You see this type of behavior on the internet regardless of the political candidate they support. You saw this in 2016 with a subset of Hillary supporters. And drop the "Bernie Bros" thing... it's pretty ridiculous.
24
Boxer has worked hard for her constituents, but your account is not the Bernie Sanders many people have experienced. He has 40 years of consistent work. He is funny and kind and works for people and ideals. You pundits understand little, are rarely correct in your predictions, and should just stop with your predictions of doom.
None of you saw a DT win, and why? Because you are stuck in your incremental change paradigms. If the DNC had stopped its efforts to kill Bernie's campaign, we would not have this tragic moment to contend with. Many saw the inconsistent, hawkish Hillary for what she was and is, and young voters would not show for her. How stupid they were. Wake up; the time is now to move on with true progressives and keep trying to make democracy work.
13
Do you ever leave the ivory tower and actually talk to Sanders supporters? This makes you sound incredibly out of touch with the everyday working man, a big demographic of Sanders' support.
16
People for Bernie are mad. They are mad that congress doesn’t stand for issues that the overwhelming majority of Americans support — saving the planet, affordable healthcare, common sense gun control, and upholding Roe vs Wade to start. Bernie’s supporters are sick of the double standard that applies socialism to Wall Street when it’s convenient for them — such as the trillion dollar bailout, but not when it applies to the middle and lower income brackets. The rich influencing laws to become infinitely richer and the rest of the country footing the bill, unable to pay for their medicine and food. Did anyone grow up imagining a country where a hardworking person with 2 jobs can’t afford insulin and has to ration their medication dangerously in order to feed their family? It’s no American Dream. We should ALL be Bernie Bros!!!!!!!
17
Time's Columnists have always tried to find ways to snipe at Bernie since 2015 - it's soooo transparent.
Next, they will tell us he's almost as dangerous as Miscreant Trump somehow, because of his base.
13
I’d take it a step further and say the Bernie bro’s “nearest enemy”is Elizabeth Warren, whom they also reject as a shill or a sellout— a closet corporatist who will, get this, “govern like Obama.”
I really like Bernie and I think he’s at his best when he’s asking people to care for each other and work to better each other’s lives than when he’s railing at the billionaires (thought I think they should certainly be railed at). But his more rabid supporters do scare me a bit.
12
Bernie Bros are so toxic and mean that they have completely turned me off from the candidate. If you so much as question Bernie’s ridiculous pie-in-the-sky platitudes (which have less than zero chance of passing Joe Manchin, let alone a McConnell Senate), you are inundated with hateful, personal attacks. I will vote for him if he is the nominee but never in the primary.
13
I saw a clip, apparently filmed surreptitiously, from a Project Veritas. I hope what it showed is not typical of a Bernie campaign worker. Is this disinformation, selective reporting, or an example of the anger mentioned in this article?
3
You want nasty? CPAC disinvites Mitt Romney because he did the honorable thing and voiced witnesses were essential for senate hearing. Every single republican is holding on to Trump as mother god. They hide behind his apron because if they dared to speak out they will be publicly hung and left to dry. That is how nasty and insidious trump’s taking over swallowing up whole of republicans party is. There are no moderates republicans anymore or centrists. There is only one brand and that is Trump.
History will look back and ask, what kind of wimpy democrat would it take to bring trump followers back to planet earth from their cult like devotion to trump?
4
Bernie is divisive and so are his surrogates and supporters. If we are stupid enough to nominate the man we will be looking at another 4 years of Trump. After living through daily chaos and upheaval thanks to Trump I don’t think there is much of an appetite for more upheaval via a Bernie revolution unless you are a Bernie bro. His policies are all unrealistic and unworkable. The republicans would have a field day with his praise of Castro, his Russia honeymoon, on and on. Bernie can not win. We would be fools to make him the nominee.
11
It amazes me that Bret and this narrative still exist. Go listen to the “Lessons of 2016” Daily Episode and tell me that op-eds like this, don’t provoke the outrage.
5
You paint a false equivalency. I have been to both a Sanders fest and Trump rally. While the Bernie Bros are definitely obnoxious and kind of juvenile, Trumpers are downright scary. The bullies from school, now in their 50s and 60s and boasting about shooting liberals. I realize they could care less about Trump. They simply want Trumpism
10
And just how many of these so called "bernie bros" are instigating trolls and bots? Bernie denounces vitriol and focuses on issues.
This cannot be said of trump, who belittles his competitors, advocates for violent actions and defends racists.
6
There is an attitude displayed by both Bernie and some of his more ardent followers that is off-putting to me, and I've voted Democrat for 50 years. The easiest way to describe it is " you must be downright stupid if you don't see that every policy I propose is absolutely the only just and acceptable one and any deviation from it is folly. I and I alone can implement my gospel. No other candidate is worthy of consideration or my vote."
It is obvious that 4 more years of Trump will leave a wasteland. Anybody who does not support him must vote for the Democratic candidate, because the likelihood of any 2024 election is looking very dicey.
13
Isn't this guy a republican?
9
Bret, You are an honorable man, and I respect you although we are on two different political spectrums. Bernie --check the number of your fellow ob-ed writers and journalists who over the years has bashd Sanders. Had I heard or read one word when HRC said "...super predators...have to heel...?" The DNC, which I know a bit about, was supposed to be neutral went after Bernie, as does another op-ed today. It is easy to throw around the evil of Socialism, but Democratic Socialism in many European democratic countries are not evil. Nor is Sanders. Has his statements about other candidates horrible compared to the many other potential candidates? No! That Bernie Bros are angry and show it is indeed not great. I am angry--how do I show it by often useless comments I make on the NYT site.That Trump uses bully tactics and threats has loved him with his base. It is time for the democrats to assert some anger too. And for a little more respect for Bernie by you.
18
Stephen's anti Sanders opinion piece has already been written and repeated countless times. What a bunch of hypocrisy, the rabid anti-Sanders folk critiquing the rabid pro-Sanders folk. Every single one of the candidates has their subset of unreasonable and even at times embarrassing supporters, so why are we singling out Sanders?
Another thing I am really tired of, conservatives who think the Democratic party should nominate a center or right of center candidate as an alternative to Trump. Can't the Republican party find a conservative alternative with at least a smidgeon of character and decency within their own party?
33
Still !!!!if Sanders is the nominee I will vote for him.
I think he is ineffective and annoying.
Lazy too. And a closet misogynist.
He invigorates low information young folk that didn’t have to pass Civics in High School to graduate.
These young voters listen to his laundry list of issues that drag down their future prospects ;never realizing he won’t get his goals achieved with any congress.
Both major parties have tolerated him for years now. The young people are looking for someone to do the work for them as they sit back and Twitter. Instead join your local political caucus and become intricately involved in the communities u live in. Please!!!
Remember we haven’t had voter generated majority rule in this country since 2000 and the Florida Chit Scandal.
Our presidents are not elected by our votes.
We must have regional Constitutional Conventions in the near future. This action is needed. We may need to secede from trumpian America in blocks.
I want New England and New York and New Jersey to form a new Union of States.
Maybe become part of Canada. I bet they would love getting our global financial centers.
It’s that degraded here. Our experiment failed. We failed Lady Liberty and our blood and treasure that died on distant battlefields.
22
The Bernie Bros and his socialists followers are a big part of the problem we have Trump.
Their 'Bernie or Bust' mentality in 2016 where they stayed home and didn't vote for Hillary Clinton (or vote at all!) handed the election to Donald Trump; on top of the fact that Clinton wasn't a good candidate. We have a system, and for a lot of people, we hold our noses and pull that lever.
Here's an idea for the Democrats and the Bernie Bros. Go form your own party. Dems - Huge error letting Sanders caucus with you and co-opt the Dem convention. Bernie Bros and socialist nuts - Form your own party if you think you've got a case to make to the country.
Bernie Sanders is a professional protester. That's it.
45
Like any stereotype, Bret Stephens description of Bernie's army is wrong but with a grain of truth in it.
I'm a supporter but how he and his top staff deal with the on-line bullies who claim to support him (some may be Russian or Trumpophile bots) will be an important determinant of Sander's electability. The Sander's campaign needs to deal with this matter now before the bullies ruin his chances.
It's clear Trump prefer Sanders to Biden but the old Chinese curse "beware of getting your wishes" applies to Trump in this and other matters. The system is rigged and now that Trump has become Rigger-In-Chief some of his base may realize they have been duped. No one is better equipped to enlighten them than Sanders, a genuine reformer.
21
It is amazing how quickly war is forgotten. Trump is surprised that soldiers get concussions from shock waves. When the US carpet-bombed Vietnam from B-52s, 500 lb. bombs were spaced about twice the fatal over-pressure blast radius to kill everything in the drop zone.
Ain't it fun to live in a country governed by people who never grew up?
12
Bernie Sanders and AOC are just as dangerous as Trump. They are both rabid socialists. Their supporters are young, unrealistic youngsters who want everything given to them on a silver platter. Since when, in this country, in psychology, even the Bible, does it say people are better off for being given everything for free? It’s a destructive, unhealthy mantra in all ways. It’s enabling people to fail. Socialism will bankrupt the country, destroy incentive. Our great, great entrepreneurs are what this country was built on. This country flourishes on billionaires who give, give, give to hospitals, museums, libraries, churches! Sanders and AOC make mockery of this. They are angry, when, Sanders himself is worth fifteen million himself with three houses. And, AOC lived in Westchester County, NY in an upper middle class environment and pretends to be downtrodden and can’t afford housing in Washington. Yes, Bret Stephens is right. Their followers are just as fierce as Trumps. Neither is healthy discourse. Neither does anything they scream help the country. Neither one deserves the Presidency unless they can try to compromise...an impossible possibility in today’s environment of extreme, destructive rhetoric and beliefs
20
I suggest that Mr. Stephens write more about the problems and failures of the Republican party and its President when it comes to extreme behavior, zealotry and attacks on those who disagree with them. We've just witnessed a Senate that was perfectly fine with burying our republic in its efforts to shamelessly submit themselves to the ego of a narcissist, yet we get a lecture about the bad behavior of a Bernie supporter subset.
Give me a break.
32
"Concerned citizens across the political spectrum are often guilty of wishfully thinking that, if they say something over and over (and over) again, it’ll magically become true. But new data from the Pew Research Center has refuted one of the most beloved political narratives of recent years. The research reveals that, contrary to popular belief, Bernie Sanders supporters are more female and less white than any of the leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. So much for the male, stale and pale Bernie Bro.
Based on polls of registered Democrat or “Democrat-leaning” voters, just 49 per cent of Sanders supporters are white. Elsewhere, white people account for 56 per cent of Joe Biden’s supporters, with Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren tallying at 59 per cent and 71 per cent respectively.
More women support Sanders than his two female frontrunner opponents too. Women make up 53 per cent of Sanders supporters, compared to 49 per cent of Warren supporters and 48 per cent of those who support Biden and Harris."
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sanders-supporters-bernie-bro-poll-less-white-women-2020-democrat-candidates-a9070531.html
18
I find this column misleading and, to be frank, shady.
The author pays lip service to the fact that the majority of Sanders' supporters are nice normal well behaved people, but then spends the bulk of the article fear-mongering about the minority of ill behaved Sanders supporters. This is intellectually dishonest.
He also doesn't point out that when Senator Boxer addressed that audience in 2016, it was right after one of the most egregious and unfair consolidations of power we've seen in the democratic party -- i.e., those people had good reason to be angry. Of course they're not going to be pacified by some senator's speech, no matter how sympathetic and nice she is. Fairness and justice beget peace and civility. The party insiders' treatment of the Sanders candidacy in 2016 begets... rage from his supporters.
It seems to me that columns like this unfortunately only serve to further alienate Sanders supporters.
38
Naturally Boxer, her bosses, and everyone who gets the Washington "Golden Parachute" will hate the people trying to stop the offset bribery which these ex-politicians receive. (Barbara Boxer is currently paid by lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs.)
And also...were the Clinton folks nice as pie in 2016? Did they do nothing to make the contest as unfair to Bernie as they possibly could?
Well, at any rate, this writer and Boxer are stuck in 2016.
22
I don't think Bernie voters sound at all like the "lock her up, 2nd Amendment solution" cheering supporters of the insulting name calling, child harming, lying president. I dislike the aggressive "you're stupid if you think running a more establishment figure who works well with others has a better chance of winning rather than subscribing to the "We need a revolution, Sanders will turn out the vote idea."
I don't know what will win. Trump and the Republican Party have told us who they do not want to oppose. They will have a billion dollars to advertise that Bernie is a big gov't socialist who wishes to take away your health insurance and hugely increase your taxes. With Bernie, those ads will have the benefit of being true and uncontested, except by the weak response to moderate voters that he is a Democratic Socialist. That's why I think a moderate is a better bet.
Medicare for all and higher taxes will not be passed by a senate that includes Republicans. Why deny 2018's reality based lesson that swing states are won by moderates? I think a moderate is a better bet to beat Trump.
I also think Trump will turn out Dem voters. I believe (hope) Dems recognize there is a difference between Trump and Klobuchar or Biden or any of the other candidates and wait in line for hours, if necessary, to vote him out. It is little to ask to protect a crying refugee baby torn from its mother's arms or to stand up for voting rights without risking beatings or death. VOTE!
11
Your disingenuousness continues, Stephens. The party that you prefer has devoted all of its energies to destroying our democracy and all you can bring yourself to do is harp on the so-called “far left” and the tired, largely false Clinton narrative of “Bernie Bros” (no one talks about the not-insignificant group of Clinton supporters who, in ‘08, either sat the general election out or voted for Romney rather than support Obama, by the way!) - as if Bernie Sanders could somehow reach into twitter and force people who (ostensibly) support him to behave in a certain way. Apparently, his repeated condemnations of poor behavior - from his supporters, from elsewhere, etc. etc. - don’t matter because of his political positions. The only use of having a columnist like Stephens in the paper is to see what the hypocrisy of center-right liberalism looks like - the positions that he takes are utterly laughable.
30
@Philippe Egalité
Merci beaucoup. I could not agree more. Well said.
7
Brett is muckraking here. By equating Sanders supporters with the Trump nut wing Brett hopes to inflame and misdirect.
If we are bad, they are badder kind of childishness.
Mr. Stephens provides no light on the subject, only darkness and blame.
To wit Stephens last opine on the Palestinians.
24
Wish you'd get it right. Boxer was there as a Hillary rep to kick them out in the most condescending way when they had not been heard yet. But that's how the Hillary machine rolled. I watched the whole thing from my staid 66 year old eyeballs on MSNBC and had I been there, I'd have told her in my best private school tones to kindly back off before she could do real harm. Given the way Bernie was treated by EVERYONE throughout that campaign and given the amount of change he managed to make and the fairness he extracted from Mme Hillary who really is a dowager with an entitled attitude who never should have run. Bret, you're a writer who needs to pick fights to be relevant. Please pick one that you actually know something about. After that Ashkenazy debacle and subsequent muddes, you might want to find a dramaturg or coach to help out with the writing when you're in over your head. In the meantime, like George Will, you try for relevance through inapt comparisons to Trump which you hope will provide a chance for wit. You're especially comfortable picking on Progressives and women like Warren who know much more than you do so you mock the fact that they have plans, not the merit of the plan or any opposing numbers or stats. It's cartoonish naive writing but sometimes it drifts into the realm of doing real harm.
28
Could someone from The New York Times, which I’ve read enthusiastically and loyally my whole life, please explain why there has been such a concerted effort to undermine the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, which only further divides us?
35
Bernie welcomes Tlaib and AOC into his maelstrom, and that makes him unacceptable to me. And yo lots of other Democrats too, I expect.
14
Just yesterday I listened to a NYT "The Daily" podcast interview with Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The NYT and his take on their coverage of Hillary as the front runner and almost inevitable democratic candidate in 2016. I just went through the last week of opinion pieces (I don't want to spend my whole day on this so I limited this to a week) and there are 3 distinctly negative pieces on Sanders this past week. None are positive. There seems to be a concerted effort to plaster the NYT with negative Sanders opinion pieces. The 3 on Biden this past week have been positive. Is anyone at the NYT aware of their collective "foot" on this negative Sanders scale? Would Mr. Baquet please give all this "Bernie bashing" a rest? It seems like 2016 all over again.
27
A manufactured myth. Go to a Bernie rally. Then go to one for Trump. If you see any similarities, you're not qualified to be a commentator. And on, by the way, imagine if Bernie had said no one likes Hilary. You guys are running scared.
27
Danish are nice people.
Bernie Bros are not.
7
Mr. Stephens, real Democrats don't need advice or admonishment from the likes of you. You're trying to hang on to a bankrupt ideology taken to its logical conclusion by the current president.
Why don't you take a good long look in the mirror and own up to what you helped happen?
20
Oh, look, another article denigrating Bernie. The oligarchs are VERY afraid.
30
Except for the support for racism, destroying the environment, ruining education, crushing the poor, etc. Yep. Just like Trump supporters.
14
How much of of Bernie-Broism is seeded by Russian trolls? I felt that way in the 2016 election. It didn't take much effort to get the ball rolling. Occasionally blowing on the embers keeps the fire roaring.
10
Sigh. Another "Bernie's so scary!" article.
26
Every time I read an article or op-ed like this I send another $10 to Bernie.
33
Bret with all due respect do you truly believe Bernie would govern anything like Trump? If so you are delusional. He may challenge your paradigm of what capitalism is, but unlike Trump he adheres to the rule of law. He also is a man with a moral compass whose concern is for a country where racism, sexism and wealth dislocation are creating havoc. He believes there is climate crisis and the need for a health care solution. Does this sound anything like the maniac in the White House now. Please reserve your hit jobs for those who truly deserve it, namely Trump and a Republican Senate gone mad.
26
Its time we realize what exactly the Republican Party wants.
No Taxes. No Government. No voters. No Climate disaster mongering. No Free Press. No immigrants. No schools or universities. No Abortions. No Police except ours. No Justices except ours.
Don't like it? Lock them all up.
14
All the politicians and their supporters, admirers, henchmen, etc., are of the same cut. No difference between the ultra-conservative uncouth boor Trump and the leftist radical, clandestine Islamo-socialists Sanders or Warren.
2
I'm for Bernie and I voted for Clinton in 2016 and will gladly support the Democratic nominee in 2020. This Bernie Bros business is a continuation of the Clinton 2016 campaign attempt to mean-girl smear Sanders and infantalize Sanders' supporters. The only thing the continual smearing of Sanders by the NYTimes has done for me is to increase my donations to Bernie's campaign and make me question if I can afford to support this paper via subscription anymore as it continues its heavily biased reporting.
29
If Bernie does win the Democratic nomination, it is going to be -- like Trump on the Republican side in 2016 -- a total rejection of every aspect of his party’s establishment.
A vote for Bernie -- a man who has never formally joined the Democratic party -- is a repudiation of its preferred policy mix, its traditional strategic thinking, even its personnel.
7
@Justin Sigman
In other words, a vote against the establishment thinking and policies that have incarcerated more black and brown people than any other country, has left millions without health care, has endorsed and even written laws that prevent crushing student debt from being resolved through bankruptcy, refuses to tell their corporate sponsors to take a hike and incorporates super delegates into the nomination process that negates millions of voter preferences? That tradition?
Good.
20
If Democrats don't take the Senate, none of this matters. After watching the slow evolution of the Republican party into the Trump Party, we've reached the tipping point. Autocracy vs. Pro-Democracy. The Senate is where the sausage gets made.
9
And, the adulation the NYT bestows upon the Clintons is just as nauseating.
Hillary stole what should have been Bernie’s with shenanigans within the party. Yes, playing unfairly leads to justified anger. If Bernie would have been on the ticket, we wouldn’t have Trump.
I doubt the NYT will post this comment, they often edit out anything unflattering to the Clintons, must be all those Hamptons dinners and parties where they happily intermingle.
20
@Lily
It is interesting how the populist left mimics the populist right in attributing conspiracy theories to traditional journalistic outlets and decrying negative press coverage as 'fake news'
"Perhaps a revolution can overthrow autocratic despotism and profiteering or power-grabbing oppression, but it can never truly reform a manner of thinking; instead, new prejudices, just like the old ones they replace, will serve as a leash for the great unthinking mass."
• Immanuel Kant, What Is Enlightenment
11
The media’s knives are out for Bernie these days
26
January 19 The NY Times editorial board endorsed Warren and Klobuchar, now this.
Stop playing politics, Times. Give us neutral reporting.
18
Let the take down begin in earnest! Panic at the Times. Bernie is ahead! On no! Next the editorial board will endorse Trump. Ha, ha, no joke.
26
Just yes.
Ah, once again the biased, and for the most part unfounded dislike of the Sanders Campaign rears its ugliness again with Bret Stephens. What do most people experience at Bernie Rallies? Kindness, gentleness and the strength to defeat those who do not like the idea of democracy. So Mr. Stephens I will join you at a Bernie rally and let's see what really happens. I think you will see what I described and not your fantasy of ugliness.
26
Meanwhile the DNC decided to sell out to Bloomberg by waiving the small donor requirement. Who knew that renting out the party to plutocrats was part of the Democratic core brand? Learn something new every day.
24
The corporate establishment continues to assault progressives like Bernie. And his supporters. I’m 63 and I am not your bro, NYT. Just an informed voter with a conscience for right versus wrong.
26
It’s not enough that Clinton’s followers had to deride the deplorables, now they insist on attaching stereotypes to people who are in fact slightly different adherents to FDR-type policies. In this context, Stephens is a troll and it’s pretty obvious who the Clintons and their ilk are.
19
Huh. Well, Bret -- before you formally declare your change from being a Republican to being a Democrat -- you should thoroughly explore this, and you'll realize "this is what lefty liberalism (eventually) becomes".
It IS hate-filled, angry, raging, ENTITLED. That's the core of it. Moderate Democrats and their moderate Party -- the one we all remember, the party of JFK and LBJ and Carter and Clinton #1 (and for that matter, FDR) -- DIED a slow death, between 2005 and 2015 -- when they decided that forcing the legalization of gay marriage mattered MORE than any other goal, including the economy, job, health care and the devastating effects of globalization on the working class.
Why didn't Bernie, who is 78 and been a Senator for eons, come to the fore BEFORE 2016? why wasn't he running in 2000 or 2004? because the well had not yet been primed for extreme leftyism on steroids.
The old Party is dead, and the Bernie Bros know it, and are going for a complete takeover. Some of your other columns suggest they could even succeed!
Disgusting.
Propagandist Stephens weaves the lies about Sanders (who is surging in the polls) and his supporters as an act of desperation on behalf of his Wall Street friends.
Worse, the DNC realizing that Biden is toast, hatched a plan yesterday and changed the rules for the next debate to allow billionaire Bloomberg to join: “In a major shift, the Democratic National Committee will eliminate the requirement that candidates to show evidence of grass-roots support”
Stephens and the American Oligarchy will say and do most anything to assure a Sanders defeat and maintain the decades long gravy train that makes them richer everyday as the rest of us grow poorer.
Disgusting.
26
What a smear job.
Long knives are out for Bernie - & his supporters - before Iowa.
Another day of Hillary bitterly slamming Bernie.
I supported Sanders in 2016 - & HRC when she was the nominee. I'm a lifelong Democrat - a woman in my 60s.
Most Sanders supporters - lifelong Democrats like me - are civil, hopeful people who embrace Civil Rights, FDR & the New Deal.
This ongoing smearing of Bernie & his supporters by neo liberals shows these folks are out of touch w/the economic suffering of regular working folks. Neo-liberal Democratic policies have done almost nothing to economically lift struggling people.
This is why Hillary lost. This is how Trump got elected.
The only candidates I believe have heard me are Bernie & Elizabeth Warren.
It's appalling conservative Democrats are painting this dire - & false - picture of Bernie supporters.
We're nothing like this.
During the 2016 primary, HRC & her surrogates viciously attacked Bernie & his supporters like Bernie was a white supremacist or Proud Boy.
As the nominee, Hillary never reached out to Bernie supporters. Never. Even though she needed us badly.
She continues to slam us now.
Keep insulting us, Hillary. See where that gets you.
Unfairness & divisive behavior by the DNC caused this divisive mess. The Clintons, Tom Perez & DNC are still struggling to keep their stranglehold on Democratic voters.
Their smears against us just reinforces support for Bernie.
Remember... you folks reap what you sow.
31
Both Trump and Bernie channel the rage of the...unfairly treated? Or maybe the more accurate word is the losers who can’t make it and need someone to blame.
@T
Yet the ".unfairly treated losers" seem to be the majority. Why do you think that is?
The 'Bernie Bro' is a canard pushed by Republicans and Corporate Democrats. The prospect of losing their corrupt gravy train must be very scary.
24
Why the term “Bernie Bro”? I understand the appeal of an alliteration but it suggests that those ardent Sanders supporters are all young men. Looking at the picture in this article I see quite a few women amongst those “Bros”.
Is the term “Bernie Bro” not just a new version of Clinton’s “army of deplorables”? Should that not have been a learning lesson that it’s generally a bad idea to discredit a candidate’s voters rather than the candidate himself.
19
The elites are scared to death of Bernie.
24
Make no mistake, the tyranny of the LEFT is every bit as toxic as the tyranny of the RIGHT. While generally speaking Sanders would be light years better than the gangster who pretends to be our current president, Sanders has neither the temperament nor political skills to lead this country into the future. With Trump’s supporters, we’re talking about simple brain-dead people. With Sanders, there’s a repugnant self-righteousness that is impossible to tolerate. I just pray the Democrats don’t implode this time around, but they have perfected the art of eating their own, to the great delight of Republican scoundrels.
10
Bernie Sanders stumped for Hillary Clinton 39 times, I believe.
This article's formula is: equate Sanders with Trump, and then the rest is easy. It is really quite lame. Do you realize how offensive the phrase "Bernie Bros" is on so many levels? (Can you imagine anyone seriously using the phrase "Hillary's Chicks" or some such in 2016?). Your paper really shouldn't assume that its readership is that stupid.
Some people want to see the Democratic Party get back to its roots: a party for the working class. Some people want to see a party not beholden to corporations. Outrage at a corrupt party, in full evidence as Tom Perez stacks the deck in the DNC rules committee appointments, is understandable. Perhaps civility is not always the right response in such circumstances.
As a Sanders supporter, though, I say by all means keep printing these kinds of articles. They seem to be driving his poll numbers up, and they clearly are increasing on-line donations. (I think it's time to go make another one).
20
DNC chair Tom Perez changing debate requirements and threatening a return of "super delegate" first round voting in order to deny Sanders a chance will set off the anger of his many supporters to such a degree that it may well result not only in another Trump victory but in a "#never again democrat" movement and the demise of a broken corrupt party. The continuation of filthy politics is worse than disheartening. It is a dagger in the guts of our country.
14
So, Bernie Bros, if there is no validity to this op ed then why are you yelling! I'm sick of white men, any men, yelling!! Bernie yells, Bros yell. Women being bullied, what the....! You Stop It! And read the article linked from this piece. Peace
2
Go Bernie America needs you!
15
Nothing in Mr. Stevens analyses convinces me that Bernie’s fanatics are as big a threat to American Democracy as Mr. Trumps fanatics.
It’s a weak and false comparison.
No thanks, Mr. Stevens, I’m not taking my eye off the ball to ponder silliness and deflection.
17
Wow. I guess now the Bret has admitted that many of Trump’s cultists are mindlessly vicious, self-centered attack dogs, we can expect an entire column decrying his President Trump and his Republican Party for going all in with Trump and becoming a party of hate, anti-democracy, anti-morality, demonization of the “other” and generally anti-American. Or is that the Republican Party he wants?
7
It is not really the Sanders' supporters who share something with Trump supporters. It is more what this article shares with Trump himself that should grab your attention: ignore facts that will not conform to the narrative you want to push.
In fact: Bernie Sanders worked hard on behalf of Hillary Clinton. Go see Amy Davidson Sorkin, "Bernie Sanders' Hard Fight for Hillary Clinton," The New Yorker magazine, November 4, 2016.
14
'Bernie Bros' is sexist. It also attempts to erase the highly diverse support base Sanders enjoys. Please stop using it to describe me.
I am a 62 year old woman who has supported Sanders since his opposition to the Iraq war. I am also on twitter as an avid supporter. This article describes me and my followers as a scary Trump-like mob. Congratulations for putting me in a box with racists, too.
The internet is an angry place. You cannot single out a group of people and blame them for all the anger there. That's so wrong it's not even wrong. I am attacked daily by angry Hillary fans using words I would never want to hear come out of my children's mouths. Daily.
But here's more to the point. We are every bit as critical of Sanders as any other candidate. It's his policies we support, not the man. If another candidate came along with the same policies, and with the same willingness to fight for those policies the way Sanders does, we'd support them too. No question.
In a free and fair primary process, it is absolutely my right to criticize, pick apart policies, and even poke fun at candidates who say silly, disjointed or mean things on the stump. In fact, it's my responsibility as a voter to do so.
Why don't you write about Sanders' policies and let people judge him on those? Instead you write about anecdotal incidents that don't reflect the nature of the candidate or his campaign. Voters deserve better.
19
Bernie Breaux (my spelling) style Gamer Gate. Another reason we need 21st Century regulation of the wild, wild, web.
1
As a Yang supporter, I've run into quite Bernie supporters who are a bit overly aggressive and sometimes loose with facts.
But I won't go into that. I'll just reply to this statement: "Democrats like Joe Biden who play by the rules of civility" with this:
“But look, fat, here's the deal,” Biden said.
6
People should ignore Twitter. They would be much, much, much happier.
12
For those willing to test which political faction is most tolerant try this.. attend a Democrat candidate rally wearing a Trump hat and note the reaction,then attend a Trump rally wearing a Obama or Bernie hat.
Initial results indicate to make sure your life and health insurance is up to date before showing up wearing a Trump hat in Democrat environs...
3
And when Sanders wins the nomination will you support him with the same kind of zeal that you now use to condemn ??
12
I think I have yet to see an article in this publication that offers any noteworthy praise of Bernie. Then again while the Times gets labeled as a liberal publication by Fox and the President, its articles reflect the largely upper middle class, mostly moderate (especially fiscally) demographic that it represents.
14
Bret, I loved your mention of Eric Hoffer. That was on my daughter's required reading list for high school history. A neighbor's son was required to read Escape from Freedom by Erik Fromm. (that was back in the eighties before we turned over our lives to Tweets and Facebook!). Both authors posited the argument that many people are seeking a savior to make everything right in their lives. I think that is obvious with both Trump and Sanders. Their supporters don't seem to realize that there is no one person who can save them. I guess I have always been a quiet rebel (and a moderate Democrat). I believe everyone should have hope but be skeptical of any politician's promises.
8
Bret. The Bernie Bro smear erases and marginalizes the millions of women and people of color who support Sanders (and contrary to the media narrative, those cohorts support him to a greater extent than do male and white voters). That is precisely how sexism and racism work. Stop it.
322
@Matt
No it doesn't do that at all. It highlights a small subgroup of Bernie supporters whose behavior is mean spirited and irrational and may well manage to re-elect Donald Trump. It's they who should stop it.
My way or the highway doesn't work in a democracy, something we're losing to an expanding autocracy under the reign of King Donald and his R minions.
108
If we're losing it to Donald Trump because of his my way or the highway approach, doesn't that prove it does work?
19
Don't buy it. Bernie will get the nomination and win the Presidency.
8
Bret, have you forgotten that Bernie pledged to vigorously support whomever becomes the Dem 2020 nominee, as he did for Hillary Clinton in 2016? Keep it up. This kind of false narrative only serves to boost Bernie’s campaign contributions!
17
@Susan
Correction. Sanders did not "vigorously support" Clinton, and anyone looking at him skulking around after he lost the nomination knows this to be true.
If anything, he was dragged kicking and screaming into giving any kind of support to her in the end.
At least get the facts straight because anyone who was watching this all unfold already knows better.
4
“Bernie’s Angry Bros?” Shouldn’t we all be angry? Furious? One of our two major political parties just ensconced one of the most corrupt individuals in the country as a “corruption fighter” as we further slip into a new world where up is down; black is white; and common sense is no longer a factor in any of our lives. Bernie embodies both the fury of our being discounted and the hope we can begin to radically change the kind of system that motivates our Secretary of Commerce to suggest that an impending global pandemic would be good for business.
13
The biggest difference between the phenomenon of Trumpists and Bernie Bros purists is that Sanders does not encourage the nastiness like Trump does. As a result, the Trump nastiness seems to me to have a more virulent edge to it and is more widespread.
But just like Trumpists, Sanders purists who would stay home in November if he is not nominated will get what they want -- the continued chance to complain.
What they do not realize though is that Sanders cannot accomplish half of what he promises on the campaign trail even if, by some miracle, Democrats win a majority in the Senate. I suspect that his most ardent supporters are going to become mighty disappointed after he is elected. It's too bad they don't understand this now.
1
Two attacks on Bernie in today's NYT. True, the Bernie bros are obnoxious, self-righteous, and fanatical. But this should not obscure the facts. Bernie is where the energy is in the Democratic Party. His program appeals especially to the young who realize that he is more concerned about their future than any other presidential candidate. But it also appeals to older Americans who worry about jobs, college for their children, the affordability of healthcare, and climate change. Call it "socialism." As a recent poll suggests, Americans increasingly don't care.
11
Funny, I don't remember any of the "Bernie Bros" threatening violent, armed civil revolution if their candidate lost.
12
Bret: What you write is all well and good, but we need numbers. What is the percentage of this type of deplorables' are we talking about? After all, numbers is all that really matter to the ruling partys'.
1
Thank you for this accurate appraisal of the two demagogic political extremes that share numerous undemocratic, uncivil and dangerous characteristics. As a moderate Democrat, I am worried.
2
Any Sanders supporter who does not vote for the Democratic nominee is as deserving of scorn as a Trump voter. Moreso. It's all fun and games through primary season, but never lose sight of the immediate threat. Use this vote wisely--it may be your last.
3
This fervent support of leaders is indeed something that can be traced back through out time. Perhaps it is genetically rooted in our tribal heritage in which anything but blind faith to a tribal leader was a certain death sentence.
It is a shame Trump and Bernie supporters are blinded by this and are incapable of rational thought. The stakes have never been higher.
1
Bernie is standing by and watching his hit squad play dirty tricks on anyone they perceive as an opponent. Bernie issues a few statements telling his fans to play nice. When the threats start, he does nothing. He is too busy counting his $1million campaign chest and dreaming of what he is going to do with it when he drops out. I feel sorry for the people who have given their hard earned money to this guy. In 2016 he used his war chest to buy a multimillion dollar lake home.
3
Yes, Bernie supporters are angry and they have the right to me. Look at America today. Look at America yesterday. The promises of America are dead and its mythologies never were. Just look at the cult of Trump and the Republican Senate. And Trump has a chance of being re-elected. It's an unbelievable collapse. Yes Bret, the young generation is angry.
11
Every plausible candidate has true believers intolerant of opponents--individuals validated by an occasional nod or handshake from their own celebrity.
Stephens, here, doesn't attempt a nose count, or rise from his office stool to look out the window; he simply repeats an earlier report and adds exclamation marks.
For those of us who aren't Bernie fans, the ugliness emerging from his campaign is troubling, though it's necessary to recognize that a campaign has been mounted against him, as in 2016, by establishment trolls.
Boxer may call herself a "liberal," but an objective observer can disagree, and if we glance at the open corruption of Senate Republicans, it's impossible to look at that institution without recoiling in disgust.
As for Stephens, he has time and again demonstrated his contempt for ordinary people--especially for those non-Jews who simply aren't as bright as he supposes himself to be.
7
An elderly Socialist with a heart condition would make such an easy target for Trump. Added to that, Bernie usually comes across as irritable, and his default mode is yelling and waving his arms. I suspect that at least some of the support for Bernie, some of the nastiness Boxer experienced, comes from Republicans who want Trump to glide into a second term.
3
There's a hateful self-rightiousness running through America on both ends of the political spectrum that befuddles me. Where's the "we" in Trumpism or Sanderism? There's isn't one. There's no "we are going to work together." There's no "we got ourselves into this mess; now we got to get ourselves out." It is all about blame and selfishness. Bernie Bros are just one more element of the "I" that is destroying this country. And, if we don't pivot to the "we," where the vast majority of Americans stand, whether they be center right, center, or center left, there's really not much hope for any progress on any issues of significance.
2
As a supporter of progressive policies and values I have been viciously assaulted with epithets and stalking by Democratic moderates on-line, who hysterically object to any criticism of their neoliberal candidates compromises with accumulated wealth and the war complex. Incredibly, despite their arguments Trump must be defeated at all costs, these subjectively induced supporters of corporate welfare and neoconservative foreign policies say they will not support a Sanders presidential candidacy if he wins the Democratic nomination. That is how moderates express their anger.
8
I said it early in 2016 and have firmly believed ever since: Bernie Sanders, who by the way is NOT a Democrat, has destroyed the Democratic Party every bit as much as Donald Trump, who is NOT a Republican, has destroyed that party as well. They are both ridiculous caricatures of actual, able leaders. The election of Trump, thanks to Bernie and his Bros, is akin to the murder of Archduke Ferdinand as far as action and reaction. The world is at war with itself and ultimately, we will no longer be a leader among liberal democracies, be cause there won’t be any.
4
The reason the Bernie Bros are like the worst trumpsters is because Bernie is like trump. Different policies to be sure - and I support some - but same world view: “only I can do this”, vilifying groups ( billionaires), not understanding how to negotiate or compromise, angry...if Bernie wins the nomination we’ve got 4 more years of trump.
3
Democrats, Please don’t fall for neocon Stephen’s latest diatribe against Sanders and his steadfast supporters. We aren’t angry “Bernie Bros.” We’re just average Americans from diverse backgrounds who firmly believe that Bernie can defeat DJT and make our country accountable to all Americans. What’s wrong with that?
10
@Zareen
Democrats. PLEASE. Make up your own minds, and just vote BLUE!
That's the only thing that matters now.
1
This "Bernie Bros" narrative is a fabrication of the media and political establishment to try to paint Bernie as a demagogue just because he breaks rank with traditional politicians and offers something that actually excites people. Since people like Bret Stephens are unable to combat the appeal of things like medicare for all and the fact that Bernie is uncorrupted by big money donations, they must revert to base ad hominem attacks.
By the way, the term "Bernie Bros" excludes all the women who support Bernie. How ridiculous is that?
11
I think Americans are just exhausted from tyrants as President and making the Presidency and the country all about them. If I never hear the names Trump and Bernie again, I will be relieved. I think most Americans are fed up with them and the narcissistic politicians who are walking in the path of the tyrants of the world, past and present. The Democratic Party will win in a landslide in 2020, with the House, Senate and Presidency ( and it won't be Bernie). Do not despair.
3
Thank you, Bret. What did Pete Buttigieg say about purity tests? Bernie does not wear his Democratic impurity lightly. He contemplated taking Barack Obama into a primary fight in 2012. Joe Lieberman was not pure enough for the Democratic left. After he won as an independent, he made us pay when it came time to pass Obamacare. I am a gay man and Joe's support on gay issues even as a deeply observant Jew made me eternally grateful. He was a hawk on Israel, Iraq and Iran. So OK, not perfect. But perfection is the enemy of the good. Listen up Bernie Bros. We have got to beat Trump. Free college is way down the list in my book.
3
Fact: If Trump were half as dismissive of his craziest supporters as Bernie is of his own, Brett Stephens would endorse Trump.
I wonder who is worse: the Bernie Bros, or the Bernie haters.
Just another Bernie scare column by Bret Stephens, who has been really piling it on lately.
I have a rule I follow during this campaign. As soon as a pundit likens one of the Democratic candidates (and it's almost always Bernie) to Trump, I stop reading. No one is as vile as Trump. Not even close.
6
Thank you Bret for making it so crystal clear how biased the media is against Bernie. Perpetuate whatever stereotype or lie you want - it is only going to solidify Bernie supporters' sense of purpose.
11
Bernie’s bros are very much the cult following that resembles trump’s They want to change the world with their anger. They aren’t true democrats. Most people used to be in the middle. Is being on the fringe the new normal? Are we living in a prison with gangs aligned on each side? I don’t see Bernie uniting anything but his own brand of aggressive, virulent socialism.
1
Get Well Card
Frankly who cares, since we elected a crook,
if Trump wants to keep Ukraine on the hook,
Who care that he tweets misstatements and lies?
Its him we elected so don’t act surprised
He meets expectation and a bunch more –
You’ll wait till November to even the score.
I've been harassed by Bernie's boys on more than one occasion because they didn't like my bumper sticker. Once the local police intervened--thank god. The arrogance and frantic intimidation of these punks makes me dislike and mistrust Bernie beyond measure.
4
But what, what are all these bros- on the left and right - so angry about?
1
So, do you and Boxer forget that Hillary's "victory" over Sanders, way back in 2016, was expedited by Debbie Wasserman's manipulation of the DNC? And you wonder why his supporters are enraged?
7
Wow, do you mean Bernie supporters actually engage in "jabs" at other candidates? I am shocked! Who ever heard of a political brand engaging in jabs! Boxer presided over a sham and you know it. This is a perfect example of Dem. hypocricy.
7
Note again that if you look at the Reader Picks vs the Times Picks you will see that the readers disagree with your column by wide margins Bret Stephens. I would like to say I am shocked by how terrible the coverage is of Bernie and his supporters, but I am not. These attacks are calculated and shameful. I have supported Bernie for years, met many fellow supporters, and they are wonderful, dedicated people. They care about issues like health care, minimum wage, the environment. The columns and articles that the Times is printing are verging on fantasy. The writers perpetuate tropes. If the Times just totaled up the number of readers who disagree with Bret Stephens, just from today's column, they would realize that he doesn't belong on their editorial pages.
10
Well, both Trump & Bernie have Putin’s endorsement, too.
3
Stephens, like Brooks, is always squirming around trying to justify why they have to continue to vote Republican no matter how bottom of the barrel the Conservative candidate is.
11
Many Bernie Bros are so ridiculously radical and such a turn-off to moderate Dems and Independents that I often wonder if some of their leaders are actually on the GOP payroll.
2
What a staged show the impeachment trial was. I think the lawyers were prepped with advance notice of the senator's questions.
My thoughts are weary but consistent. Internet trolls are a mob scene gone unchecked. You would think that after Trump's 3 plus years of inciting mob rule we would know better.
The seething anger is at the boiling point. It's time to lower the temperature. It appears that many candidates are trying to make a perfect call regarding their supporters. Nonsense. We live over giant tectonic plates that will soon divide this country in a way that we will regret for a generation. Enough.
114
@Andy dB: The US will fracture along state borders, just like the late USSR.
6
@Andy dB
Agree. But that said, living over tectonic plates that will soon divide the country is one thing -- what I worry about even more is the giant Caldera just waiting to boil over.
Any way you look at it, we're in for it.
10
This is the first time I've EVER agreed with Bret.
"Bernie bros" are running 4-hour daily shows on Twitch that are basically about bringing everyone else, especially Biden, down. (I'm not a Bernie or Biden supporter, fyi.) It is terrifying that they are a cult of personality, just like the Trumpsters.
Bernie has some great ideas, but there's no way he's going to be able to immediately implement them and I wonder if the bros will turn on him if he gets elected. Scary times.
2
Was Bret Stephens ever at a Sanders rally? Did he pay attention to the joyous moods and optimism of many of these crowds--including the HUGE New York rally and others that were lifted by the spirits of other Dems like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez? And were peaceful? This is fear-mongering rhetoric, focused on some outliers he refers to as Bernie Bros as though the majority of his supporters were such. Trump incites and encourages violence. Biden himself has spoken violently. But Bernie never has. I am sorry for Boxer's experience but it is anomalous. This "anger" spoken about is NOT personal. It is based on a righteous response to inequality in this country. Progressives feel it strongly. But the majority of us want a green and peaceful revolution. Who else but Bernie is promising, and can deliver, such?
8
How's Barbara Boxer's new high-level lobbying position on K Street going? The very recent news that she was ready to cash in as a lobbyist was no surprise, liberal lioness and all. She's part of the Democratic elite that always takes care of itself, then throws shade when Progressives doubt their bona fides for, well, cashing in. She is "it." She's the reason why so much of the Democratic Party rank and file is ready to try another model. Yes, so much "negative energy" indeed.
10
@Sam Reality...Both the GOP and Dem parties are in effect dead. It's all about who is going to appeal to the increasingly huge percentage of independents/unaffiliateds. Bernie's not the candidate to do that I'm afraid. I don't know a single person over the age of 40 who supports a Bernie candidacy, but several are in Warren's camp. You can hate them, but that's not going to change reality. Warren would likely lose to Trump also...American men are too fragile and insecure to vote for a woman as President. Biden is the only one who has a chance to beat Trump and the Putin-Fox-Republican cheating machine.
1
To exchange one demagogue for another is not the way to heal a stricken nation. There is no substantial evidence that Sanders has achieved much for all his years in Washington. And now he has become a walking megaphone for people who want to attack our democracy from the extreme left.
7
Bret - Bernie supporters at the Nevada convention were not booing the fact that Bernie had a rival candidate. They were booing a Nevada Democratic Party (I know this will surprise you) that had cast aside neutrality and changed its rules the night before to ensure that there would be more Clinton votes than Sanders ones. There is a story about the Nevada convention - and it is a complex and interesting one - but it is not the story the New York Times reported then or that you report now, and not the story that is repeatedly used to create a Boogie Man that does not exist. Vote for Bernie or don't vote for Bernie, but he's not Trump and his rallies are not angry, and why don't you go to one and see for yourself? Then at least you could express an opinion that is based on your own lived experience.
17
Do people really think that if Sanders is nominated he'll win the general by running on a platform that will take away the health insurance of 180 million Americans? Especially those union workers in the rust belt who are critical to winning the electoral college and who are very happy with the health care they currently have? And does anyone think Sanders will ever thrill the hearts of black folk? I love Barack Obama and loathe Trump but if the Democrats nominate Sanders I'll do a Bernie Bro imitation and sit out the 2020 election - and I suspect there are millions more who will do the same. BTW, I suspect very few Bros remember McGovern in '72. I do. The passion was the same and so will the results. Look it up if you don't know how that turned out.
4
Read Paul Krugman's op ed in today's paper. He concludes 'But my main point is that Democrats should unify, enthusiastically, behind whoever gets the nomination. Any moderate tempted to become a Never Bernie type should realize that even if you find Sanders too radical, his actual policies would be far more tempered. Any Sanders enthusiast tempted to become a Bernie or Bust type should realize that these days even centrist Dems are pretty progressive, and that there’s a huge gap between them and Trump’s G.O.P."
6
I agree that some Bernie supporters are too intolerant of the moderate left, but that's largely the young people who have more spirit than sense. The scary thing about Trump supporters is that they are all extremists.
6
This is just another article in Bret Stephens' crusade against Bernie Sanders becoming the Democratic candidate. This is just a break from his recent mouth piecing of the Right's talking points about "socialism" and 'love of commie dictators' etc, etc. If one were tempted toward conspiracy theories, you might think he was trying to persuade Democrats to choose one of the candidates who really doesn't have a chance against Trump. Readers should follow his thru-line and realize that Stephens has been looking for a niche to try to maintain relevance, and he seems to have landed on trolling Sanders and his supporters. He as much as admits that the so-called "Bernie Bros" that participate in these tactics is a vanishingly small part of the whole of Bernie's "base." Thus, he, like so many others, is falling victim to giving the loud minority an amplified voice and importance. We must always remember that THE ONLY THING that matters in 2020 is getting Trump and his cronies out of Washington.
8
Democrats should closely study what has happened to the UK Labour Party since 2015 as a result of the Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘leadership.’ A veteran left winger becomes leader of the party - thanks in large part to the enthusiasm of the Momentum movement swelling the ranks of the party’s membership. There are many similarities - ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’ becomes the unlikely leader as his fan base project their desires on to this ideologically pure but unelectable figure. The aftermath? The wider electorate took a long hard look at Corbyn in the recent General Election - the result of which delivered Labour their worst showing since the 1930’s. The reaction of Corbyn and his cult was ‘we won the argument.’ For this lot winning the argument amounts to delivering an 80 seat majority for a Tory Government led by Trump fanboy Boris Johnson. For any left leaning party the way to win elections - and thereby the chance to improve people’s lives - means choosing a candidate with a broad appeal. Otherwise - what is the point?
9
@Bob The British left lost the recent election because they split their vote.
1
In fact, more people voted against The Tories than for them, but the way seats are apportioned, the Tories won a majority of seats anyway.
What concerns me the most is that the Bernie supporters, like the Trump supporters, tend to share a hostile attitude towards the professional news media. They bear widespread anger towards the traditional news sources for every failure to endorse, support, and promote their candidate and use that failing to dismiss the "mainstream media" as irrelevant. With supportive coverage of their candidate as their litmus test, they are vulnerable to suggestion. They promote and share alternative content, including Russia Today, Internet Research Agency, and other sources promoted by actors seeking to divide our society.
The level of anger among Bernie and Trump supporters is a concern, but what makes it impossible to dialog with most of them is their rejection of sources of information that inform reality for the rest of us, in favor of a separate reality of their own.
9
@VCR
I don't reject sources of information, I reject sources of opinion. Like this piece, which is just hackery and manipulation.
I think you have it backward about the professional news media. There is not one pundit in this paper or on TV who is a strong supporter of Bernie Sanders or a truly progressive agenda. Doesn't it strike you as a little unbalanced?
Sanders is leading the polls right now. This isn't a fringe movement that is easy to ignore. It has widespread appeal, yet there are pieces in this paper almost daily that show contempt for it and it's nearly impossible to find even one that supports it.
The separate reality is the one that either pretends the progressive movement isn't happening or is some kind of monster from the deep that everyone should be scared from.
9
@J.C.
And therein lies the problem.
By rejecting "sources of opinion", you're also cutting off conversation -- which is exactly what's needed now because the Democratic party is so fragmented, making a Trump win entirely possible.
That's what scares me.
1
If the Dems have to lose to Trump, which looks likely since the economy is doing okay, maybe it's best that Bernie be the one to fail. At least that way his ardent supporters will be forced to reflect. As I did when McGovern lost to Nixon and Carter to Reagan. Most of this country is not like Vermont, Washington D.C., Portland, and San Francisco.
4
@Milo : If you think that America is the same as it was in 1972 or 1980, then you haven't been paying attention.
3
How can we get to a reality where we have three parties? I'm a proud Democrat, but I'm not in the Sanders party. That's fine. I'm actually a conservative Democrat. Which is also fine. Where do I fit in? Please tell me it's not with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Fly-Over Land.
6
@Justanne
Three parties? Ross Perot, Ralph Nader and Jill Stein were third party candidates. Perot a libertarian gave the Democrats an election. Stein and Nader Green Party candidates did the same for the Republicans.
@Justanne
Three parties? Ross Perot, Ralph Nader and Jill Stein were third party candidates. Perot a libertarian gave the Democrats an election. Stein and Nader Green Party candidates did the same for the Republicans.
You ought to get out of SF once in a while. They have been lying to you about other Americans.
The Democratic Establishment loves us leftists when it's time to donate money or phone bank or door knock--and I've done it faithfully.
But when we protest excessive compromises or outright support for Republican policies, all of a sudden we're "too far left," "unrealistic," and "engaging in a circular firing squad," and back when Obama was president and we protested that he acted as if his job was to play nice with the ruthless and cynical gang currently masquerading as the Republican Party, we were told, "He can't wave a magic wand."
So yeah, I'm furious at Trump, but I'm almost as angry at the wimpy (or compromised) Democrats whose 40 years of feeble and inept resistance to Republican scorched earth policies in favor of Greed, Oil, and Puritanism (G.O.P.) led us to this point.
17
Another article by the mainstream press to discredit Bernie. And it will get worse with Republican attacks if Bernie is the nominee. If America was a more equal society, there'd be no need for Bernie and his bros. The developed world is horrified that the United States doesn't provide medicare for all, doesn't pay its teachers well, spends enormous amounts of money on the military, doesn't provide paid maternity leave, gives tax cuts to the ultra rich, treats its black population unfairly, and is destroying the environment
17
It's disturbing, but only momentarily, to read convinced reactionaries disparage the only hope for a revival of true democracy in the US.
Those who love liberty love Bernie Sanders and all he stands for.
No need to repeat his program, so obvious is it in favor of the middle and working class.
If trump is re-elected disaster will follow. If another Dem besides Bernie gets in, the potential for disaster, created in the Clinton-
Obama years, will return.
Bernie represents a positive return to a truly democratic America.
17
@JFP
The reactionaries are on the hard-core Left.
People who willingly would take this nation into an economic calamity — never let a good crisis go to waste — to impose their top-down organization of society.
It’ll ultimately end up with neighborhood committees for the defense of the revolution, arrests of those that don’t comply, and worse.
And don’t think it can’t happen here.
4
@JFP This old man with his pie-in-the-sky meanderings is not a positive change. His dogmatic and pedantic "agree with me or else" attitude is tiresome. Anyone thinking he's the "slvation" of the party is living in Bernie dreamland. We do not need another ranting mercurial leader.
1
I don't think the problem is Bernie, or Trump for that matter. The internet is eroding society. Whether it's Facebook or newspaper letters to the editor. There seems to be decreasing ability to have a discussion in any forum without name calling and hard line opinion and normal people taking offense. One of the nastiest places around is Next Door which was meant to put neighbors together.
9
The behavior and attitudes described are real and will be an issue should Sanders be the nominee. A candidates supporters, and those he or she associate with, does say a lot about them.
11
Totally agree. Bernie supporters and Trump supporters may look at the issues differently but their behavior is the same. Couple that with the fact that a Bernie presidency is DOA since very few Democrats will support his agenda and you have a recipe for disaster. That is why I will caucus in Nevada to stop him.
13
Even in the off season there's a healthy dose of zealotry to be found in the population. When elections roll around, the passions are uncorked and the fisticuffs begin. Nothing new. What is lost is the greater number. What they're doing isn't newsworthy and certainly doesn't sell papers.
What many Sanders supporters know is that millions of Trump's votes came from people who simply abhorred Hillary and the government enough to go Las Vegas and vote for the wildcard. For them, they gambled and lost. They're not never Trumpers, MAGAs, or any other name brand. They're disappointed. They're going bankrupt from medical debt too, just like the rest of us. Sanders supporters understand that.
Its the season for painting any opposition with a broad brush, for assigning divisions, for labeling with generalities, for pigeonholing every living, voting soul as a this or that. Its what pundits do. The reality is far different. As a population our similarities and circumstances outweigh our differences. Our humanity is our oversoul, the hub of our political wheel. There's no division in that view, only shades of colors RYB defended and protected by a notorious RBG.
Its no more cultish than a golden rule that spans a myriad of spiritual systems current or lost, or the idea of a democracy that levels the playing field regardless of one's station in life. Reducing the majesty of those all encompassing hopes for healthy management of human affairs to the chair throwers is unfair.
9
Yes, yes, yes there are viscious, mean haters and in 2016 their names were bernie bros. I don't know if they still are anathema to anyone but bernie, I don't know because they chased me off social media. they are not a myth and if I was like them I would provide names, a lot of names. but I am not a man child with no sense of history or economics so I won't and I will vote for bernie if I must but I'm hoping for anyone else.
11
@grace
Social media 'conversations' arent. They are practically guaranteed not to bring any more light to anyone regarding a subject of interest, but only to reinforce partisan solidarity in an online community, often by accosting and attacking an outsider to that group, usually by means of ad hominems and in total ignorance of the past two millennium's hard-won effort to lay down rules for the avoidance of informal fallacies.
Online discourse feels free, to the extent that it is pleasing to the individual who puts it out there, but it is more or less always channeled either down the path of like-seeking, or down the path of trolling. Social media fosters only mass amateurization of cultural and political engagement. These portals encourage instant gratification, when democracy presupposes a capacity for frustration and patience. Populism is the natural condition of democratic politics in the age of Twitter.
As long as individual citizens continue to believe that democratic citizenship has attained its full realization in an unending online spitting contest, the future of democracy is in doubt.
"Can the internet make us better human beings? Judging from YouTube comments, no. And you're gay!" — Stephen Colbert
4
@grace: Adam Schiff is the Demorcat who has most distinguished himself in the present public mental health nervous breakdown. He is by far the most competent Democrat to preside as president of the US.
4
Electing Bernie would just be substituting one cult of personality for another. There's little difference between the Bernie Bros and the Trump Trolls. Each is fanatical, mean and closed-minded. I am in the Anyone But Trump camp, but I'm worried that electing Bernie will just continue the animosity and division we've been living for the last 4 years. I hope the Democrats pick one of the other candidates that does not have a following of fanatics. I'm ready for a bland, careful, wonky president who will devote his/her time to policy and mending fences and at least attempt to bring the country together. Bernie is not that guy. But, I admit I will vote for him if he is the nominee-- I have no choice. I cannot cast a vote for Trump.
15
Well said, @Ms. Pea. I don’t see why people who favor a more progressive Democratic agenda line up in Bernie’s camp rather than Elizabeth’s. She offers sound, well-vetted proposals and he offers a cult of personality. Given what is currently occupying the White House, I suppose that’s what a lot of people are looking for.
3
Agree. Sane people understand that defeating trump is the goal here. We may not want Bernie as the nominee - for all the reasons stated in these comments - but if he is most of us will vote for him. Not so with the Bernie Bros; they won’t vote or will write in someone, throwing away their vote. They, and other “purists” did the same thing in 2016 and are partially to blame for trump.
The misogyny is very very disturbing.
1
Another Stephens’ piece designed to undermine a credible nominee. For all the worry that Bernie Bros won’t support the eventual nominee, I ask: If Bernie secures the nomination will the anti-Bernie crowd rally for him? Will you who fear Bernie’s progressive aspirations stop your undermining, negative rhetoric and vote for him?
Bernie Sanders could be the people’s choice for the Democratic ticket. These divisive and overly critical columns, lumping all Bernie fans into the same category, help not at all. Democrats must agree to support the nominee, even if it’s Bernie.
11
I know a couple of Bernie followers. It's like talking to Trump cultists. You can't. Bernie has the answers and nobody else does, and if you don't believe that you're out of touch. My college grandchildren tell me that nobody they talk to on campus will vote for Biden if he's the nominee. They're all in for Bernie. It's Bernie or nothing, the full Sarandon.
Although many of his ideas are good ones, Bernie comes across as an extremist, and they don't win general elections.
Should Bernie be nominated, he will lose. Someone who is not a Democrat is not going to unite the Democratic Party. It's also likely that if another candidate is nominated, he or she will also lose. Twenty-percent of Bernie supporters didn't vote for Clinton in 2016. It will likely be a bigger margin of defections in 2020, making Trump's re-election a near certainty.
Well, maybe Bernie can pull it off in 2024.
6
Bernie (aka the new Ralph Nader) and his devout followers, just like in 2016, will have clear moral conscience on election night; even if they help defeat the Democrat Presidential nominee yet again.
Bernie should run as the Independent he is, instead of muddying the waters again for voters in 2020. He should be on an Independent stage, debating other Independent candidates. That would be virtuous.
5
No. That would be disastrous and would guarantee Trump's reelection. Bernie knows that and that's why he won't run as an Independent.
4
Is it any mystery why Trump says flattering things about Bernie (like the latter is treated unfairly) and is otherwise trying to seek out ridiculous schemes against Biden? It is because Bernie has very little chance of winning a national election, no matter how aggressive the Bros are. The Socialist label will produce an even worse result than McGovern did in 1972.
4
@David P.: The Democratic Party has no real identity and little control over the use of its own brand.
6
@David P.
Oh god, again with McGovern! Let it go. Please. That was 50 years ago!
3
We see division just within the responses to this article. You can simultaneously support Bernie AND understand that a subset of his base does overlap with regard to strategy, misogyny, and anger. Bernie can also speak to this small base and denounce their actions... but he doesn’t. He wants the fire. He wants the anger. He’s a lifelong politician who is playing the game, not a messiah for change. I want to see politics get back to collaboration and compromise; further polarization only weakens the foundation our republic.
7
@Matthew: Nihilism is a faith-based belief that fire is cleansing and burning something down always makes way for something better. Politics goes full circle and extreme left and right merge at nihilism.
1
@Matthew
If you want to return to compromise and collaboration, your issue is with the Republicans, not the Democratic left. Please stop this already. Take a careful look at your post. It is you who is being divisive.
Social media made populism the language of politics in this Disinformation Age, so it should be no surprise that demagogues at both extremes of our political spectrum can tap into a reservoir of pathological ressentiment online.... These weaponized social media platforms are where the national political dialectic is playing out. Its why this is the heyday of alterity movements and conspiracy cults - because the masses think in memes. This is the dystopia social media has wrought: when ignorance meets egoism meets bad taste meets mob rule.
Trump’s people believe what Bernie Sanders’s people believe: that the system is rigged, that it is corrupt, that our elites are complicit in selling out their interests, etc. Senator Sanders’s people endorse his irresponsible calls for “revolution” and his old-fashioned class-warfare rhetoric. Trump’s people resonate on a different cultural frequency, but the right-wing populists’ fundamental assumptions about what ails the country are very much like those of the left-wing populists...
As long as citizens cling to their electronic, epistemic silos and believe democratic citizenship has attained its full realization in an unending online Twittterwar, the future of democracy is in doubt...
10
Let's get down to fundamentals: he's a 78 year old man with a heart condition. That's what I don't like about Bernie Sanders. We don't need yet another old man running the country.
And don't tell me I'm ageist--I'm 66 years old. A president should be LIKELY to live out the term he's elected to fill. It's a reasonable expectation.
9
@Laurence Bachmann
Bernie Sanders: A 78-year-old activist who has never held a real job and was kicked out of a commune in 1971 for being too lazy.
And this is is the man who is magically going to make a success of Socialism when all others have failed?
Yeah, right.
2
How to bust these parties – as though they were ‘trusts’ – up into smaller holdings? Perhaps require a party affiliated with more than one-third of Congress to put forward the names of four candidates who will contest the presidential election. It might not really work?
Many of the comments and reactions remind me of how Trump won. As a few have noted, he is not saying ALL Bernie supporters but yet many have reacted as if he did. We all need to slow down, read closely and think about the long term consequences.
3
thank you
1
Why all the vitriol and rancor within their own party? Isn’t Trump the enemy? Why turn all that negative energy inward and create even more divisiveness when it should be redirected into all the combative energy it requires to defeat Trump.
8
This is a very forced comparison, and has the Sander's campaign completely out of focus: Bernie's fundamental message is one of inclusion, not division. This is a big difference. As much as I appreciate Mr Stephen's opinions I would rather he not serve up warmed over hash to forlorn neo-liberals.
10
Bernie bros are very like trump's troops. So much so that I've wondered from time to time if they are actually aided and abetted by paid republican operatives. The riots in Las Vegas during the 2016 campaign come to mind.
3
@Carol I haven’t noticed any republican operatives at the home of this retired teacher and retired neuroscientist. We just keep giving Sanders more money each week for a couple of years now, hoping to make the lives of working people fairer!
3
Sad to say it, but I think Stephens is letting Sanders himself off a bit easily. The Senator may condemn “the worst excesses,” but the fundamental template—the noted demonization of the “near enemy,” the conviction that your opponents are not just wrongheaded but necessarily morally bankrupt, the division of politics into the righteous few and the sell-out many—is set by him.
His rejection of liberalism’s animating spirit of imperfect humanity is as much a barrier to many potential allies as his apparent unease and ambivalence about it’s core tenets.
6
@Cormac
So you are upset that Sanders rejects " liberalism’s animating spirit of imperfect humanity ."
You probably benefit from that "imperfection".
Reviving the now dead American Dream might cramp your style...
You are probably content with the obscene, colossal and growing inequality of opportunity, income and wealth, where the richest .1 percent take in 196 times as much as the bottom 90 percent.
https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
Others of us are angry, and are working hard and demanding change.
"Get out of the way,
if you can't lend a hand
the times they are a'changing"
2
Based upon this, I may shift my support to Bernie.
I have just ended a three-month break from political coverage which I took in order to gain some perspective. I now believe that our current system of government is no longer fit for purpose as evidenced by the rise of Trump and the embracing of lawlessness by the GOP.
The Democratic candidates largely represent either a way back to government as it used to be or are hyper-focused upon individual rights. Neither strategy is strong enough to win.
We can’t go back. The old rules no longer apply, and the comfortable middle that has ruled throughout my (long) life has failed to hold.
The United States is now facing a sharp choice between a dictatorship and democratic socialism.
I vastly prefer the latter, and I think Bernie is the frontrun for good reason. He represents a badly-needed new direction, a growth in our thinking, and a way forward.
Also, importantly, he appears to have the chops to beat Trump.
15
@D. Wagner: The US public really is hopeless when it comes to understanding corporations and institutions. The federal government should be understood as the master corporation atop a pyramid of corporations with special coercive powers where each citizen of age has one share to vote for federal elective offices.
3
Eric Hoffer no doubt. Boxer was part of the establishment democrats that rigged the process for delegates at the last Democrat convention. The process was dirty and left a bad taste in the supporters of Bernie. Smearing Bernie and Bernie supporters doesn't make them chumps for trump. These supporters want a new direction in America with clear water clean air. These supports are tired of never ending wars. Bernie has been the only candidate that is consistent with his message when lies seem to be the truth
15
@Sean Daly Ferris
Here's an inconvenient truth.
There are many Americans who want the same things: no more endless wars, clean water & air and a new direction for this country, without necessarily wanting Bernie Sanders.
And that doesn't make them corporate tools -- or the enemy.
4
@Sean Daly Ferris
Then he should run for the Socialist Party nomination. You and he won't have to worry about those corrupt Democrats standing in your way.
Good luck.
2
A brief reminder to many Bernie supporters complaining in the comments: Stephens isn’t calling out all Bernie supporters. Reread the article if you don’t believe me.
Bret explains why I despise the extreme left in today’s politicos age. Compromise is essential in the American system. As a conservative, I loathe the current GOP. I find myself politically allied with many people who I feel quite certain would gladly hang me from a telephone pole if they got their way. It scares me. Trump scares me more. It’s why I support Biden. He’s a good man who would make a good president. I cannot ask for more from a politician.
8
@Alex Keene Obama bent over backwards to try to compromise with Republicans, always starting his negotiations with concessions baked in. The republicans didn't and never will compromise with democrats. A vote for Biden is a vote for nothing of consequence getting accomplished.
6
@Alex Keene
Compromise has killed the American Dream.
Do you know anything about the obscene, colossal and growing inequality of opportunity, income and wealth, where the richest .1 percent take in 196 times as much as the bottom 90 percent.
https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
1
@Alex Keene He may not be "calling out" all Bernie supporters but he is asking them to reconsider. Re-read the last paragraph "Is this the Democratic Party the Democrats want?.... Now is the moment for second thoughts." He is asking Bernie's supporters -who are largely sane and civil and kind hearted people - who are backing Bernie because they want a more just and democratic America - to jump ship on Bernie just because he may have some very passionate and uncivil online commentators. That's just ludicrous.
1
How to bust these parties into smaller groupings? Perhaps require a party affiliated with more that one-third of Congress to have two candidates run in the presidential election. It could work wonders.
@M. C. Major How about a parliamentary system of government like the rest of the world. And what about changing the size and terms of the Supreme Court? How does 6 Catholics out of 9 justices represent the country, especially on reproductive rights?
2
@M. C. Major more than
Bernie has ardent supporters because they want fundamental change. If he doesn't get the nomination, I'm afraid many millennials and Sanders supporters won't show up on November 3rd. They stayed away from voting for Hillary in droves. Then say hello to 4 more mind-numbing years of DJT.
1
@Mark McIntyre Some Bernie supporters went and voted for Trump. Anything but Clinton and her clique.
2
@Mark McIntyre
If that happens, don't blame it on Sanders or his supporters. Blame it on a Democratic Party that is woefully out of date and out of touch with the electorate.
6
@J.C.
And yet it's the Democratic Party that is hosting Bernie Sanders candidacy and whose voters are needed to secure his nomination.
Talk about biting the hand...
1
Mr Stephens, Two questions:
1 - Do you have any more recent examples that 2016? That one is frankly a little stale with age.
2 - Have you considered that the online presence calling itself "Bernie Bros" may just be another avatar from Russian (or some other) intelligence services, doing their usual thing of inflaming and expanding legitimate grievances, in order to divide and conquer?
11
Mr. Sanders needs different and new friends. The ones who are most vociferous do him no service at all.
1
@Irene
I find vociferous to be a welcome change from meek and mild and compromised, which is where the Democratic Party has been for decades. It's time for change.
7
Clearly the Democratic establishment and NYT are not happy about Bernie’s surge. When I see NYT headlines about Sanders they’re always worded in such a way to suggest there’s something not right about Bernie, or there’s a BUT. This column perfectly illustrates this with the sophomoric use of “Bernie Bro” and the breathless alarming reportage regarding some of his supporters, never-mind Hillary out playing mean girl and all of this leading up to the Iowa caucuses, Hmm?! I support whoever the eventual nominee is and I find these dishy hit pieces unhelpful and counterproductive to the task at hand which is to select the best candidate to lead forward.
10
Sanders of course has broader support than the "Bernie Bros"(including members of my immediate family,) but it's undeniable that there was a disgusting misogynistic streak running through his Bro supporters in 2016. I saw it, and it's whitewashing to pretend it didn't exist. It was unmistakable in the comments section of this paper as well as on social media. Perhaps some were bots but there were plenty whom I knew were real people. To put it nicely, they used pejorative words that apply only to women. Don't count yourself "woke" if you saw that misogyny in the MAGA crowd but closed your eyes to it in many of Bernie's supporters in the last election.
12
@JT
One of the things that makes Sanders so popular, and why he's a better bet to pull in some of the disaffected Trump voters, is that he doesn't pander to the "woke" crowd. If you saw misogyny in 2016, maybe there were a few examples of that or maybe it's just that they weren't having the silliness of being called sexist just because they didn't support the female candidate.
3
Well, all of this infighting among the Democrats is interesting to say the least. You are all making it easier for Trump to win in November. It turns out that none of you individually or collectively can, at this point, put together a campaign sufficiently cogent to unseat the sitting president.
You all say you fear for your country under his presidency. He has done more good for the country in three years than Obama did in eight.
You say he is dividing the country. Sorry, but your bickering and single minded agenda to defeat our president are the things that are dividing the country.
It is unfortunate that you do not understand the damage you are doing.
3
You need to stop with the advice Bret you are a Republican. We Democrats do not want a Republican lite. You should change your own party or just set this one out until your party comes up with a Republican you like. This is were we are at we need to fight fire with fire Republicans will stop at nothing to win so if we want to win we better play to win.
6
@NM Neither had I until I was hit with the video of Iowa democrats behaving like Trumpers led on by Rashida Tlaib. We have to be smart to overcome the GOP up and down the ticket. This isn't about you Rashaid - there's more at stake!
2
Hey, maybe instead of attacking potential voters, you can try to attract those voters?
8
As expected, conservatives, and lackeys of wall streets like Bret Stevens, will try everything to scare people and avoid a true social democratic government. They would rather have Trump with his nationalist and racist agenda, and a pretend-democracy, rather than paying more taxes and save the planet. It was to be expected.
9
I stopped reading at "Bernie's angry bros"
How insulting to a culturally diverse, age and gender diverse campaign. We are not bros.
We are not angry either.
We are organized & we are voting for the most passionate candidate who has a platform to make our country better.
& who are you voting for? And how are you contributing to the greater good besides writing sensational and divisive smears against the democratic front running candidate.
15
I knew Vermont before Bernie arrived. Vermont did not exactly embrace left wing New York Jews. I am not American and my friends and I called Vermont Mississippi North. Vermont was the reddest state in the union but back then Mississippi was blue and Vermont was red with a rather red neck.
Bernie was brave to move to Vermont and today Vermont isn't the same.
If Bernie can help the USA change even a little bit like Vermont has changed he deserves a fair hearing.
10
If only Bret spent as much time bashing Mitch McConnell as he does Bernie.
If Bernie wins, I guess you'll just have to stay home Bret. New York doesn't need your vote anyway. Get over it!
The sky will not fall!
10
This is a dishonest article. The "Bernie Bros" - and "Sisters" too - are up in arms because the DNC is a crooked organization. And Joe Biden is hardly a model for civility. And that doesn't even cover Biden's racism and double dealing.
Sanders supporters are right to be impassioned and obsessed. It is what the Democratic Party needs right now.
I will vote for either Sanders or Warren. I won't vote for anyone else.
7
Make no mistake, the tyranny of the LEFT is every bit as toxic as the tyranny of the RIGHT. While generally speaking Sanders would be light years better than the gangster who pretends to be our current president, Sanders has neither the temperament nor political skills to lead this country into the future. With Trump’s supporters, we’re talking about the mindless masses. With Sanders, there’s a self-righteousness that is pretty repugnant. I just pray the Democrats don’t implode this time around, but they have perfected the art of eating their own, to the great delight of Republican scoundrels. That Sanders and his supporters didn't work harder to not only elect Clinton but DEFEAT Trump is an indelible stain on their consciences.
7
I hear a lot about Bernie Bros. Ive never encountered one first hand.
10
@Alix Hoquet
That's because they're very rare in the wild. They mostly exist in the minds of conservatives and moderates who are afraid of change.
7
@Alix Hoquet
That's easy to fix.
All you have to do is say something less than flattering about Bernie Sanders in person or online and you'll see.
3
Wow! The Progressive takedown shifts to high gear...Repeatedly mischaracterizing Sanders supporters (or Warren or Yang's) to try and move a needle should be beneath those writing in this paper. Leave fear mongering to the Right and let Americans decide. sanders has a robust and growing support and it is disrespectful to cast the majority in a negative light with the weight of a caustic headline- your better than clickbait, right?
9
Anger is exactly what is needed now to change the current state of affairs. Our democracy has been crumbling before our eyes, and the criminal distribution of wealth continues to cripple our society while destroying our only planet. Only a fool could think that a calm and peaceful dialogue would be beneficial now. Our politicians have failed us, the Constitution has failed us: it’s time to say ENOUGH! Bernie is the only credible solution and the last hope.
9
Rinse and repeat 2016
7
Sander’s supports have some real reasons to be angry with their supposed Democrat side. In 2016 the DNC colluded with HRC campaign to rig the primary process in favor of HRC. The media (CNN ) even gave debate questions to HRC prior to one debate ( who knows what else they tried ). In current primaries CNN clearly colluded with Warren campaign with non-journalistic-standards article claiming Bernie is a sexist and liar. Then during debate said as matter a fact to all viewers that Warren was correct in her assertion of sexist remarks made by Bernie. That was right after he denied it.
Journalism has LOST all influence because the of so many instances like this. Just look how much impact NYT and Iowa newspapers have had in their endorsements for Warren. Warren’s campaign is doing even worse since those endorsements. So, media blame yourself for this environment being so caustic. It is hard for you to be trusted when it is so clearly rigged. Unfortunately, Trump is correct enough about media Fake news propaganda for it to resonate. Please, using a baseball analogy, get back to calling a strike a strike, a foul a foul, and a ball a ball.
9
Every day a negative piece on Sanders, like it’s a rotating assignment for Times writers. I just don't get it. Is there some long ago sleight against somebody very high up in the company that just cannot be forgotten? Or is it that there is genuine fear that in office Sanders will be effective at overturning some very comfortable furniture or upsetting a very profitable apple cart?
There is a story here, and I say to you, NY Times, failure to reveal it is costing you. Your value is credibility. Lose that, and you’ll be be on the trash heap with the rest.
9
Bernie and the impeached president are two sides of the same coin. So it goes for their bros...
3
How desperate to fill a column with such nonsense. It is an echo of Hillary’s current attacks on Berne when it was Hillary and pundits like yourself who helped put Trump in the White House in the first place. Let Bernie’s new generation call the shots this time around. Our generation, particularly after this weeks debacle in DC, has clearly set the nation in the wrong direction. You flail at what Bernie’s Bros are doing on-line but is is not much different than what you are doing this morning in the NYT.
6
Is this the last refuge of the establishment? Trying to paint the leading progressive candidate and his supporters as a bunch of "Bro's"? You've run out of talking points, you are alienating your own readers and you are denying the truth of the fact that Bernie is supported by a wider and more diverse range of people than any other establishment democratic contender on the table. Scares you doesn't it? I look forward to the continued frantic declamations on the Times political Opinion page as it becomes increasingly clear that the most electable and best equipped candidate to take on Donald Trump and the Republican party is in fact, Bernie Sanders. Time to get board or get left behind.
10
Since 2015, I have thought Bernie was our Trump. As a lifetime Democrat though I fear that, in the unlikely case he might be elected, he would be a worse President than Donald. What is this non-Democrat doing messing up with a weakened Party?
2
Mr. Stephens in his 1/28/20 NYT conversation with Gail Collins said
"I’m obviously no fan of what he stands for, but he has ideas and convictions that are unequivocal, authentic, easy to understand and based on a powerful moral sensibility. That’s the essence of good politics. None of the other Democrats have quite that combination."
Gee, no wonder Stephens follows up with a piece like this. Sanders could win.
(not a "bro". blue no matter who.)
8
I think the main importance of the candidacy of Sanders in the current and past election is to emphasize that however we may want to mask it from ourselves, there is class antagonism and what Marx called class warfare in America. Why those on the left should not be just as angry as those on the right does not make sense to me. Bernie is not my preferred candidate, but if he is the nominee, I will of course vote for him.
5
Finally, people are starting to talk about this, years too late. This bad behavior of the Bernie's Bros was in plain sight during the Clinton campaign, but not sufficiently denounced. I remember that once, when Bernie was still ascending and Bernie Bros were not a thing yet, I tried to ask on an online forum two simple, neutral, legitimate questions: 1) Did Sanders have a feasible plan of where he would get the money for free college and free healthcare? 2) If the plan were simply to tax the billionaires (would that even rake up enough money?), how was Sanders planning to have those massive and draconian tax reforms passed in Congress, since it is incredibly unlikely that he would be President AND have both a Democratic House and Senate? Just for asking these technical questions, I was pretty much assaulted. Not to speak of the vicious lies and exaggerations they spread about Clinton. Plus, the fact that Sanders waited so long to endorse Clinton only stoked the fires of the anti-Clinton Bernie Bros. Compare that with the way Clinton acted when Obama was selected as the nominee: she immediately endorsed him wholeheartedly, without stoking resentment in her supporters. Finally, I have witnessed Sanders' own impatience towards anyone who challenges him and condescending tone towards women in so many interviews. Nevertheless, despite the fact I do not personally like him, I will still vote for him if he were the nominee. Hope Bernie Bros can say the same of other nominees.
6
I think hiding behind that goofy smile the real B Sanders waits. Like earlier social warriors set to save civilization from the kulaks I don’t think his tenure would turn out to be a bed of roses. I believe the real Bernie remains hidden and should he become president those communistic leanings of his would start to appear and become larger and larger. History and applying its lessons accurately to today’s conditions is very difficult but for me to willingly vote for someone who has his ideas would NEVER happen.
1
There is nothing wrong with calling out the corruption in the Democratic Party anymore than calling out corruption in the GOP. I don't troll people online and I support Bernie. This man was mistreated by the DNC in 2016 and still made 40 rallies for HRC while she made 12 for Obama in 2008. Bernie brought more voters to her in the 2016 general than she did for Obama in 2008. He's been an honest, consistent player and that is why he's rising in the polls. He is addressing issues that matter to democratic voters...despite attack pieces like this one.
8
In 2016, I had Sanders supporters haranguing me on my Facebook page, drowning out any point I tried to make about HRC as a candidate and asserting (crazily) that she was as bad as Trump. They also recirculated obviously fraudulent and ridiculous "news items" about her corruption, and I am firmly convinced they were a substantial reason that Trump won. If Bernie Sanders wins the nomination, I will hold my nose and vote for him, but yes, his supporters are just MAGAs by another name. And I don't think Bernie Sanders has a snow ball's chance of beating Trump.
6
When you can't attack policy, attack character. But the candidate is the most trusted in the country.
What to do? Let's demonize and dehumanize the supporters!!
The logic here is truly strange:
"An anonymous 'Bernie Bro' was mean to me. So you and your family :
- do not get health care. The profits of the insurance companies and big pharma are more important.
- must endure a deteriorating climate,
- and everyone must agree to live under economy that, for the past 40 years has severely and increasingly been rigged to favor the wealthy while the middle working class and poor are having a harder time,
- must put up - silently, please - with decreasing opportunities for education or a pathway forward.
Poor Barbara Boxer! Poor clueless Barbara Boxer! She tried to sell a group of people whose rights to participate fully and fairly in the Nevada primary process were denied to "shut up and to get behind the candidate" chosen for them by the party owners. What did she expect? That she could deliver such a message in this situation and not be booed off the stage?
I am on the campaign trail in Iowa as a volunteer for Sanders as I read more myth about "Bernie Bros". The overwhelming majority of volunteers that I am seeing here now are female and under 40 years old - many, many in their 20's and 30's.
They are POSITIVE and energized. But: cheat them again and you will have Trump again. Cheat them again you will have the disaster of the rise of a 3rd party.
9
@jtcr
"Positive" women under 40 aren't setting the tone for Bernie's campaign. That job's being done by the yelling, hectoring, finger-wagging Bernie, an iconoclast and self-described Socialist-Democrat (party of one!) who has never lifted a finger for the Democratic Party. Sanders supporters need to know that Bernie's repulsive to many voters, and not just Republicans. Sometimes it's not what you have to say, it's how you say it. Americans need a break from negativity.
3
This is food for thought.
Many leaders have been propped by extremists; what's different today is the multiplying, duplicating, infectious power of the internet. The internet poses the real danger here.
You can say "The internet doesn't kill democracy; people kill democracy." You'd be wrong to say so. The power of the internet makes the difference. Muskets don't kill people any more; machine guns do the job much better.
But to turn to the question that has me thinking: Does it make a difference that Sanders apparently believes he can use and control his trolls? In a world where nobody running for office has clean hands, soul, and mouth, who really is in charge of the candidate?
Bernie’s supporters are nothing like Trump boosters. We’re not so blind as to vote against our own interests. We value policy over meaningless political flim-flam. It’s true that many of us are Bernie or Bust voters. But that’s because the DNC and its superdelegate process is corrupt. It wants a Corporate Democrat and it will go to any length to get it. Threatening to withhold votes unless Bernie is the nominee is the only way for the common man to rebel against the system. If the DNC nominates somebody else, their nominee will likely lose. Even the DNC may risk their precious corporate bribes to avoid that outcome.
3
So the Bernie Bros will not vote for the Dem candidate if Bernie is not the nominee??? Well guess what? This 76 year old woman who has never not voted, will definitely NOT vote if Crazy Ole Bernie is the nominee! Yes, I know that elects tRUMP, but the way I look at it, they are two sides of the same coin---both more than a little crazy, both have no ability to compromise, both extremists in their views.
2
This is a hit piece against Bernie. Expect more and from a wide variety of sources. After what the Democratic Party heads did to Bernie last time, when it's pretty clear he could have beaten Trump, everyone had a right to be angry. Everyone should be angry. And now they are at it again. Changing rules to allow a billionaire to debate after forcing Booker out. Perhaps re-introducing super-delegates. It's corrupt at the top, but not at the bottom. Stick with the people and they'll sweep out the Corporatist party leaders.
9
Angry supporters "hounding and humiliating anyone who stands in their man’s way"? Wait a minute, supporters like those are precisely why Trump's ascendancy to power has been a catastrophe for the United States.
5
I think it is very telling that apparently the worst that can be said of Bernie Sanders is that his supporters sometimes say mean things. Wow! Unlike maybe, Hillary, whose staff coined the term “Bernie Bros” has only the sweetest words of endearment for Bernie, Tulsi, Jill Stein and of course that “basket of deplorables.”
If folks are offended by some of Bernie’s supporters: men, women, young , old, black, white, Latino, Asian, native Americans and wish to disappear them with the term “Bernie Bros” then aren’t they being a bit racist? Or am I being too mean?
Equating a Bernie Sanders with Donald Trump and his supporters has to be the laziest and astoundingly ignorant comparison
8
Well, since we're name calling, how bout Bret the Bernie Basher? Seriously though, let's get past style to matters of substance.
What animates Trump's MAGA crowd are virulent self-delusions about dark people invading our country to destroy white culture. In marked contrast, Bernie's people are animated by a sober realization that our economic system is doomed if the fruits of increased productivity and national income continue to flow so overwhelmingly to a tiny fraction of households. Thus, they outspokenly advocate prescriptions that require substantial, if not radical changes to make it more inclusive. This is a far cry from hate and spite for immigrants ...
Bash Bernie supporters all you like, but there is a difference. And it is hardly insignificant ...
11
I am friends with a lot of Bernie supporters, but my friends and I are mostly queer people, and definitely not bros! Although we all love an argument about policy, and are happy to have forward, passionate conversations about politics, I don’t know if that eagerness to engage, even in sometimes in confrontational manner, makes us bros.
4
Once again, after what the whole world 'witnessed' yesterday, the
Republicans, as well as our most formidable foreign enemies are celebrating by cheering on any threat to dividing us instead of uniting us.
2
Sure, angry Bernie supporters are around, and I don't think spitting vitriol at others is all that helpful. But are we pretending there weren't plenty of Hillary supporters who are just as angry and venomous? On Twitter at least, they're some of the angriest people I've ever seen.
3
I hope this time the Democrats will rally behind the final Democratic candidate and all vote for that candidate. Getting rid of Trump is the only important issue. Sad to see how fanatical Bernie Bros are. Barbara Boxer is a progressive. I lived in California when she was Senator there. She was great. Bernie is unlikely to get the nod so I hope that his followers will support the final candidate or Trump will win again and if Trump wins, it will because of these fanatics, that is my greatest fear. It must not become a tribal battle between the Biden biddies and the Bernie brats. Trump must lose or all is lost. The young famously don't vote and that includes Black youth. Stop the hatred. I promise to vote for the Democratic candidate period and all Americans should also. Dump Trump, the lying king and the Republican Senators, particularly Moscow Mitch McConnell - send money to his opponent, Amy McGrath regardless of what state you vote in.
2
The old middle eastern saying goes like:
The dog barks, the caravan moves on.
Heard it from the wonderful Edward Said at Columbia as a freshman. A century ago :-)
3
@Blunt I love that saying, thank you for sharing, I had never heard it before.
1
One very well established empirical fact is that college age youth
are pretty far to the left not only of the general electorate, but also far to the left of where they themselves will be after they gain a good deal of experience in life. Bernie's strength with college age youth is not a good reason to vote for Bernie, since all the evidence tells us their radicalism stems from youth and inexperience. Bernie is pretty scary for many reasons including his demeanor, but the worst of it probably in his 1930s style isolationism. Bernie was born in 1941 and might not know all that about American history before he was born. The isolationists of the 1930 did not even dream that their isolationism, so similar to Bernie's isolationism, would lead directly to WWII and the Holocaust.
2
I abhor the cult of St. Bernie, don’t really like him personally, and am skeptical of what he can actualize, and ever since I read George Packer’s The Unwinding I’ve come to see Uncle Joe as part of a corrupt and corporatized government, an untenable status quo, and I find him kind of fake. Both will be 78 when the election occurs. Too old. Who’s the VP? But I will hold my nose and vote for whoever gets the nom, because the alternative is submission to Fox News America, and after watching the right go full banana republic on these impeachment proceedings I recognize how much will be lost with four more years of Trump.
1
My 22 year old daughter has always liked Bernie, as do most of her friends, and certainly does not consider herself a “bro”. This term is simply used to cast negative aspersions, not unlike Gloria Steinem in 2016: “the girls like Bernie because the boys like Bernie and the girls follow the boys.”
5
I've been saying this since the 2016 campaign, when I got the Bernie swarm on FB on a daily basis. Then I learned I needed to discern the difference between people genuinely interested in doalog & people who simply intended to shout me down & vilify me. Took a while to get into the NYT, I must say.
1
These fanatics help Republicans place nails Inn the coffin of democracy. They foolishly believe that if their candidate doesn't get nominated then let the one who dies, fail. Ultimately the people will realize their mistake and throw the rascal out. They fail to account for the fundamental changes made in the
System as the judiciary takes hold with extremist views and shapes the Destiny of the country for several generations to come.
1
Didn't I just read this article in the Times? Haven't I, in fact, read a nearly identical article in some major media outlet at least once every week since this campaign began? Even though they purport to be about a general phenomena they all seem to rely on a selection from the same dozen incidents. There is little, if any, effort apparently extended to check the facts of these claims. The allegations come overwhelmingly from people who occupy powerful perches in this society and/or from people who are fairly notorious Twitter trolls in their own right.
What is missing from every one of these articles is any attention to how age and social class informs these online encounters.
Bernie's supporters are decidedly younger and poorer than those of other candidates. They may be drowning in student debt while working dead end low wage jobs. They ration their insulin and try to pay for medical emergencies via GoFundMe. Which is to say that they are digital natives with reasons to be angry.
The people they tend to get into the fiercest confrontations with are more commonly older and engaged with the election in their professional capacities as journalists, pundits, consultants, lawyers, etc... They have "good" insurance and can afford to have children.
Sanders has given lots of poor people a voice. Twitter has given them a space where they can make it heard by their social superiors. Its not pretty but it is a warning. You are living on a volcano.
5
Both sides need to get a diagnosis and take medicine for the brain eating sickness.
Sanders is Trump.
That great book education sure is paying off with pap.
1
Lifelong Democrat and Feminist here. The Bernie Brotherhood epitomizes white Male privilege, on the Left. They are the equivalent of Libertarians, on the right. Doctrinaire, self-centered, and supremely sure of themselves. Like most teenagers and twenty somethings, before they grow up.
Get over yourselves. Please.
3
Brett Stephens seems really intent on bashing Sanders. Hate socialists? Afraid your taxes will go up? Prefer a professional know it all like Trump and his Republican lackeys? Not sure what the deal is but like Andrew Yang says he better get on the side of civilization.
5
Classic false equivalency. Trump fuels the fire. He is as bad as his followers. Bernie is running to make structural change, and his followers are impatient with anything else. But they aren’t trying to elect him dictator, and they aren’t fulfilled simply by his personal charisma. They want a sea change in politics, not a leader cult.
7
I think it's fair to assume that a lot of the "Bernie Bro" online vitriol is the work of Russian and Chinese and homegrown right wing trolls determined to split the Democratic party and hand the election to trump and Moscow mitch. Unity, people! And stop reading twitter and facebook for your political feed: a total waste of your time.
6
Thank you Bret! Do you remember how well the nation responded to Hillary's "deplorables" comment in 2016? Your published opinion will undoubtedly inspire much the same reaction among Bernie's supporters and fill his campaign coffers with cash before the early votes in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Few things inspire Bernie's supporters in rural America more than trash-talk by the New York elite.
4
His trips to Central America are going to kill him the minute his is nominated . He is being boosted by the right so he gets the nomination.
There is a reason the right is pumping him up. They know they will destroy him and us.
I don’t trust he knows how to lead after reading many interviews with him. His responses to inquiry into his trips to Central America end with him yelling as he always does.
@Lulu We admire him for helping expose the right wing wars in Central America which killed about 200,000 peasants in Guatemala in the 1980s. This needs to be brought to light, our tax dollars at work!
What is the point of this essay--a few hooligans and internet trolls support a political candidate. So what? I support the same candidate, and I'm a 55 year old woman. I saw plenty of Hilary trolls online during the last campaign. The desperation to kill the "socialist" candidate reeks from this essay.
4
I’ve personally encountered many angry and venomous Bernie supporters. Some of them are women, so not a Bro, but the female equivalent. It’s so turned me off, that I can’t support Sanders. And you’re right, it’s just like talking with a Trump fanatic. (Both the left and the right have gone plum crazy!) If Sanders wins the nomination, I’ll have to hold my nose as I vote #bluenomatterwho, but I won’t be happy about giving this kind of negative energy a pass.
3
I'm a senior citizen that supported Bernie in 2016 but held my nose and voted for Hillary after she got the nomination. I WILL vote for whoever gets the 2020 nomination. And I want to sincerely thank you, Bret, for your attack on Bernie! Nothing except one of Trump's bile-spewing tirades opens the wallets of Bernie's five-million-plus small-dollar donors more than an Op-Ed comparing them to the fascists, racists, and misogynists among Trump's minions. And your timing was perfect! Maybe you could write another attack piece just a day or two before the NEXT FEC deadline?
4
Still calling his supporters Bernie Bros? Obviously you aren’t looking at his base. And if you AREN’T mad right now, then you aren’t paying attention.
5
This is a diversion from what should really should be the news!!! The climate, the animals, insects, our oceans and the mess that is being created on a daily bases because of the way we live.
If we do not change our way of life IMMEDIATELY the next generation is doomed. How is it that this is not at the front of every newspaper in the world. Still the Republican Party the DNC ...continue to demand a GNP that pushes this agenda. Capitalism can not solve the climate problem it created. When will we learn that?
2
Imagine facing Trump with a candidate who doesn’t have enthusiastic supporters...
1
Bernie is not a Democrat. In the last Democratic primary, when HRC won, Bernie was slow to support her - the legitimate Democratic nominee. Had he acted as a Democrat and enthusiastically supported her Trump might not have won.
Bernie will be 79 yrs old when he takes office, if he were to win. Would any of you want a pilot on a plane you were flying on to be a 79 yr old with heart disease????????
3
Bernie will never win the South and most of the other purple states.
Bernie will be trashed by GOP attack ads on socialism, trashed by FOX, trashed by the conservative radio hosts like Limbaugh. This type of Dem is just what the GOP WISHES to have as their adversary—Elizabeth Warren, too. If you want to hand Trump another term (remember how nauseating Trump’s election night was), give them an opportunity to tout fake socialism.
Remember how Obama was targeted when he mention “redistribution of wealth,” when he was tagged a Leninist “community organizer.”
Bernie is not a team player. He will not be able to negotiate much. Biden can and will. And Biden has not already sustained heart damaged from a cardiac event.
4
Incredible to think that the Democratic party should be taken over by an old socialist from Vermont who is fonder of the 19th century critic of democracy and capitalism (Karl Marx) than the 18th century defenders of democracy (the Scottish philosophers David Hume and Adam Smith, along with the American founders Hamilton and Jefferson). America should stick with the policies that have brought it great success, capitalism and democracy. I shudder at the thought that the choice will be between two old dogmatic nasties. Neither one of them cares enough about democracy.
2
It's important to remember that, while there are certainly elements of what Mr. Stephens described within the actual Sanders movement (as evidenced by real-world events like Las Vegas), it's also very likely that the army of online Bernie Bros is substantially enhanced by misinformation trolls from Russia and perhaps elsewhere. As outlined in the Mueller report and in numerous other investigative reports, including the NYTimes, this is exactly the type of crack in our society that the Russian G.R.U. and other entities seek to exploit to destabilize our democracy. Part of our vigilance in guarding against movements such as the online Bernie Bros is to identify all its sources and to educate the public on how our intrinsic predispositions are being manipulated by outside interests.
1
Finger pointing. bombastic, far left and admitted Socialist Bernie Sanders is NOT a Democrat. I expect he will screw up the 2020 election as he did in 2016. Whatever happens, we common people voters need to support whoever wins the Democratic nomination.
1
Maybe the two big parties are way too big. Could the number of states each is active in be limited to half the US states?
Bret, I have no idea how a Twitter or Facebook internet mob functions since I am rarely on either web site. I do not doubt it's existence, nor do I doubt that it can be alienating and destructive.
But, in lieu of Trump's soon to be Senate acquittal and the rationale behind it, angry internet mobs may end up being the least of your worries.
Trump will be given a green light to run what will be the most corrupt and venomous campaign for the presidency in US history.
The mob like nature of how you define the "Bernie Bros", will pale in comparison to what Trump will unleash.
In the final analysis Bret, I have to hope that all who oppose Trump, will be smart enough to understand this and rally behind whomever the candidate may be, including Bernie Sanders.
This may end up being one of the most consequential elections in our nation's history Bret.
No matter what you may think of Sander's beliefs, policies and ardent supporters, he is still infinitely better than the alternative.
There is a much bigger picture Bret and you need to go beyond a "what if" kind of world. Sander's will also be facing a still divided Congress.
Think less about Medicare For All and more about Trumpism and what it represents. That is the clear and present danger and that is what we must defeat regardless of whom the candidate may be.
2
"Why bother voting for Oligarchy Lite?"
This sentence hits the nail on the head. They want a candidate that is not even remotely interested in appeasing big money donors with "win-win" solutions. Repairing the economy to the point it works for everyone is going to require ripping out Reaganomics by the roots, and not just tinkering around the edges. And that means a candidate that doesn't owe any favors to big money donors, which means (mostly) Sanders or Warren. That's their appeal. You know they are not going to shake the ideological Etch-A-Sketch and turn into Reagan's mini-me the moment they get sworn in. Any of the others would still be a vast improvement over Trump. And, despite the fear campaign, all but a few supporters of other candidates will vote for whoever the nominee turns out to be in the general election. But while there's still a choice in the primaries, you might as well vote for whom you actually want, and not whom the pundits try to scare you into voting for, by instilling fear of four more years of the Trump boogeyman. It's bad enough the GOP is trying to rig elections via gerrymandering and voter suppression. We don't need the media trying to rig the primaries too, via propaganda relentlessly tying candidates to a handful of their more deranged supporters.
6
This is one scary article. In other words, we are stuck with either a second Trump presidency, and maybe he'll try for a third term, or we are stuck with nastiness from the Bernie Bros. Hillary lost, partly because it took so long for Bernie to work for her. He should have started at the convention, stood by her side and said, Go For it Girl. He's already starting to be a stubborn old man, with his response to Warren's comment that a woman couldn't win. How about "if I said it, I didn't mean you, Senator. You have won me over and if you get the nomination, I will work my butt off for you!" And she could have said "me, too." But he and she didn't and now I see a reason why we might lose. Scary and Depressing. Wake up Bernie. Wake up candidates. Or we lose.
332
@CLee
The article was intended to be scary. It is part of a campaign to dehumanize Bernie supporters. I have worked with Bernie volunteers since August and have yet to encounter one individual who is angry. Overly optimistic and enthusiastic would be a more accurate characterization. These accusers of Bernie supporters need to look in the mirror and see some of the hostile words they chose to use against Bernie supporters. The good news is that the dehumanization campaign is not working because tens of thousands of voters encounter Bernie volunteers every weekend and the spin in no way matches their personal experiences with them.
121
@CLee
The article is only scary if you believe any of it is true. It isn't. Bret Stephens is an anti-Trump Republican who is desperately trying to steer the Democratic Party toward a more conservative, pro-Wall Street nominee that he can vote for. Like Mike Bloomberg.
Bernie Sanders is the antithesis of everything Stephens stands for, so he's trying hard to take him down by any means necessary. But he's not alone. It seems the whole op-ed team of the NY Times is on board with that too.
108
@CLee
That Warren/Sanders argument was contrived by Warren and/or the frightened Establishment and promoted by the media to bring down Sanders.
It backfired.
Sanders has always been a huge supporter of women.
The NYT and other Establishment media, and the status quo protecting Wall Street supporting carefully moderate Establishment are afraid of Sanders.
His integrity makes them look like part of the swamp they defend and protect.
As for Sander's ideas,
a 2016 Harper's article by Thomas Franks, after having meticulously examined Washington Post reporting on Bernie Sanders. "As we shall see, for the sort of people who write and edit the opinion pages of the Post, there was something deeply threatening about Sanders and his political views. He seems to have represented something horrifying, something that could not be spoken of directly but that clearly needed to be suppressed."
..."Think of all the grand ideas that flicker in the background of the Sanders-denouncing stories I have just recounted. There is the admiration for consensus, the worship of pragmatism and bipartisanship, the contempt for populist outcry, the repeated equating of dissent with partisan disloyalty."
Bernie Sanders' integrity, bold ideas, vision and courage way outshine the media's attempt to marginalize him and his ideas.
A Future To Believe In!
President Sanders 2020!
79
I take back what I said last week about never finding anything of interest in Stephens editorials. This is right on the money as others say.
205
@Michael Browder So the only Bret Stephens editorials that you think are good are the one that are patently false?
Stephens is a Republican who can't stand Trump and wants to make sure the Democrats nominate someone he likes. He has a big megaphone but comically fails to use it effectively.
I come here to exercise my critical thinking skills and see how many paragraphs I have to read before finding the logical fallacies. Same goes for reading Friedman's op-eds.
28
@MikeG
Ahhh ... spotting those logical fallacies. Might this be an example of the old Ad Hominem?
"Stephens is a Republican who can't stand Trump and wants to make sure the Democrats nominate someone he likes. He has a big megaphone but comically fails to use it effectively"
The statement doesn't seem to refute the arguments of Mr. Stephens nor invalidate the opinion of Mr. Browder.
17
Right wing journalists never waste an opportunity to take down Bernie and his supporters. But more and more folks realize that Republican-type policies have been a disaster for the majority of the population. Many want a radical change in policy, away from favoring the rich and corporations. While Bernie Sanders would not be able to force implementation of his entire social and economic agenda, he is the only candidate who would fight hard for it (perhaps Warren would too, but her credibility is not as high). Yes, he would tack left hard but after Trump's shameful tenure, that's what the country will need. Take what the Bret Stephens of the world have to say with a large pinch of salt, they're out of touch with most folks.
7
@Kidcanuck
Indeed, these continued hit-pieces only serve to further undermine the credibility of the corporate mainstream press just as continuing dirty politics of the DNC serve to undermine the legitimacy of the Democratic party and turn away its base and potential supporters.
5
Economically, pure socialism is just as destructive as pure capitalism. More important now is the political necessity of coming together as a country and burying this blind polarization that is borne out of ignorance, bigotry and hate. Job one is to oust Trump and all of his minions so that we can create a new conservative party out of the ashes of today's rotten Republican party. Thoughtful conservatism cannot become a crime in a free country. If Bernie is nominated I will enthusiastically vote for him, however his brand of "progressive" liberalism resembles Eugene Debs more than FDR and it does not seem to recognize the changes in the global economy that have come to pass since 1900. Warren is more about making our country decent, honest and representative under our own Constitution. Those priorities will never fade. We need a progressive and honest President that will heal the country and win a 2nd term.
3
False equivalency. Period. I find myself wondering if maybe some of these "Bros" (no "Sisters"?) are actually located in Russia or elsewhere "offshore." Bernie's campaign seems more one of joy, light and hope, not Trumplike at all.
3
A huge concern for me is Bernie’s supporters who are myopic in their Support for Bernie.
They were vicious on social media in 2016 and worse when they lost by 4 million votes blamed everyone but Bernie, and failed to rally around Hilary ( as she graciously and whole heartedly did around Barack).
Sadly it seems Bernie bros and sisters are cultish like you know who supporters....not big tent Democrats who I fear will not support another winner with gusto.
In fact some as in 2016 will vote for Trump.
4
Or some useless third party candidate, or sit home and pout.
Ironically, Bernie, the oldest candidate, does not appeal much to voters over 40.
1
Angry Bernie Bros gave us Trump in 2016. They never forgave Hillary for winning the Democratic primaries.
They will do it again in 2020 unless their messiah Bernie gets chosen. No matter what goes on with the Democratic primaries, they will argue that “it was unfair” when Bernie loses.
I’m ready to move on beyond Bernie (and Trump). America can do better.
5
I like Bernie. I supported Bernie in the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton last time around. I donated the maximum amount of money allowed under federal election laws to Bernie's campaign. Despite Hillary and the Democratic party rigging the nominating rules in favor of Clinton, and despite the fact that Hillary was (in my opinion) a terrible candidate who would have been a poor president, I voted for her in the general election. I did so because, as much as I disliked her, I thought she would be a thousand times better for this country than Donald Trump would ever be - even if he were to get brain and personality transplants. Many "Bernie bros" did not. Some stayed home on election day. Some actually crossed party lines and voted for Trump. A few swarmed me on-line for "breaking faith" with Bernie. I hold those folks responsible for the fact that Trump is president (with a little "p") today. And I won't support Bernie this time around because of it. We don't need a progressive version of Trump.
8
People seem to forget the nasty attacks on Hillary, which split the party at a crucial moment. Bernie should have been VP candidate. Trump would not have had a prayer, despite the rubles.
The *only* people who believe this 'Bernie Bros' nonsense are those who have not taken one good look at the crowd of a Bernie rally.
9
@Stephen Boston
Not true. I've seen the crowds at the rallies, but I've also had attacks both in 2016 and now because I dare to be an undecided voter until I pull the lever -- and don't publicly advertise whom I'll be voting for.
I also happen to take exception to be told whom to support.
"Only" those in denial don't realize 'Bernie Bros' exist.
4
I see many commenters here denying the bullying behavior of many supporters of Senator Sanders. As a target of some of that bullying behavior in 2016, I have to agree with Bret. Acquaintances of mine engaged in an online disinformation campaign against Secy. Clinton, and attacked and ridiculed anyone who presented the facts and disagreed. As a former journalist, I fact check everything.
Then the expressed misogyny of the Bernie Bros representing their candidate convinced me Bernie was complicit in their behavior.
I think he would be a disaster as President because he can't get along with the people he needs to support him to be an effective leader. I also think his agenda would be an unworkable disaster for the country. He's a selfish man who has done nothing for the Democratic party and will do nothing to help down ballot candidates because that's what he did in 2016.
Lastly a recent poll reported that more than 50 percent of his current supporters said they wouldn't vote for the Democratic nominee if it wasn't Bernie! Therefore, I concluded that he and they are as dangerous in much the same way as the current occupant of the White House (I was prepared to hold my nose and vote blue for any Democratic nominee including Toxic Bernie).
Hillary is right, no one in the Senate likes him. Why would we want another mean bully in the White House?
9
It’s undoubtedly true that the majority of Bernie supporters do not behave in this way. But the minority who do are worrisome and set a tone that is unacceptable to me. Why? Well this is how violence against the innocent begins. It’s always a small but minority. Of course Trump supporters are far worse at this point. But is your mother told you when you were a kid, just because your brother teases you doesn’t mean you can hit him.
This is why I’ve begun to look at Andrew Yang and his campaign. He has some ideas that are justas forward-lookingin their own way as Sanders. He’s not pretending that everything is OK, and the way he is addressing this is by encouraging everyone to come together. I’ve been impressed with him, his ideas, and particularly the tone of his campaign.
2
I am disturbed, first by Stephens who ignores the current state of politics and what it takes to win in this dysfunctional morass, but more deeply by many of the comments to his essay. Some of Sanders supporters are, in fact, just as unreasonable and unhinged as most of Corporal Chaos's supporters. Acknowledging that fact isn't "smearing" them, it is speaking truth, albeit ugly truth.
I supported Bernie politically and financially last time. I'll happily vote for him (or for a one-eyed tree sloth if that's what it takes) this time, but I'd rather someone more moderate, someone who will reduce the level of venom in political discourse and insist that his supporters do as well. Political discourse needs to cast more light and less heat.
4
This has been my experience with this type of Sanders supporter.
3
The Bernie Bros are the angry Left equivalent of Trump's ultra-Right supporters. "They are all corrupt! The system is rigged! Blow the whole thing up and start again!" Sounds a lot like die-hard Trump supporters and the right wing conspiracy-theorist media they read.
To use a analogy: In movies about the Mafia set in the early 20th century, the plot often involves young guys growing up as close friends, with a lot in common. Some go into law enforcement. Some others decide to go into the Mob and a life of crime. But there is truly little in their background or upbringing that separates them. And, as those plots often suggest, if one didn't become a cop, he could have just as easily gone into a life of crime.
Likewise, to a Bernie Bro his next option, if Bernie is not nominated, may not be the Democratic candidate. It may be Trump. Like the kid who becomes a cop in the movie, in their minds the choice was binary to begin with and, given a second chance to choose, the other choice is the obvious one.
That is why they voted for Trump or stayed home in 2016. That is also why they are a problem for the party in 2020.
3
I knew there would be an avalanche of supporters of Bernie (the minority of his supporters btw because most aren’t this way) that would inadvertently prove Stephens’ Argument. I voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary but when I criticized him online I was attacked for my lack of purity as Republicans who veer from the Trump cult. When I criticized either Hillary or Obama the same didn’t happen. And the misogyny of the Bernie Bros is no different from Trump’s minions.
4
The farther you move the the Left, the closer you get to the Right.
(Warren's suggestion that the internet be scrubbed of "disinformation" sounds rather Trump-ish to me.)
2
The blind dedication to a "leader" of any party is historically frightening and it is ultimately a complimentary byproduct of media, especially social media. Never have people been able to hate with such impunity. Bernie wants to remake America from top to bottom and is scarier than the current scary resident in the White House. What most fail to realize is that modern America may not be perfect, but it is pretty darn good. Yes, we can do better. But we can't do anything until we stop hating each other. Conservatives and liberals are not blood sport enemies. We all just want what is best for the nation but that requires compromise. Hate blinds the simple truth that cooperation benefits everyone and the lack of cooperation harms everyone.
3
This is spot on. Sanders, and his more a rabid minions, are as divisive if no more so, as Trump's. And it goes well beyond the policy differences. There is another element that berates the older white voter/baby boomers because they can't get on board and are the greedy reasons for all our nation's challenges. There's almost eager anticipation for when that generation is in the ground. Bernie is a good man to have in the Senate to rattle cages, advance thought and debate. Nothing more.
5
I'd like Bernie a whole lot more if his supporters would stop beating up people like me who aren't down with the aggression. I dislike the same thing about Trump.
You don't beat hate with hate.
4
How is this negative opinion article any different from online bullying of an alleged “Bernie Bro”? Only that it is sanctioned by the establishment. You are literally doing exactly what you are accusing them of.
Perhaps that crowd was too intense, violence is never ok. Expressing anger however, consider the context of 2016, DNC was actively undermining their candidate (Podesta...). Super delegates outsized influence to pick the nominee... yes real voters were angry.
Now it’s 2020. Will insiders repeat the same tone def mistakes and re-elect Trump (Super delegates considered being added back to round 1).
Listen to voters and the energized base.
3
I'm not unreasonable,but i am voting for a man,not a party.
This article,IMO,is just another attempt to set us up for the Democratic party's 2nd attempt to dismiss Bernie.
He is not my savior.He may end up being a huge disappointment.
Especially the way Government business is conducted these day's.
However,the alternative is just more of the same.
P.S. We are not akin to Trump supporters.
Despite your analysis.
Every candidate has their lunatic fringe.
5
Clever approach. Stephens is using Bros to again make the case for rejecting Bernie. You wouldn't want to embolden bros, would you? I've lost count of how many similar arguments Stephens has made by now.
He's also conflating real life people with digital trolls. Barbara Boxer getting booed off the stage was an expression of public outrage over Democratic conduct in the 2016 primary. Liberal lionesses like Boxer were blatantly trying to hand Clinton the nomination. That tends to upset voters.
Trolls by contrast aren't necessarily even people. They might be bots parroting any number of canned insults in response to key words. They might be workers overseas paid to hurl insults at anyone who doubts Bernie. They might be Biden or Warren supporters damaging Bernie's campaign in disguise. That's what I would do if I had any inclination in becoming a troll. I don't.
The point I'm making is Bernie Bros are probably part of a political subterfuge on at least some level. We're talking about a PR President who was just impeached for election tampering. It's not hard to imagine Trump advocates attempting to negatively influence Bernie's campaign by painting his supporters as universal jerks.
Are there some real Bros out there? Certainly. However, I think their significance and influence is vastly overstated.
3
Bret, do not equate the rambunctious Bernie supporters with the rustic neo-fascists who attend Trump rallies!
The angry behavior of Bernie supporters comes from young people who have never been exposed to civility and purpose. They believe that victory goes to the loudest.
Bernie is an elderly, old-fashioned gentleman who preaches common sense in an archaic regional dialect. His style is not fashionable, but he is dead right in attacking a mindset that, without controversy or debate, squanders tax revenue and borrowed funds on foolish, unneeded weapons, but quarrels for a century over affordable health care for its citizens.
3
Might you stop with the false parallels? Where are these armies of evil Sanders supporters? Sanders himself campaigned for Clinton after she won the nomination in 2016.
If you feel guilty because your beloved conservatives voted in the most corrupt, bigoted, anti-democratic and destructive president in history, you might find another way to process your guilt.
Is our current political system corrupt and stacked to favor corporate billionaires? Yes. Can the majority of our people afford to pay for their own health care or higher education? No. Is our environment already creating rolling disasters for humans everywhere with an ever increasing death toll? Yes. Are people of color and women living as institutionally enforced, permanent second classes in our country? Yes. Has the power of big money in our elections made our government less and less democratic? Yes. This is not radicalism. It’s honest observation.
Might you attempt to step outside of your corporate American comfort zone, stop sewing division and fear and think about actually facing the problems that face our nation and our world?
5
I know lots of Sanders supporters and not a single on of them fits this supposed mold. Just more cheap shot character attacks by proxy since you can’t effectively attack the man himself.
6
Why is it always the rich folk telling everyone else to simmer down and just enjoy the scraps that they are left? After all, the market has spoken.
6
In this drought of common human decency the Trump era represents, Mr. Stephens is very picky about which cloud should rain.
5
My first vote ever was cast for Jimmy Carter. I have voted exclusively for Dems since. I could never understand sitting out an election because there was no decent choice. I now get it. If Sanders wins the primaries, I will be forced to choose which cult I want to be a part of. Both cults are misogynistic and have leaders with gigantic egos. They want to blow up everything and care less what damages result.
6
On the other hand, there are plenty of Hillary supporters who still blame her loss on everyone but her- including Hillary herself. They're just as vicious as any of these so called "Bernie-bros".
In fact, I spend a lot of time in comments sections and have seen far more people disparaging Sanders supporters than I've seen of ill-behaved Bernie supporters.
6
This is a totally false equivalence. Last week Bret wrote that maybe Trump isn't so bad considering Bernie or Warren will ruin our economy. This piece falsely makes Bernie supporters look like a mob. Bret's right wing tendencies appear to be in full bloom. He fears Bernie Sanders even more than Donald Trump. That's really something.
7
Trying the old "Dean Scream" again?
Desperate times for the establishment. Another pointless attempt at political assassination. We've learned the hard way - it's there for good. "Bernie Bro's" are not angry... and are not even men, for the most part.
5
Rumor has it that they will be proactive this time.
Threatening to vote for Trump if the DNC establishment/swamp tries to pull a fast one, again.
I for one, would take that threat very seriously.
1
Anyone who's ever expressed the notion that perhaps Bernie is not who you want as first choice of candidate, and has then been trolled by these people knows how vicious and intolerant they are. Certainly does NOT make me want him MORE as a candidate. He needs to shut that down.
2
Last week a couple of male canvas supporters knocked on my door to advocate for Sanders. I thanked them and said that I was a supporter of Pete Buttigieg. And then, unfortunately, I said “but whoever is the nominee, vote blue”. Their response? ‘Not unless Hillary apologies to Bernie’. End of the conversation. How depressing.
3
Normally I find Bret to be problematic even offensive bordering on all the “ist”s. Indeed this piece fails to mention the deep misogyny that is fundamental to both trumpism and Bernie bros.
Nevertheless the article does serve to express what I have been saying since the 2016 primary. Bernie Bros are only different it the color of the cap they wear. But they are the same worst impulses of humanity harnessed for political ends.
You are also right to call out Bernie for doing next to nothing to control the mob he has created. Which again is very similar trump. As a disabled black lesbian who has been out long before it was “safe” to be so, I won’t be shocked if that subset of Bernie supporters has less than pleasant reactions to you or me.
3
The goal of these NYT attacks on Bernie is to divide the Democrats and when Trump wins in November, the NYT will blame Bernie.
Bernie Sanders excites and inspires millions of non-voting young people and disaffected working class people to get involved, donate, campaign, register, and vote. Those millions will mostly go back to their default non-voting status if a moderate is selected. BUT if Bernie is selected, he needs the millions of moderates and mainstream Democrats in order to beat Trump. Can we count on them in November?
5
“...the Internet trolls whose goals seem to have less to do with building Sanders up than with hounding and humiliating anyone who stands in their man’s way.”
This is the most accurate description of the Bernie crowd I’ve ever read. As I’ve posted on here many times, I’ve voted for every Democrat in my lifetime, from city council to president. I’ve been told by the Bernie crowd that I’m “no better than a Republican,” “Republican lite,” or that that I “may as well be a Republican”.
It’s not just the Bernie Bros., it’s the majority of his supporters. They’re vile, viscous, nasty people. If he wins the nomination, I’m leaving the Democratic Party after 26 years. I will not vote for him under any circumstances. And if he wins the nomination, I hope he loses.
That’s how much I hate these people.
2
@Mike Wow am I vile and vicious here at home quietly donating every week to the Sanders campaign. As older retirees from professional jobs, we just want a fairer shake for the working people that Democrats have failed to support over the last decades.
2
Oh please! I’m a 65 year old R.N., married for 40 years and have 3 grandchildren. I campaigned for Bernie in 2016 but voted for Hilary Clinton. I still support Bernie. This piece, like many others printed in the NYTimes, makes it clear that the DNC wants a corporate democrat to run in 2020. I will vote for any democrat nominated, but this is clearly biased journalism.
7
Every now and then Bret Stephens writes something sensible and penetrating. This isn’t one of those times. Next, he’ll be wondering out loud about Hillary’s emails.
1
Every time I see a hit piece on Bernie I feel more inclined to support him.
6
Bernie Bro’s just better fall in line and support whomever the nominee is. Their petulance and single mindedness was one of the reasons Trump won. Hold your nose and vote blue.
2
Obama played by the rules of civility and bipartisanship and was demonized. It was as effective as British and French diplomacy was against Hitler. Trump has declared war on people who do not support him or get in his way. Not responding in kind is a losing strategy; the war may be hot, cold, or temporarily on hold, but it is still a situation of hostility.
Bernie believes in the rule of law, but wants the rich and powerful to be subject to it. Trump believes that the law is to be evaded and used against his enemies. To believe that this difference is not the most important test is to side with Trump, who will also use talk of law to close a sale.
It is obvious that if Trump ever needs to use antisemitism to gain needed support, he will not hesitate to use it while denying to all, including his daughter and Bibi, that he is doing so.
Do you folks in the press get together and decide the narratives your going to push for the coming week or month or does one person write something and all the hacks jump on board when they realize the first guy got some traction with the story? Is the process more corrupt than that and you take your cues from consultants for a political candidate or what? There's no way it's a coincidence that all the opinion journalists in America decide all at the same time to cover the same stuff. This is literally manufacturing consent in real time and I'm just curious how the whole process works behind the scenes I guess.
6
A tempest in a tea pot at best, if not purely academic, considering - while admittedly an intuition - of any of the Dems contenders chances of winning the presidency following the "I-told-you-so" impeachment fiasco.
Forty percent of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense without borrowing from family or going into debt on a credit card or pay day lender.
If you're not one of these forty percent, I ask what have you been doing since the Reagan years to lift up your brothers and sisters? Or have you had your boot to their neck? And now you're upset that they're upset?
7
This argument about Bernie Bros is an exaggerated (and Clintonian) attack to not so subtilely suggest Bernie Sanders is a sexist because he inspires motivated supporters. Is AOC an angry Bernie Bro? How about Jamila Prayapal? Last I checked they are both women. In fact, Bernie has lots of female supporters- both online and off. Some of his supporters online are indeed men and some are indeed aggressive. But welcome to the Internet, Bret! Have you seen what twitter looks like on an average day? People are angry about everything. But attacking Bernie because of his enthusiastic supporters online shows the lack of an answer both Republicans and moderate Democrats alike have when it comes to the underlying failure of our economy to lift up most Americans. While the super rich get richer, everyone else is still struggling. And it’s wrong. It’s that simple. Republicans and moderate Democrats just don’t want to understand it’s time for real change because both are financed, bought, and paid for by the same corporate lobbying firms. Bernie does understand. And it’s why he inspires so many people in this country.
6
Donald Trump cannot talk about people on a 1 on 1 personal level. He can give speeches but the Democratic strength (along with better policy positions) should be to constantly constantly talking about the people they've met and their daily lives. Talk about the first car you bought, the first home you fixed up, the joy of teaching a child to hit a ball, The struggles to pay for dental bills and health bills, the time you milked a cow. Mention your favorite teams. By all means, talk about your dog.
Bernie may??? have good or better positions thtn other. But, he just isn't any good at talking to people 1 on 1. He isn't good at making it personal.
Ah yes, this old canard will begin to appear everywhere as Sanders's momentum continues to grow.
7
More absurdity from Stephens, especially false equivalency. Not only does the tail wag the dog here, but I think of someone trying to make the same type of claim when declaring equivalency between the fascists and the Allies in their determination to win WWII. BTW, someone once said there is a difference between "civility" and "servility." The "conservatives" will go down in history (if they're stopped from subverting scholarly writing of history) as doing and saying anything to make it look like they're right (pun intended).
3
I don't know anything about Bernie Bros, but I do know that the DNC today is just as corrupt as it was 4 years ago and still controlled by the same venge-ridden loser. I AM disappointed that Senator Sanders did not form a 3rd party, because the DNC will trick him out of the nomination no matter how many supporters he gets.
The opposition to Sanders doesn't know which way to turn. First it was Peter Buttigeig, then Biden, now Bloomberg. If they could bow out gracefully the Party might be saved, but to this onlooker the rather hysterical notes of anti-Russia, anti-male will end up like the truly dumb impeachment case which has come to its predictable end.
Hillary and her handlers have provoked the strong reactions of those young enough to have to live or die through the political future Trump and the DNC are carving out for them. They understand:
The choice the Democrat's Establishment and the neofascism of Trump is just a rerun of 2016 that gives them death and destruction from either side.
7
You're worried about angry Breie Bros? Really? Yesterday, hoards of heavily armed cammo-clad Trumpers descended on the state Capitol in Kentucky. Before, that an armed right-wing hoard shut down the area around the Capitol in Richmond. And, you're worried about angry Bernie Bros. Know what I'm worried about? The reaction of those armed Trumpers when Trump loses in in November.
7
Most people WANT universal healthcare as in Canada (and Canadians live longer), free higher education as in Germany (and Germany is one of Europe's major economic power-houses).
I am tired of reading articles by this mediocre-minded person. Will be cancelling my account.
6
No Bret: the Democrats are not going to nominate the Center Right Philosopher King you yearn for.
6
No more angry and aggressive than supporters of any other candidate if you are willing to look closer. In 2016, if you were critical of Hillary Clinton you got many of her supporters throwing violent and aggressive rhetoric towards you at light speed. Voters have a right to be angry and impatient for change and to use a frat term associated with white privilege about male Sanders supporters is yet another way to devalue their point of view and their concerns. Comparing Sanders supporters to Trump supporters is a joke and again shows Bret Stephens true and biased colors.
7
Rick Wilson said it best, Republicans will eat him alive. And as far as his supporters go, they are the SDS of the 21st century: where did that get us. We cannot go from one extreme to another. We need some “ballast” to right the nation , and Sanders and many of his followers are not in that group. Plus, he’s a grump, rigid in his attitudes and inflexible in his ideology. Bernie, the sixties are calling, take your bro’s back with you.
The most vigorous Bernie supporters I know are women.
There may be some phenomenon called "Bernie Bros," but I've never encountered it and I spent a godawful amount of time reading about politics and watching MSNBC. I also have a Facebook account and occasional see references to Bernie Bros, but without ever seeing a manifestation of what you describe.
The worst part of this column is the utterly unsubstantiated assumption that Bernie Sanders would stir up some left equivalent of the low information, racist, self-satisfied MAGA-hat-wearing Trumpsters. Or worse, you claim that he would surround himself with a left equivalent of the fawning, amoral toadies who protect Trump. There is zero evidence that Bernie has ever done such a thing or would do such a thing.
Finally, I'm really fed up with the Times and other media describing him as angry or "yelling." He is insistent and has a Brooklynesque affect that is not quite "Harvard Club," but I've never heard him yell - anywhere or anytime. My granddaughter has spent time with him and found him to be warm and genuine.
Bernie is outraged at what has happened to this country. So am I. Anyone who isn't outraged is not paying attention.
8
I rarely agree with Bret Stephens, but in this instance we are 100% on the same page. I hade the unsettling experience of seeing a seethingly nasty and snarky Instagram comment on a Rosario Dawson post by someone I know in real life who is an ardent Bernie Bro. Her post was about her love for Corey Booker and the comment by Bernie bro was just hate filled venom about Mr. Booker. Why? I couldn't fathom what would generate the need to thumb type (which takes time) such unnecessary nastiness. I imagined the level of hounding that must constantly occur by this person and so many like him. It is "SAD" when the most "progressive" end of the Democrat Party devolves into regressive trolling, trolling no different than from Trump supporters.
3
Like Trump, Bernie has been reborn as a dark folk hero for an angry fringe
3
This "Angry" Bernie Bro helps his neighbor who has cancer. He works as a teacher, pays his taxes, and donates to environmental causes. When Bernie lost the nominee to Hillary in 2016, this Bernie Bro voted for Hillary Clinton with a very apprehensive hope.
This Bernie Bro cried when Trump separated children from their parents at the border. And he'll cry if Trump is reelected--not because this Bro lost, but because ALL will be lost.
This is why we love Bernie. It's because all will not be lost if he's elected. We have hope, and we try to protect it. We are the hopeful ones in this country, yearning for radical change, so everyday Americans will be helped, not just the .0001%, as Trump aims to please.
Does that make me a "Bro?" I guess "So".
300
@Dave
Everything you have written makes you look like a Bernie supporter, not a "Bro".
FWIW, I supported Bernie in the 2016 primaries, voted for Hillary, and would vote for a ham sandwich, as they say, if it had the nomination.
I'm not a big fan of Stephens, either, but I do agree that "The True Believer" is as relevant today as it was 70 years ago. For example:
"We can be absolutely certain only about those
things we do not understand." --Eric Hoffer
56
@Dave Nice thoughts, but you presume that only Bernie supporters exhibit the qualities you describe and no other candidate(s) have worthwhile ideas and can exhibit empathy. Aside from being an arrogant old man, Bernie's worst quality is his lack of desire or ability for compromise. Not a winning recipe for any relationship. I for one am not in the mood for a revolution. The last few years have offered more than enough chaos to last a lifetime.
51
@Dave You admit the core of our argument directed toward Sanders zealots. You libel mainstream Democrats whose policies are a world away from Trump/GOP by labeling us as "no choice". You see only two choices. Trump or in your revealing word "radical[ism]". When did a majority of Americans not located in ivory tower academia or the bubble of affluent coastal enclaves ever call for "revolution"?
29
I do feel it is disingenuous of Senator Sanders to be running in a Democratic primary when he chooses to remain an Independent . How can the Democratic Party allow that ? In 2016, we got Trump because of Bernie Bros's refusal to support Clinton. I am afraid we might end up with a similar fate in November 2020.
3
People like Bernie because he has the right vision for the future- a democratic, humane, rational society in which caring for others is valued as much as caring for oneself. If some are impatient and increasingly vociferous to get there, it is because it has become increasingly obvious how insidious are the forces opposing progress toward that future.
7
I admire Bernie Sanders for his passion and concern for the common man. I find his policies noble but not achievable. You “need to be able to count” and compromise to pass laws. Some 45% of folks are GOP and our design of government is designed for compromise. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll vote for Bernie over a Trump every time. Can all Bernie supporters say the same if another dem is nominated?
But I am saddened at the venom being spewed as evidenced in some of these pieces. We will not get back on track until we get back to civility and respect as a party and as a society.
2
If Bernie wins the democratic nomination, we will see 4 more years (or more if he gets his way) of Trump. Dems seem to botch things up with regularity. Of course, the election tampering door is wide open, so we will likely see more a Trump regardless. McConnell is sitting on legislation to protect voting integrity. As the Republican Party shrinks more and more, cheating is their only alternative to maintain power.
3
@Tricia
If America selects Donald Trump over Bernie Sanders then the country deserves whatever it gets from Trump.
Krugman wrote that it’s ok to vote for Bernie, cause almost none of his stated agenda will become law or policy.
That reminds of the current White House occupant, who promised a resurgence of coal mining and a wall paid for by Mexico.
That is as realistic as expecting more people under 30 to vote than people 58 and older (boomers). Yea that’s not gonna happen.
Better for Democrats to choose someone the appeals to the people that delivered you a House majority. And that is not Sanders.
3
I've been a Sanders supporter for 20 years. I am a man in my 60's. I've never met a "Bernie Bro". I believe that this is a construction drawn by those who fear the power of his base.
11
@Gerry Cohen Go on Facebook or any other public platform and criticize Sanders. You'll meet plenty of Bernie Bros.
7
@Gerry Cohen
Sadly, I can tell you I’ve been bullied by the so-called righteously (!) angry intolerant “bro’s” on multiple occasions. And yes, they’ve made it abundantly clear, they will not vote if Bernie’s not nominated.
1
The key metric here is that a large percentage of Sander's supporters may not vote at all if their candidate is not the nominee. If they don't vote, Trump wins. Again. And their principled stand for their man will be even colder comfort for another four years.
6
@Will No. They will do what they did in 2016, but many, many people will not as was proved in 2018 and then Virginia and Kentucky, among others.
Bernie equals an ideology driven suicide mission.
Warren to.
Everyone else, a very good chance of winning this election.
1
But there is one key difference,..Trump and his typical rally followers are surrogates, each re-amplifying the other in and endless downward loop.
Bernie is the polar opposite of Trump from a personality standpoint...just the hair says it all.
The question is whether, if nominated, can Bernie bring his more radical acolytes to a more reasonable place. Or, if someone else gets the nomination, can he persuade them that getting Trump out is paramount. Ralph Nadar presented a similar problem, pressing on as an independent, with disastrous results for Al Gore and the world. It’s worth remembering that Bernie is essentially still an independent, as are many of his most fervent followers. Most likely Bernie won’t run as an independent if he doesn’t get the nomination, but unfortunately many of his followers, who are independent progressives, simply won’t vote either, believing, like Susan Sarandon, that it’s better to have Trump, and thereby hasten the inevitable “revolution”.., than any center left moderate like Klobuchar or Biden. This, of course, is madness, but it’s nothing new in human nature
3
@JEB He proved in 2016 it is all about him. Sanders will go look warm and his followers will repeat 2016.
The difference is that many, many more voters will not vote Trump again or stay home.
1
From Paul Krugman:
"Turning Sanders’s vision into reality would require large tax increases, not just on the wealthy, but on the middle class; without those tax increases it would be highly inflationary."
This in a nutshell is a losing message for the 2020 electorate. And it is a message that will cause us to lose seats in the Senate, House, and state legislatures.
Add to this the desire to take employer provided health insurance from 200 million people and the rest of Sanders' baggage--honeymooning in the Soviet Union and praising Stalin, among many, many other things--means Sanders has already lost the general election. Done. Kaput.
And yet, the far left thinks there is a magical majority crying out for an elderly socialist to be president and raise their taxes and mandate they have Medicare.
Wake up.
3
OK, Brett, you got this out of your system. Now it's time to address your fine intelligence to what an actual Sanders presidency would look like, both in aspirations and results. Your colleague Paul Krugman has a column in today's Times with a realistic prognosis that provides a model for pundits of all stripes to follow.
Bret is correct. I am left of center but Sanders is another angry man and an outlier. While a Democratic victory seems weak at this time, he will ensure the loss of the election.
2
Some of the so-called "Bernie bros" were agents of the Russian government, which sought to sow dissension in the Democratic Party and to depress turnout for Hillary Clinton in November 2016. I do not understand why Bret Stephens chooses to write about this issue.
We have Trump today in no small part due to the Bernie or Bust mentality in 2016. The failure of Bernie supporters to vote for Clinton definitely helped Trump get into the White House. Please don't make this mistake twice.
3
It's funny that talking heads in the corporate media keep trying to smear Bernie and his supporters as "bros" when they're literally the least White and most female of all the candidates' supporters. I'm fine with criticism of Bernie - or any other politician. But this is a cheap, dishonest smear. Anyone who is willing to say that there's serious similarities between Bernie's righteous substantive outrage and Trump's bigotry and pseudo-populism is simply dishonest.
As for the anger of the "bros," I'm not sure there's anything beyond anecdotal evidence that this is actually a thing. However, if we assume it is for argument's sake, perhaps it's because we have a far right reactionary party and a slightly less reactionary, slightly less corporate party that's putting in more energy to stopping the first potential progressive prez since at least LBG than they are to stopping totalitarianism. Maybe we're angry because neither party is taking seriously the threat of climate change. Maybe we're angry because the richest country in the world is having declining life expectancies and 100s of 1000s of medical bankruptcies a year whilst corporate profits are through the roof.
But you're right, Brett. You're the voice of reason, with the hasty generalization and the accusations that not only lack evidence, but are patently false (calling the most diverse base "angry bros"). We're the irrational ones. We should elect someone who will continue biz as usual without changing anything.
5
@RB
Really? Bernie supporters are "the least white" of all the candidates' supporters?
I happen to take exception with that blanket statement and suggest you back it up with FACTS (and links) instead of just wishful thinking.
Talk to me after South Carolina.
3
I’ve always felt that Bernie is just the other side of the Trump coin. Both men as narcissists who care more for themselves than for country.
Narcissists foster a kind of disciple-ship in their followers, whether in politics, business, or personal life relationships. I feel that I see it all the time in the world.
Anyone whose ever been in a love relationship with a narcissist, or had one as a parent, will know what it feels like to be in the thrall of someone who demands total adulation, and how easy it is to fall into providing that adulation, as the price for their recognition.
Democrats, eschew Bernie!
Vote for one of the wonderful non-narcissists currently running.
6
I'm for Bernie. No matter what, however, I will support the Democratic nominee. But I'm not seeing that attitude among Bernie bashers. Among my Democratic friends, I have one who is losing his mind: a white male who is going down some conspiracy theory rabbit hole, daily sending out anti-Bernie rants. Say what you want (Bernie is too old, too far left), the man has a record of not taking corporate cash, and he is the one who put inequality on the map. Call me a Bernie Sis, I guess.
8
@Susan H You are absolutely right: no moderate will support Bernie in November.
2
We hear more about the "Bernie Bros" from Bret than the "deplorable" Trumpistas. What gives? Paul Krugman had an excellent column this weekend urging everyone to calm down, stop worrying about a Sanders presidency. Everything Bernie espouses won't come to pass but I (60-plus white woman) support him because of the things he'll try to do - almost the exact opposite of Trump. Like many other commenters I care about the future for our children, grandchildren and wildlife on the planet.
6
The difference between Democratic Sanders Supporters and extreme rightists is that the Republicans are fervent in support of an economic system that plainly works while The Democrats only want to pull it down and replace it with a state controlled system that has failed wherever tried. Which side of this argument should voters support?
1
Sadly for all of us, Sanders draws a large portion of angry frustrated citizens to him by his own aspect of speech and personality which reek of frustration and anger and has for many of his years. He attracts negative energy same as trump does. Only Bernie speaks a lot of truth whereas donnie has no clue was is real and what is fabricated in his own mind
5
Quite frankly, I find the whole thing a little bit worrying.
And there's no way to discount the amount of anger flowing from some of Bernie Sanders's supporters who come across as downright belligerent towards those who don't agree with them.
I noticed this in the 2016 election, just as I notice it now, and anyone who mentions this phenomenon is immediately set upon in a way that's quite different from any other candidate, and borders on hysteria.
As is, I see America in danger of becoming a country that consumes itself with the vast amount of negativity energy flowing about these days.
No doubt a lot of that comes from the top, in the form of a president who thrives on dissent and who has managed to capitalize on it to the extent that made the conclusion of his impeachment trial a given before it even started.
That's why it's alarming to see the similarities between ardent Trump-Republicans and the far-left cadre of Mr. Sanders supporters when it comes to sheer intolerance.
It gives one reason to pause and wonder.
As well it should.
History is full of political milestones such as these.
4
Bret pines his life away hoping the Democrats will select a conservative republican as their presidential candidate.
Fine, Brets a conservative republican.
What's not OK is Brets constant and purposeful misrepresentation of progressive Democratic presidential candidates.
10
The term Bernie Bro is a right wing talking point and nothing more. I am a woman and a feminist and a wife and mother of two young men. Since families are made up of both sexes, pro-family policies are the same for all. I have always felt the Bernie Sanders is the best candidate for women and men. Every candidate and every voter has their own gender viewpoint, but we all have to stick together!
9
I agree with much, though not all, of what is said here. Trump and Sanders supporters are not reliably civil in the opinions they express, and even less so in how they express them.
But then robust, wide open debate - the goal of the First Amendment, according to the Supreme Court's 1964 opinion in New York Times v. Sullivan - is not a prescription for civility. Civilized discourses are among the devices of manipulation especially favored by those in power. They help quell and suppress the restive masses. So if you are restive why not reject civility in favor of something more - well, more robust and wide open? That is what Trump and Sanders supporters obviously suppose. It makes good sense. Otherwise, they would remain at the mercy of the gatekeepers, like Stephens and Senator Boxer and the New York Times.
Eric Hoffer was often wrong, and perhaps sometimes even a fool. I heard him exclaim once, referring to the dissidents of the late 1960s, that "what they want is a boss." Nothing could have been further from the truth. What they wanted was a provocateur, an exemplar of the art of thinking as they pleased and speaking as they thought. Anyone but a figure of authority.
And that is the role played by Trump and Sanders. Played more successfully by Trump than by Sanders, I suspect, but time will tell.
2
In the 2 hour dinner meeting with Trump and others recorded by Lev Parnas in August 2018, Trump reminisces about the 2016 election and makes the observation that Bernie was the only other candidate that appealed to workers in the key Midwest states.
Working families have seen their economic situation deteriorate for almost half a century with their dignity replaced by fear. Where will the next meal come from, can they risk dealing treatment for an emerging medical condition, will their inability to educate their children doom their future?
We should not be surprised that only populists and demagogues have political traction in this environment.
3
Whenever I see this Bernie bros trope being pushed, there's no evidence presented that it's anything but people of one candidate strongly disagreeing with people of another candidate. Are all of you people new to Twitter?
Even if I entertain the idea that there are a few more vociferous supporters in the Bernie camp, so what? I'm really sorry someone was mean to you, but if this is the worst thing that is happening to you in your life, I can understand why you're not a Sanders supporter and you're happy with the status quo.
The generation of Americans who survived WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII would be rolling their eyes so hard they'd probably fall out of their heads.
11
There is no such thing as a 'Bernie Bro'. Most spokes for the Sanders campaign have been female. It is NOT a male movement. It is easy to discount the Sanders movement with a bit of alliteration but it is a lie. Sure, there is crossover between Trump's people and Sanders but it is not on being male. It is a conviction that we need something different on trade and other issues but 'Bernie Bros' is a lie.
9
@Tom Cuddy so.....let me get this right: you're saying that this columnist and all the editors who reviewed his work, and all the people he talked with on and off the record....are wrong?
1
This is the second very recent negative Bernie column by Bret Stephens that draws a negative Trump comparison, with little mention or critique of the Sandersy proposals. (The other was last week, "Any One But Trump, Not So Fast.) It certainly seems he has an anti-Bernie agenda and is looking for ways to diminish his candidacy using Trump as a foil.
6
It's as if people are unaware of the global legacy of left-wing authoritarianism.
Bernie Sanders may be a well-meaning curmudgeon, oblivious or in denial about the anger he's nurturing. Left-wing authoritarianism always starts with the best intentions.
However, at some point, the anger expressed by the Bernie Bros (and many commenters here) becomes its own justification for atrocity. Think it can't happen? That technology, autocracy, and ideology won't link arms in a left-wing administration? 11 million Chinese Uighurs might have a different view.
If you think freedom and free enterprise is bad, I don't think you'll love the alternative.
6
@Patrick
We don't have freedom and free enterprise here. We have a plutocracy and people are angry about it. You think it can't happen here? It already has. And people like you are scared that other people are fighting against it. I guess you benefit from things being the way they are. The vast majority of us don't.
Freedom is being able to go anywhere for medical care and not just where your insurance company tell you to and getting whatever care is needed and not just what your insurance company tells you they'll pay for. Freedom is being able to go to college without going broke or skipping it altogether because you could never afford it. Those are two of the key things Bernie Sanders stand for. I'm sorry if it's too much for you elitists to think about average people getting what they need.
Your talk of "left-wing authoritarianism" and "atrocity" are so far over the top it's laughable. This is a people's movement. Bernie Sanders is not our authority figure. He's just the first candidate who has come along that we can get excited about because he holds the same values we do. American values.
3
The main problem with the Bernie Bro narrative is that it doesn't even align with the values of Sanders supporters. Whether you agree with Sanders or not, he still wants Medicare for All, including his opponents. He still wants free public college and university tuition for everybody, including those who help to perpetuate false narratives about him and his campaign. A strong Green New Deal that goes far beyond the words of the Paris Climate Accord serves to benefit the entire world, including those who can't even vote for him.
When Sanders supporters are angry, it's because the establishment doesn't want to give him a fair chance. The DNC actively worked for Clinton's campaign in 2016. Debate moderators pick sides in a he-said-she-said accusation. There had been an outright media blackout on Sanders until he started approaching frontrunner status, and now that he is here, more of the coverage is about his supporters *ahem* than his policies.
The comparison to Trump supporters is a joke. Look at a Bernie Sanders rally vs. a Donald Trump rally. In one instance, you see people looking to their left and right, supporting people who look nothing like them and come from an entirely different walk of life. These are the people you vilify. In the other, you see crowds of people screaming "lock her up" and "send them back." These are the people you fail to mention.
This entire article is embarrassing and comes off as whining at best.
12
@Ryan
Too many Sanders supporters don't align with his campaign's values. If someone claimed to stand for a progressive revolution, and then went on to sit out or vote 3rd party in 2016, then they're no progressive.
3
@Ryan I have read hundreds upon hundreds of comments from Bernie supporters in the past week. What struck me was virtually none of them attacked trump; all of their vitriol was aimed at their fellow Democrats. Sorry, but there is something seriously out of whack about that. Support your candidate enthusiastically, but please remember who the real enemy is.
3
It's fascinating to see that accusations of extremism being made on both sides of the aisle. While I'd hardly describe Barbara Boxer as a "lioness" of anything, the verbal assault she suffered from the some of the Bernie folk is no different than what the Trump supporters get from the so-called AntiFa. This behavior is par for the course with the far Left, whenever anyone -- liberal or conservative -- gets in the way of their political religion. And it's really no different from the suppression of free speech and the imposition of woke think on our college campuses: do it our way, or else.
2
@Ulysses
You've got it backward. It was Barbara Boxer who was saying, "Do it our way or else". Of course, Bret Stephens conveniently fails to mention what the uproar was really all about.
3
@J.C. And how does Boxer’s misstatement, if that’s what it was, justify the Bernie Bros shouting her down, picking up chairs and otherwise threatening her safety and denying her freedom of speech? I can assure you that the Bernie Bros would not tolerate similar tactics against Bernie. Recognize dangerous religious fervor when you see it.
1
Maybe the problem is that we've learned, all of us, that civility, reason, moderation, etc., are characteristics of losing campaigns and candidates. Haven't the GOP up and down the line demonstrated this? Why in the current political climate have any truck with compromise? Again, this is a lesson learned at the heel of the American oligarchy, isn't it?
1
@donald.richards Nah...that's not absolutely true. You can run a positive civil campaign and win.
For both parties the chickens have come home to roost. More and more people are beginning to realize that both political parties are and have been intellectually bankrupt for 40 years. Both parties are controlled by the power elites of the country and their money. Be they actual
People or the organizations of the power elites, namely corporations. Nothing will change until both parties are fundamentally changed. Bernie is one of the only people in either party who has been saying the same thing for 50 plus years. Vote Bernie and bring change.
7
An onslaught of anti-Sanders articles as he is rising in the polls? I'm a very very progressive Sanders supporter who dislikes this behavior also - I think it's mean and wrong and I too am always embarrassed when people who vote the same way as I do act like this. But the amount of negative coverage Sanders is getting from the Times is very unfair and disheartening. Slam, slam, slam - it seems that's all the Times does to Bernie.
14
The Newsweek headline that Mr. Stephens links to is indeed scary:
"ONLY 53% OF BERNIE SANDERS VOTERS WILL DEFINITELY SUPPORT 2020 DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE IF HE DOESN'T WIN: POLL"
But that's not the whole story. The results at Emerson Polling shows that, yes, only 53% of Sanders supporters will commit now to voting for the eventual Democratic nominee if Sanders doesn't win. But they also show that 31% of Sanders supporters would vote for a different Democrat, **depending on who that candidate is**. That leaves 16% of Sanders supporters who say they will vote for Mr. Sanders only.
Even that I suspect is high. In the event that Sanders does not become the nominee, I anticipate even more of his supporters will vote for the Democrat as Mr. Sanders energetically exhorts his supporters to vote against Trump and exhibitions of the same vicious and provocative behaviors by Trump on the campaign trail make the news night after night.
Sanders supporters are very devoted to their candidate, but after 3 years of Trump, it's doubtful that more than a very small percentage of them think there's no difference between Trump and the other front running Democratic candidates. As Election Day approaches, all of us realize what Trump is capable of and what could happen in a second Trump term.
6
@Lew Disagree. I'm voting Bernie no matter what. I'm done letting the DNC play chicken with me by offering candidates slighly less awful than the Republican one.
3
@Lew
I'm a Bernie Sanders supporter, but he doesn't tell me how to vote. Nobody does. I vote for policies and values that align with mine. This is bigger than Bernie Sanders and it's long overdue.
I will vote for whoever the Dem nominee is this time, but if the Democrats keeps pushing do-nothing, compromised moderates at me, there's an expiration date on my support for this party.
2
@Gene Harrogate: Obviously you're one of those Sanders supporters who won't vote for anyone but Sanders. And if Sanders is not the nominee and Trump wins another term, you can enjoy four more years of righteous indignation towards the DNC.
2
This is just another reactionary screed by a conservative who is scared to death that Bernie Sanders might win, and the privileged world of the moneyed classes will finally be challenged.
You may want to remember, Mr. Stephens, that Bernie is a democratic socialist and his followers are increasingly so, and so the submission to Wall Street of Clinton, Obama and Biden may be coming to an end, and it may be the time for the interests of the poor and the working and middle classes to come to the fore.
9
It is extraordinary the fantastical narratives that can be spun about an anti-money-in-politics, anti-establishment and anti-war political candidate. While these qualities are first in the his supporters minds of why Bernie is appealing, these qualities are never, ever part of the media narrative. Anyone that threatens the corporate/government turnstile gravy train is simply deplorable. Meanwhile, now that Mrs. Clinton is out of office, funding for the Clinton Foundation griftmill has dried up. But yet Bernie's supporters are the deplorable ones.
10
The people about whom Bret is writing are going to discount this piece because it came from him, self-described conservative. I'm a center-left and I say it's right on the money. I would only dare say such a thing in this anonymous arena. If I made this remark in FB things would immediately get ugly.
392
@Marathonwoman I'm a lifelong democrat, and just yesterday I was saying that "Bernie Babies" are as hostile and closed-minded as Trump's base.
I will vote for Sanders if he gets the nomination, but it'll be under duress.
54
@Marathonwoman 40 percent of Americans can't cover a 400 dollar emergency expense on their own without borrowing from family or going into debt on a credit card or payday lender.
Do they have the right to be upset? That they've been left behind? Because of their zip code and limited prospects from birth? Because they weren't born in Denmark? Because they've gotten sick?
33
@A Stor mo Chroi Yes, they have a right to be upset. But choosing a person who speaks in absolutist terms over another clear autocrat is no true win. There are good people in the field who would not burn it all down, good and bad together. Those are the candidates who will get my votes in the primary.
62
The establishment couldn't attack the policys or the man, so now they go after supporters.
And our allies show us the knifes.
We can't win without you.
YOU can't win without us.
We all can be better...or not.
7
This piece just inspired me to donate to Bernie. Again.
19
“I thought I could get the booing down,” she recalled. “I said: ‘Why are you booing? I’m Bernie’s friend. When you boo me, you’re booing Bernie.’ ”
Barbara Boxer was lying through her teeth. She's no friend of Bernie's. Never has been. Never will be. But she better become a Bernie fan real fast when he wins the nomination.
10
Let's start a count... Hit Job #7 by NYT on Bernie Sanders.
What Bret and Ms. Boxer don't realize is that there are a lot of people who are very frustrated with the Democratic Party. In 2016, the Party forced fed the country Hillary and cheated in any way possible to keep Bernie out of the nomination. When faced with an establishment that will not listen and openly despises you, the normal reaction is to be nonplussed... repeated abuse breeds anger. Yes, we are angry at the establishment that gave us Hillary and Trump. Obama's complacency in office did not help.
The Democratic Party should look in the mirror. What do they stand for? And against. At least Bernie knows what he is fighting for, the little guy. The little guys are fed up and yes, angry... because of the failure of the Democratic Party over the last 40 years.
17
@Floyd Bourne : No. #7? LOL! try like #107!
3
Super weird how y'all never interview one of the so-called "Bernie Bros" also weird is that you don't seem to know what "bro" means. What I see are a lot of people who are tired of establishment Democrats letting Republicans win the arguments and steer national policy for about 30 years. It started with Clinton and has been a steady decline since. So it only seems fair to question whether these moderate Democrats are looking out for the interests of regular people and not looking out for the interest of the managerial class. We've heard what they have to say, a big bunch of nothing and giving in to the big bad Republicans. If all is not lost to the big monied interests yet, we want to fight within the electoral process. We want and desperately need universal healthcare. It's killing our country. Go out and take a look at the despair the policies out of Washington have resulted in. That will tell you why people are angry. It's righteous. Oh, and bro means like a frat boy, btw.
14
They booed Barbara Boxer off the stage -- "so negative!" -- because Boxer had supported Clinton, not Sanders. Indeed, many Dems, not just Bernie supporters, believe that Hillary Clinton embodies the self-serving, Goldman Sachs, pro-Iraq War wing of the Democratic party.
Does booing Barbara Boxer make Bernie supporters a bunch of angry, wild-eyed radicals? Hardly.
And apparently, some Bernie supporters must have written online something that "veered toward physical appearance" about a centrist Dem. Hardly compares to a white supremacist rally, does it?
So Bret Stephens doesn't like socialism, not even "Democratic Socialism," and we know that. But sniping at "Bernie Bros" as if booing a senator is an extremist act, is a little over the top.
15
In my experience, Bernie Bros and Trumpettes are consumed with similar anger at their place in society. Not surprisingly both groups are overwhelmingly white. One group loves a self styled “Don” while the other loves a self styled “Trotskyite”. Lock them all in a room and throw away the key.
8
Brett,
We all know that the NYT editorial board and commentators are freaking out over Bernie's rise in the polls. But if you really want to challenge his movement, I'd suggest that you take the time to listen to the concerns of his supporters and put forward proposals that might address those concerns. Hurling insults will only backfire.
Keep this nonsense up and will soon be clicking the "Cancel Subscription" button and go to more fair minded media outlets for perspective.
14
Bernie is all for Bernie. He doesn't work and play well with others. He hasn't modified his ideas in 50 years. His 'Bernie Bros' are cultists. It's their way or trump.
7
@David J. Krupp
Bernie is for us -- the working class that has been screwed into the ground by 40 years of "trickle-down" economics and corporate influence. That the Democratic leadership would rather commit suicide than return to what it used to be is worse than deplorable. Should Sanders be cheated again, count on a new Progressive Populist Party coming together.
3
I suppose I should be happy to be considered a "bro", whatever that is supposed to mean, as a 73 year old Vietnam vet, long time Democrat who believes the party became far too dependent upon major corporate donations. Pres. Clinton was as close to a moderate Republican (yes that is what I meant) as has held the Presidency since Nixon. The country hasn't so much as moved "Right" but been given only "Right" options. I will vote for whoever stands with all of our people, working class, middle class, every color, every ethnicity (I left out the rich as they're already well represented through their private conversations with "our" Representatives). When Sanders is asked how he would pay for "Medicare for All" it seems to beg the unasked question "Who deserves medical care and how much must they earn to get it?" In the words, medical care is for the wealthy, get wealthy or die it seems to be saying.
8
@Carl Moyer : I find this "concern" about how to pay for Medicare for All to be utterly outlandish. We make just enough as self-employed people that my family doesn't qualify for subsidies. Between the outrageous premiums and the astronomical deductible (which we seem to hit every year) and the uncovered cost (our portion of the dental bills, root canals that no one covers, vision), we pay well over $35K/year for healthcare for a relatively healthy family of three.
If you taxed everyone 15% for healthcare, most of us would see our expenses drop precipitously. If it was made single-payer, we could drop the percentage of GNP that goes to healthcare. For most countries with single payer, it's less than 10%.
The current system is working for precious few.
4
I wish people would read the whole article they are criticizing instead of picking up a line or two. The people commenting seem to imply that every one who supports Bernie is a "Bernie Bro", even though that's not what it says at all. But of course, they know that. If you really support Bernie for all the right reasons, you should be appalled at the actions of the Bernie Bros because they act just like Trump's most ardent supporters and drag the whole political discussion down. If you are a true Bernie supporter, you should call these Bros out, and so should Bernie.
8
Bernie Sanders now leads Trump and all other Democratic candidates in donations from active duty troops...and by a wide margin.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bernie-sanders-leads-trump-all-2020-candidates-in-donations-from-active-duty-troops-946188/
He also leads all Democratic candidates in donations from women. The New York Times map of donations shows that he does best in rural America. No other candidate inspires youth to vote for the first time.
How much evidence do people need that Bernie Sanders is the best chance for the Democrats to defeat Trump in 2020? If you want the Democrats to take back the White House then you should support Bernie Sanders.
If you want 4 more years of the imperial Trump, nominate someone else.
9
It's likely that if Bernie becomes the democrat nominee, that the moderates and independents will somewhat reluctantly get on-board. They'll likely rationalize the more extreme Bernie supporters behaviour as a payback for the MAGA extremist and their confrontational cult-like antics. It's gonna be a fight, and likely a very nasty, petty, and shallow one indeed.
@Jacques I don't see that happeni. Moderates are not going to vote for anyone who is going to turn our system into a socialist system. Bernie is a socialist, which he to his credit admits.
I frequently see these type of “wet blanket” articles by Bret Stephens, and I find it annoying. When we are facing this upcoming do or die Presidential election, an article like this is not helpful. We should all have our say, but equating a certain group of Bernie Sanders supporters with the hordes attending Trump’s scary rallies is just wrong. Why is Bret Stephens pedaling in disinformation just because Bernie is not his choice? Just got my Bernie lawn signs today woo-hoo!
9
Center left democrats are not going to vote for Bernie even if that means a very narrow and specific demographic drops out of political participation. No one I know has the slightest interest in joining his cult or in supporting his policy agenda, period. And, since we constitute the majority in the party, he hasn’t got a chance in any state where his sliver of supporters can’t overwhelm caucus sites to bar the doors.
2
And likewise, myself and others won't be voting for a big money democrat running on a status quo platform. At least you understand the reasoning.
1
Bernie Bros is an extremely diverse group.
Really and more honestly it should be Bernie everyone.
Feel free to keep your head in the sand while the
Bernie-everyone keeps winning.
7
Anyone but Trump. Be it Bernie or Bloomberg.
4
My partner has several medical issues. He is no longer able to work and depends on social security to survive. He needs a walker to walk and has lost most of his teeth. Dental care is out of the question. He worked full time until he no longer could in his mid sixties. Yesterday I picked up his medications that came to $630.00. I used his credit card to pay and now there is almost nothing left to pay for anything else. How can I support a centrist who likely depends on monies from the credit card companies, the medical and insurance companies? No I support Bernie and Elizabeth who refuse those sources and have the courage to support Medicare For All to join the rest of worlds more advanced nations. NYT wAke up!
19
I am a senior, who lost his small small business, established in 1966 to the repub Great Recession, losing everything but my home. I can’t afford dental care or even to buy glasses and can only go to the doc because of medicare. We live in a cruel selfish world that cares nothing for its people.
9
@LoveNOtWar : in his middle 60s, your partner should be on MEDICARE. Why is he not on Medicare? A good Medicare Part D drug plan would cover 80% of is prescription costs!
@Gene Nelson : please remember that all that is AFTER the debacle that is Obamacare -- which is still the law of the land. (Trump never could overturn it!)
Obamacare did NOT create "affordable" care, it made everything much more costly. It forced HUGE deductibles on struggling working class people (but gave poor folks 100% free everything! yes, including dental and vision care!) Obamacare ONLY gave dental care to those on Medicaid -- it was NOT mandated on the exchanges at ALL. No vision care either. No hearing aids either.
2
Marxism has never been open to reason or facts and these are the reasons for its constant appeal and failure. In the modern world class wars fail primarily because money talks and poverty does not. When the resources are limited a French revolution type action might have a chance but when the opportunities are there and not taken advantage of, revolution is not the answer. Keep in mind, as well, the French revolution failed to solve the poverty problem.
2
What a divisive smear. Surely you know 'Bernie Bros' was a derogatory term put forth by Hillary's campaign. I've never met a volatile supporter of Bernie Sanders; most of my friends are Bernie supporters and we are in our 60's, 70's and 80's. Yes, we are angry at Trump and his policies, but we're certainly not angry at the field of democratic presidential candidates. We'll get behind - and vote for - whomever the nominee is. We just understand that Bernie has the best plan for our country's future.
14
I was a supporter ofI Sanders in the 2016 election and voted for him in the primary because I thought he was the best of the two candidates. Recently, I made the mistake of believing myself to be in a friendly conversation and gently pointed out that an ardent Sanders supporter's depiction of a South Bend housing program was not accurate. Nothing prepared me for the vitriol that followed.
I was called a sell-out and closeted Republican. And then the word "centrist" and was spit at me with venom.
When I showed the source of my information to be a respected newspaper, I was told that I was a dupe of the mainstream media. A media, I was told whose real mission was supporting the oligarchs and couldn't be trusted. All of the mainstream media was focused on destroying Bernie. Only information supplied by Bernie or written by known Bernie supporters could be trusted. I asked how I could tell a reliable source, and was told that reliable sources were those not critical of Bernie.
Ever since that interaction, I have been reading the comments and online posts of Sander's supporters. I have read attack after attack made on people who point out even the smallest flaw in Bernie or Bernie's policy. I find it disturbing.
13
Bret clearly states that this group is a subset of the millions of people who support Sanders. We acknowledge that Trump has a group of fanatic followers but don’t believe every person who voted for Trump falls into that subset.
Both Trump and Sanders need to disavow their behavior.
Bloomberg for President!
4
There are always a small number of people with free floating anger and resentments that they don't fully understand. Political styles like those of Sanders and Trump allow such people an outlet that comes with acceptable labels Like 'social justice" or "drain the swamp." Critical thinking is not their forte. Stimulating and energizing un-examined feelings is what what both Sanders and Trump work with. For all of Sanders' claims -- heard in ad after ad -- that "we have taken on" wall street, big pharma and what have you he has actually "taken on" nothing. Railing against these to cheering crowds is NOT "taking on" "the establishment." Worse it passes for authenticity, "the truth," or a proposed program. To "take on" these entrenched power structures would be to actually get policy passed. Sanders cannot do it because he does not have the skills of a Lincoln, or FDR or LBJ or even Obama (think Obamacare, climate change accord, Iran nuclear deal and etc) and Trump has neither the intelligence or the interest in doing it. The end result is the same: a fractured polity with nothing to show in the way of a constructive program.
5
People get triggered by unfairness and injustice. When DNC shows signs of favoring a candidate, Bernie supporters get triggered.
7
Bernie is Trump's fondest dream for a 2020 opponent. He is totally out of the mainstream of American values and history. I have long espoused the idea of "any Democrat in a storm" for casting my ballot this fall, but upon reflection, Bernie is not a Democrat.
5
Many Democratic-leaning voters simply don't care if Trump wins another four years. Unless they are older than forty, they have lived their whole lives under either Republican or imitation-Republican presidents, so they figure they have nothing to lose by going radical. If Bernie wins the presidency, they'll celebrate, and if not, they will at least feel justified that they stopped another imitation-Republican from taking over. It's defeatism only temporarily masquerading as advocacy.
1
@Mark Lebow
Or it's frustration that status quo as its currently constituted cannot address the social and economic problems in American society today.
We need to move forward and centrists and moderates are simply too comfortable in their own situations to see the need for change or they are afraid of change because it might impact their social or financial position in society.
5
There is some truth in the notion that if Bernie didn't exist, the GOP would have to invent him. A recent poll revealed that only 52% of the "ardent Bernie supporters" would vote for the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the general election if it isn't Bernie. That could be problem enough to reelect Trump.
3
@joerunciter so Trump cutting Medicaid, SS and Food Stamps is better then a Democrat who will keep these programs healthy? This shows the irrationality of the Bernie Brod
1
@Joe Runciter : I would love to see a link to your source. And I love to know what percentage of "Bernie supporters" are labeled as "ardent Bernie supporters".
1
@Rose Actually that figure was mentioned on the PBS Newshour, I believe. I think it was just last night. I know the figure was 52%. I did not write down the source. But I'm thinking it must have been on the Friday Brooks and (normally) Shields segment. They were simply defined as committed Bernie supporters.
I should have stuck with "committed" rather than "ardent".
(I was actually trying to soften the sound of the potential political the blow. Sorry.)
Many of the responses to this article offer further proof of its point. There is a dangerous element here, rejected by many supporters based on the fact that they do not personally engage in this behavior. Instead of acknowledging serious shortcomings in the campaign they insist that any reporting about it is “fake news.” What can be more Trumpian? I recognized the cultish aspect of the Sanders campaign early on in the 2016 election. But I also know many good people who supported him then and do now. It would do them all credit to attempt to address these issues that will only lead to the further deterioration of civil political debate in this country. To forestall any attacks on my political position (another tactic of the deniers I’ve observed), I favor a progressive Democratic platform and my first choice of nominee is not a moderate. If Bernie is nominated of course I will vote for him.
6
Our triplets, at 24, are strongly pro-Bernie. But avid as they are, they're far from zealots. However, they're also avidly anti-Biden, believing 'the system' is broken and only a Bernie can restore democracy and build a fairer economic structure for all.
The downside to this passion, of course, is that the avidity might lead to another four years of increasing autocracy under an unleashed narcissist. A non-Bernie Democratic candidate, even a Warren, could lose a wide swath of young voters.
But so convinced are many that systemic change is required that only a Bernie Sanders can save it -- inspiration and charisma matter, even when a small portion of followers become too intense. BUT please do not equate them with the Trumpists who en masse have given their minds and hearts and souls over to a 'leader' who is unstable, unhinged, unintelligent, and unworthy.
5
Bret. Having occasionally been at the brunt of The Bernie Bro's venom for comments written on these pages, that they disagree with especially if they happened to be anointed with a NYT Pick I can relate to what your piece refers to.
Bernie is not alone though I have had a similar experience from followers of Tulsi Gabbard , Bernie's Sister in Arms if I dared to pass comment in a negative way on her policies especially related to Russia or Syria .
There is a certain cross over appeal between both these candidates supporters and Trumpers and its not just their ill manners .
Our two boys 'one too young to vote' and it seems most of their pals are big Bernie fans this time around . We have had ample and fruitful discussion on Bernie's and the other candidates policies ,without the conversation ever getting close to the nastiness I read about here . I guess these kids are not quite so 'caught up' in the Bernie moment to a point where they are like Trumps zombie followers.
I will say though that I have not heard a single voice say that if Bernie is not the nominee they will not vote, or worse vote for Trump something apparently a good portion of his supporters ended up doing in 2016.
How well I recall in 2016 when Hilary won the Nomination seeing lawns once adorned with Bernie signs now littered with Trump yard signage.
Some of the change Bernie's supporters seek is overdue, I am just not ready to tear the place apart trying to attain it .
4
It is the far left (Sanders supporters) who shut down speakers with whom they disagree. Ironically, they are the least tolerant group.
And should Sanders win, the US will go into a deep recession as investment in business will come to a standstill. The major European social democracies that some worship have high unemployment and no growth because of their Sanders type policies.
This socialist utopia in the US that people dream of will never happen and the capacity to lift people out of poverty that capitalism provides will be badly damaged.
3
Regardless of who is elected, there will be an extremist faction. More so in today's environment. The question is - will the winning candidate capitulate to those factions, like Trump has?
"As they see it, ordinary civility isn’t a virtue. It’s a ruse by which those with power manipulate and marginalize those without." There is some truth in their belief, regardless of what you might think of the Bernie Bros. Senator McConnell has shown us many times how cynical admonitions about civility, made in bad faith, can be used as cover for the ugly ruthlessness of raw power.
3
Bernie is the kind of Democrat that makes me want to change my party affiliation to Republican.
3
@Wharf Rat
Keep this in mind: Bernie is NOT a Democrat.
This all feeds the theme of Ezra Klein's recent book: "Why We're Polarized." We've taken ourselves down this road, with the aid of varied forms of electronic media that have made it so easy for us to hide in our silo of choice--geographically and intellectually isolating ourselves.
The details Stephens emphasizes here have been known for a while--the same sort of committed fans that we might see at a Trump rally. Just how does that help with an already depressing situation?
Do many of Sanders' supporters effectively constitute a third party: https://theweek.com/articles/887051/bernie-voters-vote-biden-when-wins ? Are they as angry as Sanders has always been?: https://time.com/longform/bernie-sanders-2020/ .
We will get the answers to much of this by Nov. Until then, welcome to another day of the show. Is the only way around the daily combat to tune out? Even if we can recognize what we do to ourselves, it may not matter: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/books/review/why-were-polarized-ezra-klein.html .
1
@JSK
Thanks for the reminder of Klein's book. Actual political and social science demonstrates that most people do no understand themselves, as groups or individuals. In this new age of feelings, we are far too easily manipulated--and then in turn our emotions encourage reinforcement from politicians and media.
And if there is any consistency across the partisan divide, its that these people are utterly righteous, and want to see a powerful government to enforce an end member view on all of us.
Another way to put it........Bernie might win the nomination. But, I can’t see the precious non-affiliated independents voting for him in the general. He’ll be tattooed as a socialist, even a communists by the GOP and Bernie will be proud of it......and get creamed in the general. Just too many voters over 35. Can you say 7-2 Supreme Court?
Ezra Klein’s book is must reading for every non-Trumper.
To be clear, I understand the real problem and will vote blue....no matter who.
You’re right Bret, I despise both Bernie and his bros. But after the sham that was the senate trial this week by the vile Republicans, I’m ready to arm the Bernie bros and if he should win the nomination, I will be all in.
It’s on your side to save democracy, we’ve been on the right side all along.
1
Finally someone comes up like Bret Stephens with the truth that so many of us are worried about.
No matter what as we know Bernie endorsed Clinton after the convention ... but she had won a majority of delegates in the primaries long before that .
And yes, Bernie Bros are still there and are just like trump supporters , Bernie or else.
Mr Sanders is 78 years old , already had a heart attack and surely he bounced back with full swing.
Saying that if Sanders wins the nomination I would certainly vote for him.
What if he does not, then what ?
2
It seems that many of the critics of this piece are missing the point. It’s not about whether one is a supporter of Bernie vs some other candidate, and the merits therein. In fact, he makes clear that the majority of Sanders supporters are supporters - period. It is about the politics of destruction, and how prevalent it is within a strong and highly vocal subset of those supporters. You cannot spend an entire year bashing and denouncing other candidates, and not think that’s going to have an effect on the general election. And for the record, I know quite a few 2016 Bernie supporters who did, in fact, refuse to vote for Hillary. And I suspect strongly that those with that same mentality helped deliver this nightmare we are living in now. There is NO margin for error this time, bro.
5
The real question is whether Sanders would be able to govern effectively. We all know that there are entrenched and powerful people running all major sectors of this economy and society. To think that they would roll over and just hand everything over to Bernie’s agenda seems naive to me. I think what you would see is massive resistance resulting in the breakdown of our society, possibly leading to a real civil war.
1
I don't agree with this nonsense at all. But if they (we)(me) were angry it's because of the constant hit jobs, at least two yesterday alone from this paper, the media constantly gives Sanders. Lord knows if he got some positive push, coverage, where he'd be. ... Destroying the competition.
6
Yes, some of the Sanders persuasion are kin to the Trump populists: 20% of them are said to have voted for Trump over Clinton. They are the angry people always present in our electorate. I see that as a division in the Tea Party movement exploded into political live a few years into this century. They think there are simple answers. It is good to talk about them but not necessarily as a means to discuss Bernie, who I agree with but do not support because he is unelectable and his program is not passable.
1
@Dan do you wish they would conveniently disappear? Or would someone would be willing to hear what they are saying? Bernie is willing. That’s the difference.
1
With supporters like this, it will be easy for Sanders GOP opponents to say he is not a democratic socialist, but an out-and-out totalitarian Communist. A few old clips of Bernie Sanders praising Castro and visiting Moscow will add to impression, as opposition researchers scour the archives.
Just look at Jeremy Corbyn - all the cartoons that showed him wearing a black beret with a red star were far more effective than all the long-winded policy papers. Voters vote based on what they feel a candidate is really like, and consider what they say about policy to be propaganda designed to lure in the unwary.
3
Just substitute Trump for Sanders in this piece and you have all you need to know. It is tough to be a moderate of either party today.
3
I just want to make sure I use the correct pejorative for an entire group of people..
What about female supporters of Sen. Sanders?
Can we call them Bernie Bros, as well?
Does Mr Stephens have a similar pejorative for supporters of Buttigieg, Biden, or Trump?
6
@ExPDXer
He clearly refers to the Bros as a subset of Bernie's supporters in the first sentence.
Why is it so hard to admit this subset is real and is a problem? The incidents described actually happened.
6
I actually traveled over 1000 miles to volunteer for Bernie in Iowa. And would like to tell you who I found supporting Bernie here, on the ground, in real life.
I have found a diverse group of concerned Americans who all share a passion for a fair, just and better America. An America with a leader who is actually talking about the REAL issues facing families across this country.
I haven’t seen any animosity towards other candidates (we have momentum and the volunteers). Literally 100s of people walking into the campaign office everyday.
Part of me finds the term Bernie bros offensive. I have seen single mothers and fathers, women of color, old men, 17 year high school kids all coming into the office to volunteer. It is a term that really discounts their support more than mine. (Full disclosure: I am a white, educated, wealthy male)
But another part of me realizes that opinion screeds like this from corporate media are going to be a daily occurrence now that we are winning. So we just turn up the Tswift, shrug, and remember haters gonna hate. We are too busy changing trying to make America a better place than to really care about the daily hit piece.
11
I totally *get* the anger. Look how millions of people are trying to "get their heads around" Word Series Champions who've been caught cheating - simply succumbing to "any means to the end we covet!"
Now back to the matter at hand! Tens of millions of people - from ideological far right to far left - KNOW that our country has seriously gone off the rails. Yes, "George Soros" is also a divisive figure, in the sense that those who know his values either applaud them or loathe them. But he's 100% right that when Zuckerberg and Bezos wield greater power than - easily - 100 million other Americans collectively, democracy is in jeopardy.
So, some of Bernie's supporters *ARE* angry. They truly are "woke" in a way that Bret probably NEVER was.
Bret begins with what sounds like a compelling story about Barbara Boxer. I'm not playing judge-and-jury when I say, "She was probably treated worse than shabbily on that occasion."
But how 'bout a little CONTEXT?! As an "early endorser" of Hillary, she put her fingerprints on the many tools that were used to usher in that hopelessly flawed candidate.
Yes, her popular vote tally exceeded Bernie's ... and I won't even try to assert that he would have won where she lost. But the game was rigged. SOUND FAMILIAR?
There are dozens of core values embedded in a workable democratic polity. ONE OF THEM - inarguably - is FAIRNESS! Easy for Bret to say, "Be nice," but when you're 25, "do the right thing" is more compelling.
2
So is the “right thing” attacking others online because you disagree with them? Hounding them? Disclosing their personal information? Threatening bodily harm? Being nice and being a Bernie supporter doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive.
2
Bernie has the most ‘extreme’ democratic platform, thus why would he not attract the most ‘extreme’ members of the Democratic Party? We are observing behaviour that is more dramatic than we expect from members of the left. No big deal.
Further, his base supports progressive (and requisite) societal reforms that if not instituted immediately will have dire consequences for future generations of our species. The climate science is sad and clear; computer savvy millennials finally have an opportunity to mobilize in a politically meaningful way behind someone who might actually do something!
Bernie and the Green New Deal are what’s important, not the behaviour of his bros.
I sure wish we had a Bernie up here who could actually win, eh? America, please don’t squander this chance.
8
A zealot is someone who believes they are the only ones with the truth--the one and only truth. They are unwilling to compromise.
Unfortunately, Sanders and Warren are zealots. I would support either of them over Trump. (Things are that bad.) If elected it is unlikely they will be able to accomplish anything with Congress. (Maybe that's good.)
Fellow zealots should read Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements."
3
@Frank Baudino
None of us are "zealots." It is about a long overdue and necessary agenda not about the man.
2
It is clear from this column that when Bret Stephens' beloved Republican party cheers on Trump shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, Bret Stephens will approve because those people cheering on Trump shooting someone aren't "angry". They would be joyous and thus Bret would approve.
But Bret would be very, very concerned about Bernie supporters who got "angry" at Trump for shooting someone.
6
Thank you, NY Times for making me realize that I am a Bernie Bro. Since you remind us of this every day.
You have convinced me. I categorically refuse to vote for any other candidate in the Democratic Party race. Good luck winning with the Right-Wing Democratic vote.
13
In my state’s primary this year I will vote for Sanders.
But I have a larger point and that revolves around living in Maryland, a safely Democratic state where I could vote for Stein. This was a luxury: if I had lived a mile away in the battleground state of Pennsylvania I would have had to vote for Clinton-and I had disliked Clintonism since the 1990s.
I don’t know how old you are, and don’t mean to condescend. But young people have decades to erase this obscenity of Trumpism from memory while those over say 50 might look at the clock with emotions akin to despair, knowing that we are at a critical juncture, and that a Trump victory this year means the end of a dream.
Please read Krugman’s column from yesterday. In terms of policy, it won’t matter which Democrat wins: every one of them will preside over a progressive agenda. This might not be particularly stirring emotionally, it may not be “right” if Bloomberg with his billions rather than Warren or Sanders is the nominee, but it is reality, and the fate of the country, of the environment, has us in a chokehold.
The alternative is kleptocracy, promoted by a near-dictator exploiting such weaknesses of democracy as the electoral college and the Senate, which awards two senators to every state regardless of population.
This Bernie supporter urges you to compromise, however bitterly, and vote for _any_ Democrat. As for me, it will be hard to pull the level for Bloomberg or Biden, but I will do so firmly and with hope.
1
Mr. Stephens, you are only seeing what you wish to see, with due respect. Your agenda, your fear of losing control of this economic pyramid is palpable. I am trying to say this in the kindest but most emphatic manner possible, so as not to add fuel to the fire of your willful self delusion. We can disagree, that's okay - democracy isn't totally outré. But name calling, and cherry picking to prove your point is unbecoming to a writer of your stature. We'll vote Democratic whether it's Sanders or Biden or Bloomberg, rest assured. But you, sir, are doing the real damage.
7
Of course, Sanders supporters are not frothing at the mouth with rage and do not view him as a "savior." Working people support Sanders for the very rational reason that--unlike the other, Capitalist candidates backed by the super rich and their media--he is a Socialist who will enact policies that favor the workers . . . . The supporters of other candidates post plenty of nasty and viscious remarks online. Why is only Sanders held responsible for comments that he had nothing to do with? . . . It is too bad Mr. Stephens was not at the Occupy Movements that were smashed by coordinated corporate/police violence in 2012. I'm sure that the NYPD beating up the demonstrators and trashing their belongings would be interested in hearing from him on the supreme importance of civility . . . .
7
Bernie is a hard left ideologue whose presentation is often angry. Such ideologues tend to believe that anyone who does not agree with them is just wrong and should go away, so it is no wonder that at least of some of his supporters are also both angry and assume that those who are not with them must be the enemy.
Even in relatively sedate places like the NYT (and Wash Post) online comments one can see some of this as any critical comment about Bernie's ideas tends to get comments which at least insinuate that the original commenter doesn't know anything or is, in fact, useless or destructive.
IF Sanders voters refuse to vote for any other Democrat, then they will be in part responsible for Trump's re-election. I hope their self-righteousness is worth the further destruction and degradation of their country.
8
I’m disgusted by the Bernie and Jill Stein supporters who “can’t tell the difference” between Clinton and Trump, any other Democrat and Trump. How much extreme damage to our climate, environment, country, and world has to be done before they detect a difference? Its hard not to believe that many of them do not follow news or policy- they follow pro-Bernie twitter only and hence are fairly low-information voters.
5
This is such a condescending piece. The author is looking through the wrong end of the telescope. Instead of hand-wringing over how supposedly angry all those dreadfully unpleasant Bernie bros are, he should take two steps back to see the bigger picture and realize that just about EVERYONE is angry now -- or they should be, and soon will be -- about how our government is being run.
Bernie is the only candidate promising to make a break with the corrupt past and embrace a new approach. He is the only candidate in many, many years who is actually credibly promising to end corruption and get our nation's priorities in order. That's why he is leading in the polls. And, being the frontrunner, that's why the party needs to get behind him, as they have traditionally done for all frontrunners in the past.
But they won't, and the reasons is because it is the party, not the Bernie bros, who actually would prefer four more years of Trump over any substantial change to the economic status quo.
Just look at how corrupt the Republicans in Congressare are, and realize the Democrats are at least half as corrupt as that. That's the reality. Thats why the people want Bernie.
13
Evert time I read something like this, I want to scream to the heavens so all can hear:
Bernie is not even a Democrat! He won't even call himself by the name of the party whose nomination he seeks.
7
Bernie Bros are right in considering "moderate" democrats are sellouts and servants of the rich. It's just objectively true. The same token applies to some journalists.
9
Bernie is going get Trump four more years just like Ralph Nader got the younger Bush into the White House. And with these dishonorable or worse senators who know if knows what will be. I am an ABB Democrat. Bernie could also destroy the down ticket candidates in Nancy's House. If could wave a magic wand I would make Nancy President. My second wish would be Adam Schiff.
6
The Democrats need a candidate who can unite the party. Someone who is willing to represent the whole party and not its Republican Lite establishment in the Congress. Someone willing to take a punch and, more importantly, to throw a punch. That person is not Biden.
2
I think righteous fanaticism is an oxymoron. When people become fanatic about a leader or set of beliefs, they by definition become intolerant of others. That's something I don't want to be associated with. Shouting down your opposition does not shut it down, it only feeds growing anger and reprisal.
I have not picked a favorite candidate although I have my preferences. And my ultimate preference is to vote for WHOMEVER gets the Democratic nomination.
7
What was it that those very fine people on both sides were saying? Oh, I remember now, "Jews will not replace us." And not one, not two, but HUNDREDS of people with lit Tiki torches. I am an African-American Jew and I have never felt such fear in my life watching that scene. And I am also a kind, caring Bernie Bro.
8
Good shiny object column for the day before Senate Republicans abandoned the Constitution and disgraced themselves beyond redemption.
Yeah, let's worry about ride Bernie Bros while our democracy burns.
10
Excellent piece. There’s a reason the Russians targeted Trumpers and Bernie Bots in 2016 (and are no doubt at it again). Both groups are inflexible, intolerant, uber dogmatic and very easy to rile up. Once triggered, they become high-velocity projectiles filled with vitriol. The Russians must be laughing themselves sick.
6
Everyday my support for these mythical Bernie Bros grows and grows. From the looks of it, it is a multi racial working class movement. If they want to raise the pitchforks to the very people who have piled misery on working and poor people, let’s just say, the idea is growing on me.
9
Is Barbara Boxer even a Democrat? She took Lyft's money to write an op-ed on their behalf, so I'm gonna say no. Now she's lobbying against drivers getting minimum wage or any basic protections. Makes sense that she would be so salty about Bernie, who stands up for working people
10
The Bernie Bros are the tip of the iceberg of angry white men in this country. And while their racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia are inexcusable, their anger goes beyond the culture wars. They are angry at an economic situation that has left the working class behind. That's why Bernie's message appeals to them the most -- and why Trump is often the second choice of this small swath of his supporters. (The vast majority did vote for Hillary.)
What surprises me is how much talk in the media and beyond is about anger that the Bernie Bros didn't support Hillary. The Bernie Bros are typically *not* party-line Democrats. Many of them are independents. Some are even Republicans.
While I disagree with their bigotry, no one is going to change their bigotry overnight. But their anger can be funneled into someone who will help their economic situation -- and that of many other people in the U.S. -- or it can be directed at support for the current bigot-in-chief.
I know which one I prefer.
6
@Rose That's my understanding, too. You said so eloquently.
1
Wow Brett what a dark narrative. While I am sure there are some virulent supporters are you not stirring the pot here making overblown comparisons to Trump. Trump is loving you now, the only way he wins is dissension within the party, leading to malaise and lower turnout. Thank-you Brett.
5
I exist. I'm online. Bernie Bros is fake. Not a real person or group. There are angry people on all sides nowadays but there's no such thing as Bernie Bros. Just a weird propaganda tactic to put fear into people. That's Trumpian. Bernie puts power and not fear into the hands of the people of this nation.
8
This feels so much like 2016. The NYT and their seemingly endless “hit” pieces on Senator Sanders. People are seeing what you are doing and it will backfire. I read that a recent ad campaign against Sanders in Iowa resulted in a large uptick (1.3 m)in donations to his campaign in one day. This seems to coincide with the reports in Politico that the DNC is considering going back to the super-delegate system that ensured Hillary’s selection and caused great friction (read “rigged”) with significant portion of Democrats that supported Sanders.
7
Not surprised to see mostly men defending Sanders.
Stephens isn't leveling with his readers and saying what's really behind his antipathy toward Sanders: the latter's neutral policy re. Israel and the Palestinians.
Stephens likes his candidates to have a strong bias toward Israel.
5
Anthony
[stops his ears.]
I will listen to thee no longer!
Hilarion
[raising his voice:]
Lo! thou fallest again into thy habitual sin, which is sloth. Ignorance is the foam of pride. One says, forsooth: --"My conviction is formed! wherefore argue further?" --and one despises the doctors, the philosophers, tradition itself, and even the text of the Law whereof one is ignorant. Dost thou imagine that thou dost hold all wisdom in the hollow of thy hand?
That's Flaubert, from the book that took him his lifetime to write, "The Temptation of Saint Anthony." Those least certain of a cherished belief defend it loudest. As for Hoffer, how about the Jesuit Naphta, from one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, Mann's "The Magic Mountain": "It is ultimately a cruel misunderstanding of youth to believe it will find its heart's desire in freedom. Its deepest desire is to obey."
Being disenchanted with politics, as with life, people want someone with a novel vision, something to put their soul into. "Insiders" are accomplices to the ravaging of America. Nostalgic visions dance in citizens' heads, oddly entwined with fantasies about the future. To Trump and Sanders fanatics, each man represents a chance, perhaps the only one, to redeem an otherwise irredeemable country. Absent vigilance, absent passion, the revolution will be killed in its cradle. Holdovers are a danger to the New World. ... But, who knows, perhaps George McGovern can win in 2020. Post-Trump, all is permitted.
Stephens is acting as a troll here, trying to sow divisiveness in the Democratic Party. And I have zero doubt that some of the more rabid Bros are agents provocateurs following the wraith of Lee Atwater. No doubt at all.
As for the anger of the Bernie Bros, it's certainly understandable and in great part justified. Their generation has been sold out multiple ways, by the current corrupt plutocratic and kleptocratic Reagan Restoration, by "Democratic" centrism which is really Rockefeller Republicanism in drag (look at the RECORDS of the Clintons, Obama and Biden, NOT their rhetoric), by skyrocketing student debt and housing costs, a corrupt healthcare system, and deteriorating employment stability. Not to mention the wholesale environmental degradation and actually regressing on climate solutions. SOLD OUT.
Sure, their energy needs to be channeled in practical ways that are effective politically, but we need the energy first, and they're bringing it.
Keep bringing it, and keep alert for provocateurs. Think these Republicans won't stoop to dirty tricks? It's their M.O.
6
Let’s be clear. Stephens wants Bloomberg to be nominated. The ultimate opposite of Sanders on most policy issues. Stephens abhors Sanders’ rational position on Israel. Expect to see weekly/daily attacks on Sanders ( and Warren) from powerful status quo forces. Today in the Times......HRC, dissing Sanders again!
This is News?
I’m 72 and my son is 29. We were both Sanders supporters who voted for Clinton in 2016......despite the DNCs treatment of Sanders. Let us hope all moderates will do the same if Sanders or Warren are nominated. Trump and the corrupt trump party must be defeated.
10
The Democratic Party can do without the advice, the interested advice, of Bret Stephens. He can't stand the liberal Democrats, no doubt because they are taking a harder look at America's support for Israel. Whatever the faults of Bernie and his followers, can they really be compared, as Stephens does, to the meanness, the vulgarity, the ignorance of the Trump crowd? He would do well to stick to criticizing his own.
6
Stephens is a right-wing neoconservative hawk who understands a Sanders's administration would conduct a foreign policy based on diplomacy, not military aggression or economic war. This explains why this 'exiled' Republican is promoting the Bernie Bro myth in 2020 with an anecdote from the 2016 election.
The Bernie Bros myth is a convenient, but wholly dishonest, means to smear Sanders.
Of course some supporters have been less than civil, but there was NEVER anything in the Sanders' campaign that came close to the disgusting smear tactics used by David Brock, former Republican attack dog 'rescued' and turned loose by Clinton. Additionally, any suggestion that Hillary supporters did not engage in abusive trolling, name calling and more, and water the shining example of civility is nonsense.
8
Brett vs Bernie.
One has a single minded determination to eliminate a perceived evil by rallying irrational rage in his supporters, and Bernie wants to help people.
6
"Bernie Bros" is pure mythology, an invention of the Clinton campaign, the successor to the "Obama Boys" of 2008. The media, including the NYT, has pushed this narrative relentlessly, as a means to discredit the Sanders campaign and its progressive policies, goals, and values.
Millions of people of diverse backgrounds and experiences support Sanders because they want to live in a country where sick and vulnerable people are cared for, regardless of income or status; where workers receive a living wage; and where housing, health care, and education are affordable. The pundits, comfortable as they are with the status quo, are frightened by this prospect and are pushing back with one silly, bigoted narrative after another--one week it's sexism, the next week, it's back to the Bros.
Sanders supporters do not deserve to be smeared and to have their hopes for a better future crushed by a mob of arrogant pundits.
518
@Ann If you read the column he states that he is describing only a small subset of Bernie's supporters - not all of them.
57
@Ann my think you protest a bit too much. The column was very specific about not applying to all Sanders supporters.
I agree with what Stevens wrote but also voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary. I wont this time around because he didn't get behind Hillary, allowed Trump to steal his "rigged" narrative and did little to disavow it. I see the same process repeating this cyle.
Bernie and the bro's are too angry to win the middle where the undecided voters are. Good luck with that plan. I see another 4 years of Trump coming and find that prospect deeply disturbing.
82
@Ann, I don't remember the Obama Boys denigrating and bullying anyone who disagreed with them. If Bernie really doesn't like their tactics then he should be stronger in his denunciation of them, otherwise he is using the same tactics Trump used to get elected. Obama was a centrist and I prefer centrist governing, which is why I don't support Sanders and object to the extremist tactics of Bernie Bros. I will vote for him if it's my only choice against Trump but I will have to hold my nose to do it.
71
The NY Times reporting has been extremely disappointing from early endorsement of inferior and weak democratic candidates and now Bernie bashing. It is obvious the news media's corporate sponsors are threatened by Bernie. Also, Hillary Clinton should take a step back and not be given such a prominent voice in this election since she failed to unite or excite in 2016. I wonder what everyone is so afraid of? Krugman says it best today- it really does not matter which Democrat wins on a policy level because any candidate's policies will be tough to pass through Congress. It is interesting that the establishment, including the DNC, seems truly threatened by Bernie's momentum. Could it be that he is one of the few candidates not bought and sold by the powers that be?
8
Bernie Bros and Trumpistas prove the point that extreme opposites ultimately converge at their furthest limits.
4
Only in personality and method. Their visions of America are still very different.
1
The far left has been a problem, in my memory, back to Nixon vs. Humphrey, when one popular anti-HHH argument was that Nixon should be elected so that the country would see for itself how bad things would get, and regain its senses.
3
Bernie Sanders needs to demonstrate leadership and control of some of his more rabid followers. He created a movement when he created Our Revolution. He's not Trump, but sometimes the tactics of his followers are reminiscent of right-wing attacks. These bilious outbursts do not bode well for the Democratic Party.
6
It’s undoubtedly true that the majority of Sanders supporters are not acting in these ways. But the minority who are.
3
From SNOPES:
Claim: Bernie Sanders wrote an essay in which a woman fantasizes about “being raped by three men simultaneously.”
Rating: TRUE.
Look it up. Yes, Trump is more misogynistic. But Bernie’s past will cause many feminists to stay home, vote third party, or vote the rest of the ticket without voting for president.
I have yet to hear a Bernie supporter truly address this. It will be an attack ad, or at the very least spammed all over the internet if Bernie gets the nomination.
Since 2016, we have entered the #MeToo Era. I don’t think it will play well.
3
It really seems like nobody is going to address this before it’s too late, from Bernie’s supporters to media like the Times.
Yes, they do. Been saying that for a while now.
2
Bret should read Paul Krugman’s editorial. Being that he’s a never-Trumper, he should contemplate the reality of a Sanders/Warren victory not being much different than a Biden/Klobuchar one. Even if the democrats win the senate handily, no sure thing, a republican version of Chuck and Nancy (Mitch and Kevin?) will have to be dealt with by whoever might win. Again, no sure thing. A New Democratic president will only be able to undo ridiculous Trump executive orders and little else but maintain the status quo.
1
Clinton was right about Sanders. He accomplishes little except as an outlet for anger. He is actually much worse than Trump, who at least built a business and a brand. What has Sanders done?
2
Politically, I’m in Bernie’s camp, but I won’t support him in the primaries. I certainly admire his passionate supporters, and I understand their frustrations and fears. I share them. However, the fact is that Bernie can’t win. The socialist label will kill him because most Americans fear it and don’t understand it. Most Democrats and Independents are moderate/conservative . Forty percent of African-Americans are moderates. Thirty percent are conservative. Latinos are the same(and they don’t use Latinx). Trump is an existential threat to this nation and the planet. It is essential that we defeat him. What terrifies me is how many Bernie supporters have threatened to sit out or vote for trump if Bernie isn’t nominated. They call it revenge against the establishment Democrats. Oh, great. That makes perfect sense. We must be realistic. All of the nominees are center left and will work on the issues that concern us. Please vote blue no matter who. No one gets what they want all the time.
9
“The Sanders online army resembles President Trump’s most ardent supporters in more ways than either side might care to admit.” In other words, you are saying that Bernie's followers can't see how wrong they are by not being Republicans. Come on. Deluges of words sink the truth.
4
It will be a very disappointed and angry group of people when Trump is re-elected in November. Bernie is not a Democrat, does not belong in Democratic primaries, and will ensure the party's defeat in November. I despise Trump but will stay home before I vote for Bernie and rabble.
1
Bernie Bros was a cheap shot invented by Clinton supporters. The name was based on a chacterization of Sanders supporters as largely young upper middle class white men who opposed Clinton because of sexism--in other words, all bad things rolled into one.
It was fostered by professional feminists like Gloria Steinem, who famously said young women only worked on the Sanders campaign to get dates.
Clinton's still going at it with her "nobody likes him" quotes and release of her documentary in the middle of the primaries.
9
I must not be going to to right websites as I've never seen a Bernie Bro. Where are these people?
Most Democrats I see have their favorite candidates but in the end they will vote for who ever gets the nomination.
6
Bernie Sanders has never given a speech that sent a clear statement about civility and decency in politics. His failure to take a strong stand against this extreme, hateful and reactive behavior is telling us that he is comfortable with it. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin must love it. Without unity and cooperation, we will all fail to achieve our goals.
Iowa, no Democrat on your ballots (? Or whatever the caucuses use?) is a terrible pick, but anything you can do to elevate politics would be a dream come true. So, would you maybe avoid Bernie unless he is willing to be a team player for a change? TIA.
1
It's weird. David Plouffe (Obama's 2008 campaign manager) once mentioned that when the Clinton and Obama teams met at a hotel to start discussing their armistice, some of Clinton's more fanatical supporters harassed and even threatened Obama's staff. Yet no one seems to use them to judge all of Clinton's supporters.
I don't support Bernie personally, but it seems like most (probably around 75%) critics of the Bernie Bros actually dislike Bernie and using the most noxious subset of his supporters to paint an unflattering picture of him. There is a real group of online, pro-Bernie trolls that say horrible, detestable, and sexist things, but they make up a minority of his supporters and aren't all that unique in the world of politics.
6
As a strong Bernie supporter, I completely condemn any abusive conduct done in his name. And so does Bernie, and so do the leaders of his campaign. So who are these people who engage in threatening behavior? No doubt there are a few crazies out there who want to behave outrageously in his name. But when it comes to stuff like internet trolling and the like, the abuse may not be coming from Bernie supporters, but may be coming from operatives who want to make us all look like thugs. So I hope the campaign will issue a strong edict: if the message for Bernie is neither civil or respectful, the messenger is not with us. He's against us.
7
@Bob Chisholm He already has. I would just ignore this stuff. The people making the arguments aren't doing it in good faith. They're his opposition and people threatened by what he stands for. The same people who want him to fail are the ones claiming there's Bernie Bros all over the place harassing people. I think it mostly comes from people calling out the lies of centrist candidates and them claiming we're mean because of it. They just don't like getting challenged so they smear us rather than address the actual topic because it's a lot easier to claim were all bigots than it to defend their records. Especially when they're claiming to do the opposite of what they have a track record of voting in favor of. Like more war and increased defense spending, making it harder to settle your debts or solving racial animus. Way easier to just get you buddies in the press to label us all bigots.
3
This kind of hit job by the NYT on a consistent basis is actually pushing me towards voting for Bernie in the primaries. It tells me that Bernie is the most likely to create real change. In normal times I am somewhere between progressive and moderate, but these are not normal times. We need a candidate strong enough to push back against the real radicals, the Trump inspired mob mentality, who use threats, violence and deception to get their way. Calling Bernie followers the same thing is laughable.
11
Not sure the existence of such internet trolls on the far right and left is worthy of a column, Bret. In a country of over 300,000,000 people, it is not news that there are extremists waiting to pounce on anything. In the 60’s, when demonstrating against the Vietnam War was the central issue, many crazies emerged from the wood-work in violent and criminal ways that repulsed otherwise committed opponents to the War. We should not give such extremists more publicity than they deserve, for it will only encourage even worse acts.
5
Once again, Stephens bookends Brooks in their worthless, both sides are at fault, position. Both continue to dodge responsibility for their part in the accession of Trump, the rot of the GOP, and the destruction of Western Democracy according to Putin's playbook. Once again, they take aim at the meaningless periphery rather than putting Mitch McConnell and his GOP enemies of the state in the line of fire. Of course, that would put them, as Republican apologists, directly in that line of fire. So predictable, Bret and Brooks. Next I predict Douthat will contradict the Pope on matters of faith and say Trump is God's will.
7
Comparing Bernie's supporters to Trump's is a bridge too far. Tell me if you can when Bernie praised violent supporters? Did he exhort them to violence? Did he pledge to pay for their lawyers?
What Bernie's supporters are angry about has nothing to do with identity politics, in-groups or out-groups. It has to do with the DNC's penchant for selling itself to the highest bidder. To saying nice progressive things while also taking corporate and big donor money. They talk a good game that often doesn't play out, but they invariably take the money.
If we don't get money out of politics we will always have corruption and will never be able to effectively make policy to mitigate climate change or mitigate income inequality. The DNC is a vampire just like the RNC, it just puts on a moderate face and perpetuates the status quo. There is no future in the status quo. None.
These young people know this. We have destroyed their future and now the people who claim to be their allies in the DNC do all they can to sabotage these, their last chances. Wouldn't you be angry? I'm angry for them and I'm 60 years old! I'm embarrassed and ashamed to leave my kids an unlivable plant and ungovernable collapsing state, We all should be. We will not live to suffer the consequences, but we will live long enough it seems to seal their doom.
We are like Nero. Fiddling around while the world's last best chances go by unrealized. Be angry.
7
@Ed Robinson, thanks for such an eloquent expression of what I too am feeling.
I’m 59 and a lifelong Democrat, and I find I just can’t stomach another Democrat who says all the right honey-words, then gets busy defending the the interests of the 1% at the expense of our citizens and our democracy and our biosphere.
Bernie is far from perfect, but there is no doubt he will fight for what he says he will. That alone is sufficient for me and, I suspect, millions of other Americans including many who voted for Trump
3
@Ed Robinson Thank you for the excellent post. I feel exactly the same way, and I am a 60 year old. What has happened to our country and the environment makes the outlook bleak for our younger Americans. I believe we owe it to them, to correct this downward trajectory and give them something to hope for. Why would we support anyone but Bernie Sanders, if we truly care about their future?
2
Much as I loathe Sanders, unlike Trump he would not make himself president-for-life (i.e. dictator). But, in reality, a Sanders nomination cedes the election to Trump (without Trump having to even steal it - which, if Trump were to lose to any other opponent, he will do [simply by declaring victory regardless - and with GOP blessings]).
Sanders supporters look like Trump's one? May be that is not such a bad thing - Trump did win the election, didn't he?
1
Bret, dear, I was watching the news when Barbara Boxer came with her swollen attitude to tame the crowd. The crowd was restive because of how Bernie was being treated at the caucus - like a nuisance outsider as he often was during that nomination process. Barbara Boxer swept in and ordered them around in the most officious lofty tones. People were sore in those days about Hillary's superdelegates who declared themselves for her in the early days before the campaigns were really launched. And what a bunch of priviligees they were too, Bret, and I ought to know having come from those folk. So everyone knew Barbara was strictly in Hillary's camp and that her intentions were not generous in that situation. More of a "let me handle this." The brandishing of furniture was not meant to menace her or anyone else. It was more of a "we're staying right here" gesture. Had I been there, I'd have gone up and in my best prep school tones would have told her she should know better than to rub outsiders' noses in it, to condescend to anyone after the way Hillary behaved and how the caucus organizers were treating them. If you treat serious constituents like they're not legit, well, you know the old self fulfilling prophecy thing, it means you're treating their leader like an nonperson - as you're doing here in another attempt at relevance - and at some point they'll start acting like people do when they have a right to be there and they've had it with being marginalized. ps I'm for Warren
9
Why is it unrepentant supporters of mass slaughter in the Middle East seem to have such exquisitely delicate sensitivities when it comes to online rudeness? It says something about who Stephens does and does not view as a human being that he is vastly more outraged that he and other members of the political and media establishment are sometimes confronted with vigorous criticism, than that, say, the US military used white phosphorous against civilians in Fallujah, to name only one of the many atrocities Stephens has enthusiastically supported. There are many interesting conservative voices who would add something useful to the Times Op-Ed pages (Douthat certainly falls in this category); Stephens is not one of them.
8
I'm not as engaged in this column on Sanders as I have been on others that I submit comments on. A party-line Democrat since 1964, except for a vote for the younger Bush in 2004, I am leaning towards Trump this year for what I consider are rational reasons that I won't waste readers' time in trying to explain, except to say that, believe it or not, there are educated supporters of Trump who are not philistines. I write now with an observation that the majority of comments strike me as being knee-jerk intolerant of a "different and unusual point of view." Shouldn't a NYT reader appreciate a great newspaper's providing "the diversity of informed opinions of experts"?
The Bernie Bros have zero tolerance for anything involving corporations. And that includes center-left Democrats who they label corporate Democrats. They are angry as can be that the Bill Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council moved the Democratic Party the right and the Bernie Bros refer to these Democrats as Republicans lite. They are besides themselves that Democrats have supported corporate deregulation and got rid of welfare. This anger is manifested as extreme rudeness and nastiness when interacting with Democrats of the center-left wing. The only thing that will calm them down is getting corporate money out of politics. That is their focus, not stopping right wing fascism from destroying democracy which is the main focus of the center-left.
1
Stereotypes make the world so much more bearable. Bernie Bros, MAGA hat mannequins, and liberal lionesses all running about, jostling each other, trying to get the public's attention. At least, if nothing else, Mr. Sanders has a group enthusiastically behind him. Not unlike Trump in style but many fewer in number. Democrats, in trying to sabotage Sanders, have already committed most of the unforced errors that led ineluctably to the installation of their current bete noire.
2
I am Bernie's age and an FDR Democrat, i.e. a real Democrat. I will vote for who ever the Democrats nominate and I hope it's not a corporate Dem as greed does not belong in our party.
6
Sanders gets more support than any other candidate from teachers, social workers, caregivers and servers. It’s downright offensive to be called a bro and a bully so frequently. I’m a social worker, and my coworkers and friends who like Bernie are mostly young, college educated women of color and we are all very online. To pretend that our voices are uniformly white males is just so, so wrong. Young people of all stripes are irritated with the status quo, especially when the establishment has so consistently misrepresented us and shouted us down, just like this article does!
6
The recent swarm of Bernie hit pieces in this publication might actually benefit Bernie. People will notice that the likes of Bret Stephens and the editors that allow this intellectual refuse to get published are out of touch with those truly struggling, and that there is a difference between righteous anger and ignorance. If you get to compare me to Trump’s supporters, and to Trump by extension, then I get to compare you to Bush: you care about yourself and not the poor and disadvantaged, and that’s why you’re writing this, Mr Stephens (albeit calmly).
5
The other day I watched the "I have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King. The cameras showed King giving the speech, one that will go down as one of the greatest in history. But the cameras also showed the crowd. All the attendees were dressed in their 'Sunday best'. Men in white collared shirts and ties. Women in dresses. And they behaved like they were in church. Respectful, quiet, and attentive to the words being spoken. No cattcalls, no chairs being lifted overhead, no inappropriate language. Then you look at political rallies today. It's like a mob. But the real problem is the people who attend these events don't see themselves that way. Trump rally goers see themselves as the most patriotic people ever. The problem with the Democrats is they have no leader like MLK. If you are going to go high to their low, go high. Don't just go one step on the ladder above the Trump rally mobs. If you want to be better, behave like it. The message King delivered was we can get this done if we stick together and stay in control. We, America, needs someone to lead us. What I don't understand is why no one has? Why is it so hard? MLK was incredibly successful. He showed us how to get it done. And we failed to listen and follow.
1
Stop it. Just stop. I’m a 52 year-old, educated, business-owning, white, mother-of-two. I’m solidly behind Bernie because we cannot go on in the direction our country has moved over the past decade. We are not distributing the resources of our great country fairly and corporate interests are taking terrible advantage of working class people. I’ve lived in Europe and know the beauty of democratic socialism. I just heard NJ governor Phil Murphy speak at a town hall this past week. His goals and aspirations for NJ sound an awful lot like Bernie’s for the country. Get with it, NY Times! The people want a country and government that works for the many. We care about our fellow Americans. Just stop with the bashing!
494
@Elizabeth Stoeber in short it’s your way or the highway. Everyone is even mildly critical of Bernie is the enemy. That’s funny. That’s exactly what trump supporters say. There was no bashing or Bernie. If anything this article was much too soft on a man who has cultivated the most divisive anti woman politics seen from the democrats since before the civil rights era. But you were saying about how even mild rebuke of Bernie is treason of the highest order?
67
@MP where does she it’s her way or the highway ? She is saying that Bernie supporters are being unfairly mischaracterized. And she is right.
55
@MP
MP read Ms. Stoeber's critique more carefully. No where did she say it's your way or the highway.
Instead of Stephens critiquing Bernie's policies, similar to the Republican strategy, attack the messenger, attack the process. Find whatever example you can to back up your argument even though it's not representative and even taken out of context. Such was the Boxer case. Stephens uses this Republican strategy, which is really disinformation. Regarding the Boxer example-
the Democratic establishment was wrong in how they sewed up Hilary's nomination and everyone knew it was highly dirty politics, as she employed some of the most corrupt people, like Lanni Davis.
Why didn't Stephens go after the CNN news pundit who gave the debate questions to Clinton prior to the debate?
Why doesn't Stephens talk about the tens of thousands of people who show up at Bernies' rallies, past and present without one shred of violence. This 65 y/o is one of them.
Basically, the attack on Bernie is an attack on the historical record of how meaningful change takes place.
36
I love it.
An ancient Marxist may win win the Democrat Socialist Party nomination.
Trump will win 57 states (Obama math).
4
A few days I ran into a Bernie "fan" while chatting on an iternet news aggregator. Wow. Vicious, nasty. What the heck. Only thing I can think of at this point -- 1. Bernie noted as loud, a curmudgeon - persona has rubbed off - unfortunate. 2. Free College - must appeal strongly to some who do not have the means to go on after High School. Well, join the club kids -- most of us out here did not have the means. We found a way - learned along that way that nobody is going to take care of you but you.
2
Are there Bernie Broads as well?
6
Bernie sanders is a remora that has sucked off the Democratic Party for too long. And his bro followers are nothing more than MAGAs .
2
Sometimes Republicans, including Mr. Stephens, exaggerate the influence of some tiny and not especially influential fringe group within the Democratic Party, like the boy who cried wolf. This time however there are wolves. The Bernie Bros, at least within Sanders' campaign, are a major force, and every bit as nasty as
Stephens describes them to be. If Sanders is the Democratic nominee I will vote for him and support him in other ways because he would not be as bad as re-electing Trump.
5
Well, I'll take this article as I do all Bret's articles in regard to Bernie or Elizabeth - with a shaker full of salt. He is looking for a Democrat he can vote for when he isn't a Democrat, so he has an uphill battle.
That said, I certainly do not discount Barbara Boxer's account of her experience and I do recall other incidents of crowds of angry Bernie supporters in 2016. Overall, I believe they were angry at the process, but I'm not here to defend them, it's counter productive behavior.
In regards to the online 'Bernie Bros' all I can say is: they can't offend you if you aren't there! Get off Twitter and Facebook and everything else. Get your news and info from reliable civilized sources. I am a 55 yo white female who has NEVER signed on to any of these platforms and as a result these people simply do not exist in my world. I had 2 phone bank days for Bernie in 2016 and I was the youngest person in my own home. At the Maine caucuses I stood in line THE ENTIRE DAY to get inside to caucus and was next to a Hillary supporter about my age, and two young guys there to support Bernie, and we all had a fine time the entire time chatting about all things political and not.
We should marginalize these people when we encounter them, and one of the best ways to do it is to shut them out online.
4
As with Trump, Bernie can get to 30 or maybe 40% support, but that is his ceiling. Trump's advantage of course is the electoral college now leans towards electing Presidents who only need 40%. To overcome that natural GOP advantage, you need someone who can rise above that ceiling-bring in moderate Republicans ---if any still exist---independents--that is the reality of our electoral politics.
1
The chair was almost thrown at the 2016 DNC conference not because Bernie lost the nomination but because we all saw that the 'officials' had openly CHEATED.
6
I think there's a misunderstanding of Bernie's supporters out there in punditland. If this was a true cult of personality (as the Cult of Trump may well be), then why is it that when Saint Bernie himself attempted to pivot after the defeat at the hands of Clinton to being a good soldier for the party, his followers were having none of it. Go back and look at the footage of Bernie trying to rally his troops in their meeting on the first day of the 2016 convention. When he says that they must now support the nominee, work to elect Hillary, the crowd pushes back. No we won't, they tell him. That's not following your leader mindlessly. Bernie has been wrongly condemned for not doing what he could to support Hillary in the final phase of the campaign. The record shows he actually did quite a lot. The problem is rather that he doesn't control his supporters. When Barbara Boxer in this piece says "When you boo me, you're booing Bernie," she wrongly thinks that his supporters are with him because he is Bernie and thus that their allegiance is transferable, as if this is all about a personality. Bernie is only Bernie because he consistently gives voice to what his supporters want to hear. The minute he deviates from that line, he loses them. You may groan at the "our revolution" rhetoric, but the "people powered" stuff is right in one respect. Bernie is a vehicle. His followers will only stay on board if they want to go where he is leading.
7
The US is simply not an anti capitalist country. Consequently for the foreseeable future there will always be more right wing uninformed populists (currently Trump voters) than Bernie Bros and left wing radicals. The fact the later group will not (commit to) vote for anyone other than Sanders (or perhaps Warren) pretty much guarantees the 2020 outcome in swing states.
Boy, have I seen this dance before. It is the exact path followed by 1960s radicals when they didn't instantly get all their Aquarian goals met by the system, without bothering to do the hard work to get votes behind them by crafting decent, pragmatic policies. It tries to impose ideology from above and presumes to know what's good for the working class, while scorning the voices and experience of these people and alienating them. It leads to Weathermen, blowing yourself up in NYC townhouses, and ultimately to major backlash coupled with zero political change for the better. We are all in this society together, and we all have to learn to compromise with each other--or at least, with the majority of each other. At bottom, it's entitlement and self-righteousness masquerading as righteousness, and not surprisingly it's a territory by far mostly occupied by educated, middle-class white males used to getting their way, unadmittedly at the expense of others.
3
Where is the hate? Everything I see of Sanders (huge) rallies is spirited and peaceful. Actually, it is a wonderful thing to see peaceful rallies with so many people in attendance. Compare that to what you see at Trump rallies where violence is incited by the speaker and some of his followers. The typical criticism of Sanders is he is too angry. Well, I ask you, who isn't? Are you angry about what just happened in the Senate? I don't know who is the best bet to beat Trump. But what I see in articles like this one is projection--a convenient target and name for the anger within the hearts of democrats and republicans and independents etc.--The Bernie Bro.
6
I’ve seen the hate on social media. Bernie supporters are often quick to very inflammatory, accusatory commentary against other liberals. Way more derogatory than supporters of other nominees.
2
I have never met a "Bernie Bro" and wonder to what extent the on-line version is, to some degree, manufactured via trolls working to undermine Democratic unity as much as the allegations leveled towards these mythic "Bros"? The intolerance for compromise as it's been manifest in the party for decades, combined with a rational fear for the future of our nation makes justifiable (in my book) the animus described here, but with some reservations regarding how it's being portrayed. That the nickname is based more on convenient alliteration vs any accurate demographic measure, that it identifies the more extreme elements ignoring or dismissing the less extreme supporters as the likely majority who would have much more influence if Bernie were to be elected, and of course, the obvious journalistic temptation to create more of a story than is perhaps there, thereby creating a creature that likely does not exist, certainly in the lineage of Trumpettes who advocate violence and intolerance for actual peoples (of color, of non-cis gender, and anyone who cares about this country's president reflecting integrity of any kind). Again, Bret takes the lazy journalistic route to attract attention vs having an important issue to discuss. Cheers for compromising yourself yet again Stephens...becoming your M.O. I'm afraid.
7
A notably undistinguished legislator rises to prominence on the backs of a nasty mob, making promises that are impossible to fulfill. Where have we seen that before?
2
I've been a Bernie supporter for four years. Still haven't met a Bernie Bro. But since the Times is wedded to this mythical figure, why not put a positive spin on him? Tonight Bill Maher said that he's considering voting for Bernie because, like Trump, he has an army. On this terrifying day when we see how low Republicans are willing to sink, we need to nominate a candidate with a passionate following. When the election results come in and Trump refuses to leave the White House, we'll need an army of our own to oust him.
6
Bret, the fact that you are the one writing this column is interesting. You have a well-documented history of vindictiveness.
This is a last gasp effort of the main stream media to come up with something to stop Bernie’s late momentum going in to Iowa. It’s not going to work. People understand that Medicare for All really is life or death for many in this country.
6
Yes, there is a small "subset" of Senator Sanders' supporters that are filled with hate. As there is for any passionate candidate that seeks structural change. FDR supporters had their share of haters as well. But there is not near as much hate as Trump inspires. We vote for the candidate, not a small "subset" of his supporters. Despite how the media, moderates or the far right treat Bernie---he is not hateful, just as FDR was not hateful. That seems to be Joe Biden---he wants to pick physical fights with people at his own rallies.
4
The only way this will end is if Bernie drops out. And soon. He has no shot against Trump. Neither does Warren, though I like them both. Amy, too. Either Biden or Bloomberg will win.
1
Yeah, their supporters are identical. Sander’s supporter who want healthcare, education and opportunities for everyone, and Trump supporters who want to blame the poor, divide us, deny healthcare and opportunity to the poor. Yes, There’s hardly a difference.
5
The "Bernie Bros" phenomenon is not surprising, given the large % of Sanders supporters who are young voters, including the same 18-25 year-old, male demographic most likely to crash cars, drink way too much, experiment with drugs, get into fights and generally misbehave as they are learning to become adults.
The extreme ease with which these politically engaged punks can rudely express their views to other politically engaged people is a problem, but the anonymity of the internet allows us to fight back verbally, and of course anyone who is being seriously harassed or threatened by a Bernie Bro has legal remedies.
But, the real problem is that these Bros give regressive GOP apologists like Bret Stephens (who for ideological - and perhaps economic - reasons are soiling their boxers at the thought of Sanders being elected by a turnout-fueled, Senate-flipping DEM landslide) an excuse to attack Sanders.
Sanders makes Wall Street and the corporate media nervous, because he threatens the economic interests of the ultra rich and casts doubt on the false-ish reality reported daily even by reputable, slightly-left-of-center dailies like the NYT and WP.
Now that Bernie has a lead in some polls and even Krugman says there is no reason to fear a Sanders presidency, all the folks who dream Sanders, but are afraid to question the predominant media story line about "electability", are taking a second look.
Bret, would Bernie really be worse than Trump?
2
I have not met or encountered any Bernie Bros. In fact, during the last democratic primary, I was attacked by Hillary supporters in a disrespectful and angry manner. From my perspective, this talk of Bernie Bros is a straight up, made up smear campaign and like this article, light on evidence. I am a 59 year old woman, middle class by birth and current occupation, but I have worked a lot of working class jobs and do not have money in the bank. This country is being literally destroyed -- the democratic fabric and the earth, air and water - by this administration and the Corporate democrats (Obama) who came before. We need the deep change that Bernie offers. If some of his supporters are rude - IDK, I've never seen it -- perhaps they are angry and afraid. With good reason.
7
I keep reading about these rabid "Bernie Bros" but every Sanders supporter I've encountered has exhibited none of these behaviors. The author makes passing references to unspecified online trolling, as if absent these and MAGA trolls the internet would be Disneyland.
To find a specific example of unruly behavior by Sanders supporters, the author has to go all the way back to the 2016 Democratic convention when the party, in its infinite wisdom and a stacked deck, nominated a candidate who will likely go down as the worst politician in modern American history, and lost an election to someone who will likely go down as the most corrupt. And what did this mob do? Boo. It must have felt like the french revolution.
What's all the more likely is a concerted effort by establishment democrats to tar Sanders with sexism via label hurling and guilt by association tactics so as to discourage people from voting for him in the primary. Good luck in the general election with that.
I hope that people see through this charade, look at the candidates policy positions, and their records, and vote their interests.
6
The elite, surprise, surprise, just can’t understand the anger of the masses.
7
Mr. Stephens is spot on on his view of a large segment of the Sanders supporters. You can see it right here in the NYT comment section when anyone not on board with full born socialism is dismissed as a "corporatist " (non socialist Democrats) or straight up enemy of the people (Republicans). To the hard left wing segment who support Sanders (and to a lesser degree Warren) there is NO difference between Bill Clinton, Barack Obama or Donald Trump. They are all considered "corporatist" sell outs since they didn't facilitate a massive socialist style wealth transfer. Its time that for the moderate and conservative majority of the Democratic party to wake up to the fact that not EVERYONE in he political areana is better than our current morally inept President. Consider me the first to proclaim the NEVER SANDERS movement within the Democratic party.
I voted for Sanders in the primary. But in the intervening years, and on my own, I started calling ardent Bernie supporters, not "Bernie Bros" (wasn wasn't aware of the term till just now), but "just like Trump supporters, with the politics, and the hats, flipped ". Because this was what I was witnessing online, and occasionally IRL.
I think that those of you who support Bernie and are here insisting that "it isnt so", that it's "not you", that it's "not fair", and is "just another example of how 'the man' is trying to keep poor Bernie, and his radical vision, down" had best take a long, hard look into your magical Bernie mirrors and come to terms with the fact that every dialectical has two opposing sides that, in their opposition, create "balance". While many of you may in fact be sane, rational devotees, there are a whole lot of you who are EXACTLY like Trump supporters: you see Bernie as a savior, cannot tolerate any criticism of him, believe "everybody is out to get him", especially "the evil 'mainstream', and are willing to excoriate and destroy any fellow Dem who dares to suggest anything but complete support for him (especially anyone who talks about "electability " or "voting blue no matter who". )
I will not vote for him again, because of you.
3
I don't really look at Twitter, but I have met tons of Bernie supporters & they are not angry or aggressive. I went to my first big volunteer meeting for Bernie tonight, it was a lot of really nice people who were organizing as well as attending. I wasn't really following the campaign as close in 2016, but it was one of the most diverse-looking & optimistic groups of people in one place, who seem to take fact-based reality & the state of our country very seriously, unlike Trump fans. I think these bad actors are 1% of the movement & just looking for something "different" to rally behind. Time to drop the "b" word.
6
During the first 6 months of 2016, as I traveled on business around the US, I asked people sitting next to me on planes, my taxi and limo drivers, and others I spent more than 10 minutes with, who they liked as a candidate. I kept hearing Trump. I’d ask what they liked about him and heard “he’s strong”, “he’ll shake things up”. Then I’d ask: If they couldn’t vote for Trump, who’d be their second choice, and got “Bernie”. Every time. It was uncanny. (Or so it seemed to me at the time.) I’d ask what they liked about Bernie, and get a faithful readout of all his policies — the specifics. When I asked whether they thought Trump would do any of those things, I got a shrug.
6
I’n not sure what’s gained by conflating (albeit not particularly skillfully) between Bernies’ supporters at-large or with some unclear, data-uninformed grouping of “the bad ones”. You’re even reaching for some equivalence between Bernie’s supporters and what Clinton referred to as Trump’s “deplorables”. A fair columnist would also have more reservation about writing off Bernie’s supporters’ (evidence-based) frustration as personal, entitled anger after we’ve witnessed publicly how the Party put their fingers on the scale under the guise of civility. This high, affluent style of dismissing the mass of progressives seeking substantive policy shifts (not demagogues) seems to just perpetuate more of what you’re lamenting here.
4
Sanders encourages this behavior, and I think knowingly. When he wins a contest he of course accepts the result. When he loses he declares the contest to have been unfair, rigged and fires accusations against any Democrat within earshot. He is on a path to do exactly the same thing in 2020; it was just yesterday that he declared the debates rigged.
This engenders bitterness and anger in his supporters. When they act out, as they did after Nevada, he deflects criticism and only weakly rebukes them.
More mumbo jumbo from the panicked ruling classes who will be paying for all of Bernies ideas and yes they are what large majorities of all political stripes want so they attack and try to discredit, its not going to work anymore. Trump has exposed it all and the jig is up for you.
2
Not much to like about the Bernie-bots. Just don't call them "deplorables." That backfires.
I will vote for whoever is not Trump on the Democratic ticket. That includes Bernie, any other candidate, Marvin the Martian, or the guy from StarTrek who had a lot of Tribbles and nothing much else going for him.
The Republican Senate - and we will have a Republic Senate - will have no problem restraining a Democrat even as they fail currently restraining a demagogue.
But, having said that, I don't want another populist, full of grand ideas like Bernie or full of base snake oil like Trump.
I want a practical, thoughtful, measured, careful ,and above all, patriotic person to rebuild the shambles of our government.
Bernie is better than Trump, but then again, so is almost everybody else.
1
Hard to see a path for Bernie to win as long as Warren stays in the race. Then it be 2016 redux. Hilary is right to talk about this now.
Beware, Democrats. The Republicans followed the "pied Piper" of their party and see what we got? Someone who says big things but delivers small things.
If the Democrats follow Mr. Sanders...seemingly unaware of which piper they are following...I am afraid we will get someone who says big things but can't even deliver the small things.
1
I think you’re missing the overarching point. Perhaps Tim Wu said it best in his 3/5/19 NYT op-ed “The Oppression of the Supermajority:”
“The defining political fact of our time is not polarization. It’s the inability of even large bipartisan majorities to get what they want on issues like these [referencing higher taxes for the ultrawealthy, paid maternity leave, net neutrality, stronger privacy laws, buying cheaper drugs from Canada, and allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices]. Call it the oppression of the supermajority. Ignoring what most of the country wants ... is [part of] what is making the public so angry.”
That makes sense to me. It’s as if people with the power to set the political agenda are guided by Nancy Reagan’s line for the war on drugs when dealing with the will of a supermajority of voters: Just Say No.
He also said: “It is true that policymaking requires expertise. But I don’t think members of the public are demonstrating ignorance when they claim that drug prices are too high, taxes could be fairer, privacy laws are too weak and monopolies are too coddled.”
This is a representative democracy. Let Congress and the executive branch respond appropriately to the voters and see if the mood improves.
2
You can’t beat trump at his own game. If the general election becomes two angry internet armies battling it out, trump will win. The only thing that will defeat trump is someone who will appeal to suburban women who want their kids to be proud of the president again and their kids to grow up safe. If suburban women have to choose between trump and sanders, there’s a good chance they choose the safety of a strong trump economy over the risk of upending the economy with a “socialist.” Forget Bernie bro’s. Court women with children if you want to win, democrats.
1
Income inequality.
The many Americans living under bridges and in tents, without medical care, without affordable housing, without hope for their kids.
The many Americans living without hope, who know in their hearts that they simply don't matter since they are poor.
Just thought I would throw those few thoughts into the mix, as you usually seem to ignore the suffering and the dying in order to mock the needs, and the rights of the poor, in order to let the American dream be for the rich and the powerful.
Hugh
5
But the radicals have a point. The political system has been polarized for a generation. Health and education and infrastructure are in serious disarray. The richest nation harbors horrendous poverty affecting one quarter of its children. Unforgivable. The concentration of wealth is scandalous and counterproductive. Culture, as represented by Hollywood and Wall Street, has become self-referential, egotistical and barren. This has been going on for a generation, I repeat. Of course people become radicalized. To now stand on a chair and yell "Eeek, a mouse°" is kind of disingenuous.
2
Are we to now look forward to two hit jobs a day on Bernie Sanders from the Times? It is getting a little bit predictable. So much fear of a decent and principled man who wants universal health care, a green new deal, a living wage, and a progressive taxation system, just to name a few wild-eyed beliefs.
9
I agree with Stephens. I have witnessed first-hand in my own extended family the cultish loyalty that seems to permeate much of the Sanders camp. My relatives who support Bernie seem to ignore the present political situation and continue to perseverate on what they think the DNC did in 2016 to diminish Bernie's chances at getting the nomination. They continue to spew vitriol at Hilary as if she were running again. I think it's time for Sanders to take away the Kool-Aid many of his loyalists are drinking by stressing to them how important it is for them to vote for whichever Democrat wins the nomination. He has publicly said that, but he needs to continue to say that. It would help his credibility with the rest of us in case he does win the nomination.
2
I completely agree with Mr. Stephens, and while this profile most assuredly does not belong to all Sanders supporters, it's also not just the "bros". Presumably Mr. Stephens submitted this column before the video emerged of a Sanders rally last night in Iowa in which his surrogates Rashida Tlaib, Pramila Jayapal, and Ilhan Omar led the crowd in booing Hillary Clinton. Given that 65 million Americans voted for Clinton less than 4 years ago and wish that she was currently the president, this is not the way to unite the party in opposition to President Trump. It's beginning to feel more and more like a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party in which people who support our most recent nominee for president may no longer feel welcome.
3
I went to a big Bernie rally in San Francisco last summer. You couldn’t have asked for a more civil, well-behaved or diverse crowd of politically engaged folks. Among my immediate circle of friends, the biggest Bernie supporters are the most mild-mannered and courteous of the group. Bernie people are good people.
6
Of course there are angry people in both parties.
There are some differences,
In the picture those angry people seem to be young people. We have some of those in office. Those Muslim women and AOC. Young people are often immature. Just wait until they become old and more conservative.
Trump's base is older. Trump is not only guilty of rabble rousing his base, he also believes in what the base believes in. He is an angry, narcissistic old man who wants only what is best for Trump. He uses his base.
Bernie on the on the other had may be encouraging his base, but it isn't for Bernie it is for the people and he has always thought this.
And the Bernie brothers had something to be angry at. It was clear that the Democratic elite did not even give Bernie or his base a consideration. It was all about Hillary and the first female president from the beginning. In fact, it was given to her at the time she conceded to Obama.
1
Mr. Stephens repeatedly confuses his indignation for reason. In the face of mounting evidence to suggest that Sanders enjoys broad backing from a wide constituency, the only angry 'Bro i keep encountering is Bret Stephens (and frankly, this newspaper), as he engages in spectacular acts of projection in order to disqualify an honorable and viable candidate. Polling, endorsements, etc., just don't seem to matter to him. Regardless of the evidence that Sanders actually is building a better coalition that includes young people, LatinX voters, African Americans, and yes, swing state democrats, there is an insistence that Sanders can't win, simply because establishment democrats and disenfranchised Republican allies say so. The only angry people surrounding Sanders are the ones propagating a fictional anger among those of us who are actually happy to see our values reflected --for once-- in his candidacy.
5
When you read the comments of supporters of Bernie it is similar to those who support Trump. They gloss over his heart attack and age. Many people will question whether he can be fit physically to be president. His old leftists views are outdated. He and Warren make proposals without any realistic ways to pay for them. They claim the rich will pay for their programs. Nations that have universal health care have high taxes to pay for it. Americans are opposed to higher taxes. I support health care for all. Support the Affordable Care Law. A Sanders campaign would be a gift to Trump. Senators can proposed laws and have the staff to do their legwork, They are not administrators. The Senate reminds one of a geriatric ward. Could they function in other careers at their advanced age? The Democrats need a viable candidate and a good agenda to defeat Trump.
I suppose technically I was a Bernie Bro in 2016 and even though I don't support him (as much -- I plan to Caucus on Monday for Senator Klobuchar) this time around, I can sympathize.
I mean, while Democrats should be focusing on getting rid of Trump no matter who the nominee is, out there is Hillary Clinton telling a Trust Fund baby who donated 26 million dollars to her 2016 that it is Bernie didn't work hard enough for her last election.
Considering that Hillary seems to have held onto every grudge for 4 years and is sabotaging/undermining the primaries because of hurt feelings and bitterness... well while it's understandable, it is also not Presidential. Furthermore her behavior only justifies the simmering anger and contempt at the the rigged and rotten DNC system which were the catalysts for the "Bernie Bro" phenomena.
I don't think Sanders can win this election. I don't think Biden can either. I'm not sure who can beat Trump. But my views don't matter. Whomever is nominated, be it Bernie, or Biden, or even (Ugggh) Tom Steyer, I plan to work, donate, volunteer, and put aside any acrimony so that we can pull American Democracy back from the brink.
I know so many decent, quality people who support Bernie. I know 0 supporters who I would classify as "Bernie Bros." The reason for the animosity towards the Democratic establishment and some parts of the media is because they actively worked to discredit and undermine Bernie in 2016, and continue to do so now.
8
Bret Stephens depicts Sanders supporters as little more than cult members, who bestow "adulation," on Sanders, treat him as a "savior," and give him "uncritical and uncompromising support."
Given the circles in which he travels, it is quite possible that Bret Stephens does not actually know any Sanders supporters. Sanders is not without his faults as a politician and a candidate. But compared to the mealy-mouthed politicians who fill Congress, Sanders is admirably clear and consistent in his progressive views.
4
For me, this column could have emphasized more strongly the huge and stark differences (moral, ethical, etc.) between the two principals being held as such "objects of fulfillment" by the Bernie Bros and the Trumpers. But there is a lot of truth in this piece. The described Bernie Bros mentality is evident in the comments to this piece, in those in the piece today about Biden (Is or Is he not good enough?) and every day, in the NYT comments submitted, for tomorrow and tomorrow and...
It's brought back to me the media coverage
from the 2016 convention of the reactions by the hardcore Bernie supporters, when he didn't get the nomination. At least what made it "on air, was incredibly infantile, in the face of defeating or not defeating Trump and his many deplorables in our government.
We, our nation, can hardly survive another case of that.
1
For some reason, centrist Democrats feel the need to smear Bernie Sanders in any way they can. The party as a whole made a mistake in nominating Hillary Clinton (whom I did vote for) as our candidate in 2016. Bernie's appeal lies in the fact that he rightly identifies and addresses the great social and economic inequalities of our time. Hillary saw the 2016 election as a fundraising challenge, in the misbelief that having the biggest war chest is the safest route to victory. Bernie (who happens to be a terrific fundraiser) views politics as a battle of ideas and ideals. While he was promoting his platform to crowds of up to 20,000 or more, Hilary was having quiet fundraising teas and cocktail parties with selected elite 'limousine' democrats. Her lackluster campaign resulted in Trump's victory. To beat Trump in 2020, we need a fired-up street fighter, someone who recognizes the issues of the day, can clearly articulate solutions, and has a proven track record of appealing to a wide and diverse electorate. Bernie fits that bill. And, yes, "Bernie Bros" (whatever that means) may seem angry at times; but if you don't understand why you're living on some other planet, Bret. Here's a little secret about politics: Angry People Vote! If you don't think that's true, just ask the British.
4
Bernie's followers should not resort to violence, of course. But I have not heard of Bernie encouraging his followers to resort to violence.
On the other hand, the Trump crowd's attacks on non-believers and reporters are often encouraged by the man himself. That's a big difference.
After Rep. Greg Gianforte’s 2017 attack on a reporter, Trump said, “any guy who can do a body slam, he is my type!”
In early 2019, after a BBC cameraman was pushed around at a Trump rally, the President of the White House Correspondents' association, felt the need to issue a statement condemning, "the physical attack on our colleague at the president’s rally in El Paso, Texas. We are relieved that, this time, no one was seriously hurt. The president of the United States should make absolutely clear to his supporters that violence against reporters is unacceptable."
Imagine that. The POTUS, who appoints the chief law enforcement officer of the land, has to be told that violence is not acceptable.
But Bernie is the problem.
3
Hello --
A former GE manager once told me: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite over-reaction". Call this Newton's 4th Law of Politics, or the Corporate version of Newton's Third Law. This is the story of the Bernie Bros.
We can apply this law today. As a reaction to Trump and his Republican enablers, we will see a more radical Democratic Party emerge. If the Dems win in 2020, this will be modulated. If the Dems lose to Trump, expect extreme radicalization (because the moderates will be discredited) and the emergence of a Democratic Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez. The 2024 election will then resemble an election in Latin America - extreme right vs. extreme left. Neither side will have much respect for democracy.
Hope you like watching 4 hour speeches on TV in 2025....
The picture at the top of the column and the sensational example of Barbara Boxer are resurrected from 2016. Sure, looks pretty terrible, but might that emotion — particularly right after HC’s victory in the primaries — have been due in large measure to the way Sanders was treated by the DNC and media in 2016? How about recent examples?
As for Sirota, I read the Atlantic article, and the examples of Twitter ‘excesses’ are hard-hitting to be sure, but politics ain’t bean-bag. Much of it points to opponents’ legislative records. Fair game, as far as I can see.
Given Bret’s persuasions, it’s pretty clear that this kind of column is motivated by Sanders’ recent surge in the polls. If Warren had been the one surging, we’d have seen a comparable hit job on her. Not Warren Sisters, but some other negative slur that is aimed at taking the candidate down, to be replaced by a centrist more to a Republican’s liking.
2
What about you, Mr. Stephens?
After today’s decision by the Republican senators, do you still intend to sit out the election if either Senator Stephens (by the way, I, too, am scared stiff of overenthusiastic fandom) OR Senator Warren is the nominee?
Don’t you think that there is a difference between economic and social policies and the very rules of the game, that wonderful checks-and-balances contraption that has been the envy and the model of the modern world for the past two centuries?
1
I often disagree with Bret but he has this exactly right. And I am sure this column will enrage the Bernie true believers.
1
I largely agree with the author here. I voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary and still like him and his positions, but his followers have turned me off. As I've posted in comments here before, I have friends who are hardcore Sanders supporters who condemn anyone who even is slightly critical as a neoliberal, corporate stooge. They have a dogmatic fealty to him and will not engage in bad faith debate or accept any compromise. Now, this is not to say that all Sanders supporters are like that or that all Sanders supporters are younger, white men, but I have encountered "Bernie Bros" out in the wild; they're not just a media fantasy.
That's why I prefer Warren this time around--pretty much the same policy positions without the cultish followers.
2
Even if there were 510,000 Bernie Bros ( which there aren’t) shouting and screaming down the voices of others, their impact is one billionth that of 51 Senators who silence others by saying nothing at all.
4
Have to agree on this one. Would trade Trump for Bernie any day, and will vote for Bernie if he is the nominee. But I find angry behavior off-putting, whether its Trump supporters or Bernie supporters. My hope is that Bernie crushes it quickly and permanently if elected. Counting on that, Bernie!
1
The Democrats are really in a conundrum. With Sanders surging even though anyone that follows politics knows that were he to get the nomination a republican landslide would ensue. And now, the DNC is allowing Michael Bloomberg to buy his way onto the stage. So now we will have two billionaires, and Elizabeth Warren is correctly furious. The DNC just like in 2016 will do anything and everything to make sure Sanders is not the nominee. The convention in Milwaukee this summer will be a must watch TV
1
To equate Bernie supporters to trump supporters is totally wrong. Bernie supporters aren't as uninformed as Trump's. His supporters are passionate about his policies that they believe will make people's lives better. They are also better informed. Trump's supporters like him because he puts other people down and he makes them feel better about their own prejudices.
2
As predicted...
The better Sanders looks in the polls -- and the stronger his chances of actually wining the nomination -- the more we see the mainstream corporate media ramping up their attacks, drawing absurd comparisons with no evidence, and perpetuating thoroughly discredited and misleading rumors, such as that of the Bernie Bros. This, despite the fact that Bernie’s donor and volunteer bases are the largest, youngest, and most diverse of any of the candidates, and that he polls better among women under 40 than any of the others candidates
Moreover, the notion that repeating the same mistakes they've been making since 1984, that going with the "safe" establishment candidate (e.g., Biden) will magically become the winning strategy for the Dems -- how's John Kerry working out for you? or Michael Dukakis? or Hillary Clinton? -- is belied by the facts, by history, and by common sense.
Sadly, as became painfully clear in 2016, the neoliberal Democratic establishment and its corporate overlords would seem to prefer losing to Trump over giving a self-described democratic-socialist the keys the to the White House.
So we need to be clear: what's really motivating the Stop Bernie movement is not fear that he _can't_ win, it's fear that he _will_ win.
5
This week there was an anti-Sanders ad whose biggest result was getting Sanders more than $1.3 million in contributions. What columnists like this one does not realize (and I voted for Clinton over Sanders in the 2016 primary, and will probably vote for another candidate this year) is that anti-Bernie screeds -- and this is about the fifth one he's published -- from conservative columnists (Bret Stephens is an economic conservative, a foreign policy hawk, a climate change skeptic, admiring of Republican judges) are counterproductive.
I've said I have never been a Sanders supporter, but every time I read one of these columns or see an anti-Bernie ad, it makes me think: If these people are so afraid of Bernie Sanders, maybe I should be for him.
If anyone can get me to vote for Bernie Sanders, it's Bret Stephens. (Even their initials are the same!)
2
It seems to me - and I say this as a neutral observer - that the most rabid Sanders supporters (I've had experience with a few) could not bring themselves see the following 2016 tautology as equivalent:
-- If Bernie doesn't get the nomination, Hillary Clinton will be the nominee.
-- If Hillary's the nominee and I don't support her, Donald Trump might get elected.
Look where that led - it is a near mathematical certainty that if Bernie supporters hadn't stayed home or defected to third-party candidates in 2016, Trump would not have been elected.
That also means Hillary would have been elected, but too many Bernie supporters apparently could not see that that outcome, at that point, was the only alternative to the other outcome - why that is so is still a mystery to me.
So Bernie backers elected Trump - just as Nader backers elected Bush 2 and sunk Al Gore in 2000. That is not taking sides; it's just a statement of political fact. If only a sliver of Nader voters in a tiny state - New Hampshire - had voted for Gore, the whole Florida fiasco would have been irrelevant and things they later abhorred in the Bush Administration (the Iraq war, two Supreme Court justices) would not have happened.
Will they make that mistake again and harm the eventual Democratic nominee, if it isn't their man?
At a certain point in every race, politics becomes a zero sum game. You get A or B.
1
Give me a break. I hear more online on line sneering from the “anyone but Bernie” crowd than Bernie’s supporters. Y’all are the ones being divisive. I guarantee once he sweeps Iowa and NH the establishment Democrats will drop any remaining g veneer of civility towards their own base in an effort to “save” their general election chances. And you wonder why people end up staying home in the November.
4
What feels quite ingenuous about the discussion of Bernie Bros, about which there are a disproportionate number of op-eds published, is that it seems to be entirely unsubstantiated and journalistic attempts to unpack the supposed phenomenon are largely superficial.
With the exception of perhaps the lower tier candidates, who have no base and for whom there is no fervent support, there appears to be consistent clashing between candidates' supporters - the difference is that many of the moderates and conservatives peddling these stories are choosing to dismiss and condescend to Bernie and his supporters. Perhaps the reason you find such parallels from these supporters and those of Trump is that ultimately human beings do not appreciate condescension and react poorly to it.
Furthermore, it would be helpful to distinguish what exactly is the qualifier for a "Bernie Bro"? Someone who boos an establishment member of congress? These editorials and articles are often written without a clear indication as to what makes the Bernie supporters' behavior so much worse than that of other candidates. This op-ed in particular fails to shed any new light or encourage any interesting conversation - I guess it is a Friday night, great for recycled ideas from 2016.
The story is trite and boring. Please grow up, find something new to talk about, and as your parents always said: ignore \bullies (you can turn off the notifications for your Twitter replies, people).
1
This is exactly the Democratic Party that Democrats want. Alexander Hamilton warned about this phenomenon because he had grave reservations about the intelligence and temperament of the citizenry, whom he referred to as "bi-peds of the forest." Groups of concerned individuals are more likely to form a mob or rabble than a convention. This tendency was kept in check for many years by a top-down nominating process commonly referred to as "the smoking room." Now that the mob has been empowered by the right to choose their own nominee, rather than have that person chosen for them, and they are able to feed their worst instincts instantaneously and constantly through the online echo chamber, the brew perpetually boils, there is no opportunity for it to settle into a reasonable simmer. It's going to be a bumpy ride, and it also looks like enough people don't really want democracy to endanger our accepted Constitutional processes.
1
There is some truth to this article, but knowing that most Bernie supporters are not like this, I often wonder how many of these "Bernie Bros" are actually Trump supporters just stirring up trouble. Dividing the anti-Trump vote is probably the only way Trump wins and remember that Republicans stop at nothing to win