully #Berned.

(cc: @BernieSanders, @GabbyQuinteros)

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros How did I get to the point of finally pulling the trigger for the senior Senator from Vermont?

Two years of progress by him, and one night of being pushed over the cliff by his detractors.

An explanation follows.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros For the past 3 years, I've been more of an understanding critic of Senator Sanders from the Indy Left. There were things that I liked from him, like his economic populism and his legacy of being a social progressive...

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros ...but there were also things that drove me up the wall that prevented me from fully endorsing him: his initial foreign policy positions; his stance against reparations and his seeming tone deafness on racial issues; and mostly, his "inside the Democratic Party" approach.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros I didn't like the idea that he responded so lightly to the successful attempts by the Democratic Party establishment to screw him out of a fair fight for the nomination in 2016.

I also didn't like his approach of making peace with the corporate Democrats after the election.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros Nevertheless, I figured that I'd give Senator Sanders the benefit of the doubt and give him the chance to prove himself deserving of my support.

I can say now that he has fulfilled that goal.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros The platforms he has released of late have stated Indy Left principled positions I have long sought and have never found in any politician in the past 50 years.

They reflect the best combination of economic egalitarianism, racial/gender equality, and working class solidarity.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros He has almost gone 180 degrees in the positive direction in making outreach with working class/poor Black folk, to the point that what was once one of his weaknesses is now one of his strengths.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros His proposals to forgive and eliminate student loan debt, increase worker protections and wages, reestablish public infrastructure, and solidify social programs are worlds and galaxies beyond the milquetoast blandness of "centrist" Democrats.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros This isn't to say that Senator Sanders is the perfect candidate, even for me.

His vote for criminalizing and stigmatizing sex work/sex workers via #FOSTA/#SESTA remains one of the few black marks against him that he seriously needs to reverse by backing full decriminalization.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros However....what has actually pushed me over the line from friendly critic to active supporter has been the absolute vitriol and bitter hatred that Senator Sanders brings out in certain sectors of the corporate establishment and the Democratic Party.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros It's isn't enough for the more conservative wings of the Democrats to attempt to co-opt and rhetorically steal Senator Sanders' proposals just to water them down to get corporate approval.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros But, to resort to the type of absolute lying and distortion and cherry-picking and blatant decontextualization of Senator Sanders' record and policy positions that has taken place recently is phenomically breathtaking.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros The projection being undertaken by supporters and former employees of Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 campaign of their unrequited and unrefined rage that their candidate lost to Donald Trump is enough to fill a million IMAX movie theaters.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros From the "BernieBros" slur attempt to silence Sanders true base among women (especially women of color), to the thinly veiled assaults on his heritage as a Jewish progressive whose family directly was affected by the Holocaust, to the fake and venial vetting of his record...

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros ....the massive and continuous assault on both Senator Sanders and his supporters by the establishment Democrats and the Hillbot/Obamabot/Kamalabot hives has been every bit as nasty, brutish, and not so short.

And, far too often, below the belt.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros The Sanders campaign has succeeded in tearing the mask of deception off the faded notion of an establishment "liberal media", forcing the latter to shed its patina of "balance" and show its true imperialist and classist arrogance.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros It has especially become a revelation for exposing the sheer duplicity and bad faith of certain "progressive" and "liberal" organizations who shed their outer skin to reveal their true right-wing selves at the first light of exposure.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros Nothing more embodies the sheer depths of shamelessness of these folk than the slanderous assaults on both Senator Sanders and many of his campaign's spokespeople like @SusanSarandon and @ninaturner.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros @SusanSarandon @ninaturner People who decree themselves to be "feminists" backing Hillary Clinton as "the first woman President" and who decried opposition to her as "misogynist" nevertheless quickly resort to down low "mean girl" vulgarity against female backers of Senator Sanders.

As in this:

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros @SusanSarandon @ninaturner And even that is mere shade compared to the ruthless and up front anti-Semitism thrown at Senator Sanders by the more coarse backers of the #BrockMedia troll army, led by the likes of Sally Albright, Mr. Weeks, Bravenak, Armando, and others.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros @SusanSarandon @ninaturner Whatever criticisms I may still have with Senator Sanders, the fact that he drives so many on the Center and the Right to the point of throwing mountains of their own poop at him and his backers proves to me that he has the right message and the right direction.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros @SusanSarandon @ninaturner Therefore, I can now say officially that I am, even while reserving my right to still be critical when warranted, seriously #FeelingTheBern.

@BernieSanders has my vote in November 2020. No other Democrat or ANY Republican or anyone to his Right will get it.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros @SusanSarandon @ninaturner And, although I may not be able with my limited income to donate the proverbial $27, I will do my best to contribute monthly to the cause.

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros @SusanSarandon @ninaturner If all else fails, I know that I am in the best company of Berniecrats.

Especially one very special #MexiMILF who actually paved the way for me to pull the trigger this morning.

Domo Obligato, Gabby.

💋💋💋💋😍😍😍😍

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros @SusanSarandon @ninaturner And for all you Hillbots, Obamabots, Kamalabots, WokeNeoliberals, and anyone else who thinks they will use this as a way to attack me and bring me down?

Well...here's a different side of Gabby that you will never get to kiss.

#NotMeUs
#NotYouEither
#Bernie2020

@BernieSanders @GabbyQuinteros @threadreaderapp Unroll, please.