Bernie Sanders Brought Me to Tears
...but not for the reasons I hoped for
I poured my heart and soul into volunteering for the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016. I supported him mostly because of his populist ideas, but another major plus was that he was the first Jew on the ticket of a major party. So the countless hours I spent phone banking and talking to prospective voters on his behalf felt like a special responsibility. Of course I was sad when he didn’t win the nomination then (maybe he could have even beaten Trump if he did), but I figured he would continue contributing to positive change in the Senate.
Obviously, the Israel-Hamas War is a major campaign issue in the current election season. We know Bernie’s views on Netanyahu and Trump, most of which I share myself. I wasn’t surprised to see him produce a video encouraging progressives to vote for Kamala. I was, however, shocked at the way he chose to frame that support:
This is so, so upsetting on multiple levels. Where do I even begin?
He cites the death count and destroyed infrastructure in Gaza as the result of Israel’s “war on the Palestinian people.” Like the IDF just invaded for funzies.
He spends more than half of the video going on about how much “better” Kamala will be for restoring peace in Gaza and getting the hostages back (which begs the question: why couldn’t she do any of that under her current boss?) before transitioning to the list of ways Trump is worse. Those very real issues (reproductive rights, climate change, etc.) therefore all come off as afterthoughts.
He brings up “the struggle to overcome bigotry” using the terms “sexism,” “homophobia,” “racism,” and “xenophobia.” Yet the term “antisemitism” is noticeably absent.
I am saying all of this as someone who agrees with at least half of what he’s saying in this video (mostly the parts about Trump being worse). I am saying this as someone who, at this point, also opposes the war in Gaza. I am saying this as a fellow Jew.
The “rational” part of me told myself, “if he’s doing this to help Harris win and to pull people away from that witch Jill Stein, isn’t that the principled thing to do?” But this is far more personal than that. He produced a video pandering to idiots, people who “need” Bernie to tell them a week before the actual election to go out and vote Democrat in their kaffiyehs. He did it all giving zero fucks about how other Jews who support(ed) him might receive it. Here is what I consider his worst blunder: he failed to assure his fellow Jews, who as he knows have experienced the sharpest rise of antisemitism in recent history, that everything will be ok with Harris in charge. Since I’m on the subject, I will just openly admit this now: I am not convinced.
Bernie Sanders has contributed to my political homelessness, and now I have the receipts for this claim. He just back-stabbed all of his (former) Jewish supporters like me. I am feeling the pain of it personally, and I am angry. I feel like an idiot for ever supporting him, and he should be ashamed at his massive betrayal of other Jews like me who once did.
A liberal millennial Jewish Zionist against the war in Gaza (now) but devoted 100% to the survival and security of Jews in the diaspora and Israel: is there a space for me at a table anywhere? I am starting to think that I may need to build my own. I know there are others like me out there—and if you are, you’re welcome to join me.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again: I believe that one of Hamas’s objectives on October 7th was the total destruction of the global left. Well, they have succeeded spectacularly. I will conclude with the following:
It kills me that American liberal Jews are still in denial about the nature of today's Jew Hating Democrat Party. Bernie just parroted every lie that HAMAS has provided as talking points. Beyond the sheer ARROGANCE of him deciding "what Israel has the right to do," every single bit of what he said is nonsense. All of it. A day may come when the Democrat Party does not hate Jews, but the only way to force that change is to oust Comrade Cackles from office.
Back to Comrade Sanders: Assholes like him never say WHAT Israel should be "allowed to do" in defending itself. 42,000 was too many, Bernie? How about 41,950 -was that ok? Or was it 38,754? What's THE NUMBER, Bernie?
Bernie is one more secular self-hating Jew. Go read the interview he did with Chicago magazine - he and I were both at The College of the University of Chicago - from 2016 when he was running in the primary. He had a chip on his shoulder from his undergrad days when he felt slighted by "all the rich kids" at the University. As with all Leftists, he's never grown up. He's still living in a Marxist fantasy world, although now his world contains four homes and his wife got paid handsomely for destroying a University which no longer exists because of her incompetence. Trump has PROVEN his loyalty to Israel - from moving the embassy to Jerusalem to forging the Abraham Accords and on and on.
How a single American Jew could vote for Cackles is truly a mystery to me.
Thank you, Jill, for writing about this.
I never supported Sanders' candidacy in 2016. While I agree with many of his economic proposals, I found him to be inflexible and didactic. Many of those who supported him described themselves as having "drunk the kool aid", which of course made me think of Jim Jones. And Bernie is a bit of a cult leader. His actions after Hillary became the Democratic candidate were shameful; there is still a strong Bernie cult today, and to me, he was addressing them.
I started watching Bernie's pep talk, but but stopped after "42,000". The attacks on Israel did not end after 10/7/23. To ignore that is to encourage anti-Jewish sentiment towards every American Jew that supports Israel's right to continued existence.