'Massive exodus': Bernie backers won't back Biden

FPI / March 16, 2020

The party is almost over for the legion of Bernie Sanders supporters known as the Bernie Bros.

Many of the most ardent of the socialist presidential candidate's backers say they will bolt from the Democratic Party if Joe Biden is the nominee, which seems inevitable at this point.

“We will never – NEVER boost or support Joe Biden or defend his abysmal record and terrible policy positions,” Henry Williams, executive director of The Gravel Institute, told The New York Post. “I do expect a massive exodus from the Democratic Party.”

Williams, along with David Oks and Henry Magowan, are the driving forces behind the brief presidential campaign of Mike Gravel, an 89-year-old former Alaska senator who left the race in August. The trio then became enthusiastic Bernie Bros, the New York Post noted.

The Gravel Institute tweeted on Sunday: "Progressives don't owe the Democratic Party anything."

“I don’t know if I could vote for Biden,” a high-profile local Democratic socialist told the Post. “Biden is just an old white guy who inspires nobody. I sincerely think he will lose the electoral and popular vote and I know I won’t be voting for him in New York.”

Many Bernie Bros want their candidate to stay in the race even though his defeat is all but assured.

“I think staying in the race is the responsible thing to do,” Bhaskar Sunkara, founder and editor of the socialist magazine Jacobin told the New York Post. “He needs to challenge Biden on certain aspects of his rhetoric. He needs to accumulate clout and delegates to shape the Democratic platform and pressure the Biden campaign into adopting a more popular economic platform.”

Sunkara says he too has no plans to vote for Biden.

In 2016, about 12 percent of Sanders supporters cast their votes for GOP candidate Donald Trump after the Democratic Party establishment essentially cheated Sanders out of the nomination.

According to an analysis by the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, roughly 216,000 Bernie voters went for Trump in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump’s combined margin of victory in those states was 77,744.

The socialist wing of the Democratic Party "is not winning against the establishment," columnist Jeff Charles wrote for RedState on March 15. "It is why AOC-backed far-left congressional candidates are being defeated in the primaries. It is the reason why Biden is crushing Sanders in the primaries and the polls."

Should Biden secure the nomination, "the Marxist crowd is not going to throw in the towel," Charles wrote. "They will simply rebuild and continue building their movement. Next time, it is inevitable that they will put forth a viable contender instead of relying on a 78-year-old white guy who recently had a heart attack. If the Bernie Bros have learned anything from this election, they know that they need formidable leaders if they wish to take on the establishment. The conservative movement better be prepared to respond."

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