The View host Meghan McCain pressed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about abusive comments made by some of Bernie Sanders’s followers.
“I want to talk about the ‘Bernie Bros,'” McCain said Wednesday during the Sanders surrogate’s appearance on the show. “The one thing that connects women on the Left and the women on the Right … is the abuse that we have all been subjected to by Bernie Bros. It is, by far, of anything I’ve ever done in my entire life, the most violent, the most misogynistic, the most sexist, the most harmful.”
The New York Democrat responded to McCain’s comment by noting that sexism and racism are a problem with internet culture and distanced the candidate from these anonymous social media users.
“We also know the amount of anonymous activity that happens on the internet,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And that’s simply — it’s difficult. It is difficult to control. You have, like, a Twitter handle with a bunch of numbers on it with two followers that are lobbing vitriol at you. We don’t know where that comes from, but I know it doesn’t come from the campaign.”
“He’s got to do more,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said about the conduct of online bullies who support Sanders. “He’s got to stand up and say it every day if he needs to.”
The View hosts have been critical in the past about Sanders’s supporters and their treatment of women. The Vermont senator has also spoken out against “vicious” behavior by his supporters as fellow presidential candidates, such as Michael Bloomberg, have criticized Sanders for their threats.
“I will condemn absolutely anybody, including my campaign or any other campaign, that makes vicious personal attacks against people,” Sanders said Tuesday. “What our people are involved in — we are a campaign which believes in compassion, which believes in justice.”
