In sign that the 2016 Democratic Primary never truly ended, Bernie Sanders is raising money off of comments by Hillary Clinton ally David Brock, who is trying to block Sanders from gaining the nomination.
Brock was among those who spoke to the New York Times for an article quoting members of the Democratic Party cautioning its primary voters against nominating a socialist in 2020.
In an email to supporters, the socialist Vermont senator, running for president as a Democrat, called Brock’s comments “a serious threat to our campaign” and labeled him an impediment to the campaign’s “political revolution.”
“Mr. Brock — who smeared Anita Hill and who led an effort to stop our political revolution four years ago — is almost correct. They don’t just hate Bernie Sanders. They hate everything our political revolution embodies. They hate Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, breaking up big banks, free public college for all,” Sanders said.
Sanders then proceeded to solicit donations citing Brock’s comments “as part of our emergency 48-hour fundraising drive to fight back against the ‘anti-Sanders’ campaign being hatched by the financial elite of this country.”
Brock admitted to the Times that he has been meeting with other party operatives about how to nix Sanders’ chances for the nomination.
“There’s a growing realization that Sanders could end up winning this thing, or certainly that he stays in so long that he damages the actual winner,” Brock told the Times.
Sanders’ antagonism toward Clinton and his unhappiness with the 2016 process has been a feature of his campaign.
Just last weekend, an organizer for Sanders was caught on video in an expletive-filled rant against Clinton at a rally in Warren, Mich.
“Fuck Hillary! Fuck Hillary!” Mark Craig could be heard shouting at the event. Sanders also attacked the Democratic National Committee for allowing elite Democrats to serve superdelegates, whose votes help ensure a strong establishment voice in the primary process.
“Then we said, four years ago, you know, maybe it doesn’t make a lot of sense for a small number of superdelegates at the Democratic National Convention to control the outcome,” Sanders said.
Yet other Democrats expressed concern that infighting could make the eventual nominee more vulnerable in his or her matchup against President Trump — and worried that wounds from the last Democratic presidential primary never truly healed.
“First of all, speaking to Democrats generally, I’d recommend they focus on their own messages instead of pointing their fire on one another. It’s too early to start beating up on one another,” Brad Bannon, a Democratic pollster, told the Washington Examiner. “On the other hand, if you’re a Democratic presidential candidate you’ll never miss a chance to raise money, and there’s definitely an element to people who supported Bernie in 2016 who are hostile against the Clintons and the Democratic establishment.”
Brock, a former GOP operative who switched parties in the 1990s and went on to be a close adviser to Clinton, has long been critical of Sanders. In March, Brock warned those within the party that “there are some very dyed-in-the-wool Democrats that wouldn’t at all be enthusiastic about supporting [Sanders] in a general election,” during a segment of “Hardball” on MSNBC. Those remarks also resulted in another fundraising push from the Sanders campaign.
“We saw this play out with in the GOP primary last time around, this is not a new mixtape the DJ is playing,” Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright told the Washington Examiner, referring to Republican establishment anxiety about nominating Trump in 2016. “Obviously there are some people who like Bernie who see Brock as an enemy, but these things don’t happen by chance. The Sanders campaign knows what it’s doing.”
