And I maintained strong relationships w/ persons most would now call 'Bros' well into the Fall of 2015. 1/
He was that embarrassing uncle whose heart always seemed in the right place. 2/
I wasn't even put off by his inclusion in the Dem primary at first, for a few reasons. 3/
When Bernie said that he and his friend Hillary Clinton would run a positive, issue based campaign that would benefit everyone I believed him. 5/
I challenge anyone to find any comment Clinton made during the first half of the primary that can be considered truly negative about Sanders.
At worst she seemed exasperated. 8/
The list is long. 10/
But most people know that crowds do not mean actual votes. If they did, politicians wouldn't spend half the time reminding/begging people to vote. 11/
Populism features a strong WE vs. them ethos. Always. 12/
And that's where he lost me, and forever. 13/
Partly, I think that Clinton's reputation as a political survivor ironically played against her here. Big time. 14/
And in the mid-1990s that was one of the kinder insults conservatives used against the woman they considered the most dangerous liberal of influence in the country.
Another irony of 2016. 15/
But social media was a monster with too many heads. 16/
Enter the infamous Bros. 17/
The bro mob was given too much power, too much time, & too much faux moral authority. 19/
They literally maintained groupthink mentality forums, decided the day's attack & then went to war. 20/
The bros made certain that they either controlled the conversation or were the subject of it.
And Sanders let them. 21/
Next, his play to the white working class crowd he considered his people, led to an exhausting and damaging debate about the place of "identity politics" in the party. 24/
His next great sin was the classless, mean, small, and protracted way he exited the race that always included the inescapable asterisk of "if she loses, I told you so, and would have won." 27/
In truth Sanders made every endorsement look as though he was ingesting a known poison. He never had the class or equinamity to quell the boos or chants from his crowds. 28/
29/
To me the ulimate madness of 2016 & it's most dangerous legacy. 30/
It's not just an unusual way of thinking or even foreign. It's completely alien. 31/
That's what Democrats were told. 32/
So before you literally tell me Sanders is a Saint or a hero please know that my reasons for disagreeing are very specific and pretty damn provable.
33/
This thread was written for the handful of Sanders supporters who have been DMing me recently. Whether any wanted my sincere critique I don't know, but this is it, such as it is...
#Resist
Proudly #StillWithHer