Bernie Sanders’ staffers who aren’t on board with the socialist Vermont Senator’s shift to supporting former Vice President-turned-presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee Joe Biden have declared war on those who are, and the battle royale between factions spilled over onto social media over the weekend.
Sanders and his top advisors, Faiz Shakir and Analilia Mejia, are reportedly in the middle of inking a deal with Biden’s team which would preserve Sanders’ delegates but allow for Sanders and his allies to exert influence over the Democratic party platform, according to Politico.
But the tete-a-tete isn’t sitting well with career progressives and former hardcore Sanders’ supporters like David Sirota, who exploded in a rage at Shakir and Meija over the weekend, accusing them of throwing in with so-called Beltway insiders.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but many of us don’t want to hear career Beltway political operatives boasting about task forces while this sh*t is going on right now,” Sirota said, referring to ongoing racial unrest — a prime moment for progressives who have been working on the issue for some time. “Jfc — try to be a little less tone-deaf.”
Sanders’ current spokesman, Politico says, responded with a charge of his own: that Sirota, had absconded with confidential campaign documents.
“[D]amn right,” Mike Casca shot back, “real change happens when you steal an email list from the campaign and use it to create your own paid newsletter. why can’t anyone see that? anyway, subscribe if you can.”
It didn’t end there. Casca’s parting shot set off a wave of aggressive Tweets on the part of current Sanders allies, all defending their decision to throw in with more “moderate” Democrats like Biden in an effort to be part of a larger coalition charged with defeating President Donald Trump in November.
“I hate engaging, but this is ridiculous,” Shakir wrote on Twitter in response to charges he was selling out to Biden’s team. “Trump’s gassing protesters, but I’m the real enemy. For what? Trying with every fiber of my being to get Bernie elected but coming in 2nd. And then trying to get the 1st place finisher to move in a progressive direction and defeat Trump.”
That coalition has yielded some results for Sanders — or, at least, better results for Sanders this time around than in 2016, when his refusal to get on board with the Hillary Clinton for President campaign left progressives shut out of the platform and convention.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a key Sanders surrogate, is on Biden’s environmental policy team, and Biden is reportedly considering publicly backing her “Green New Deal.” Sanders, who may have been out of the headlines altogether by this point in the nomination process, is being tapped to help flesh out the Biden campaign’s platform on income inequality.
But the battle for Sanders continues.
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