Bernie’s calls to his delegates to support Clinton greeted by boos and chants to ‘keep going’
PHILADELPHIA — Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday was booed by his supporters, as he urged them to vote for Hillary Clinton in the November elections.
Hundreds of delegates representing Sanders crowded into a ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Monday, pledging to “continue the revolution,” even as the former White House hopeful urged party unity.
“We have got to defeat Donald Trump. We have got to elect Hillary Clinton,” Sanders stressed, as his delegates booed. “Trump is a bully and a demagogue. Trump has made bigotry and hatred the cornerstone of his campaign.”
If the anti-Trump message was supposed to unify the delegates, Sanders’s supporters were not entirely on board, rejecting his calls by chanting, “We want Bernie” and “keep going.”
“Trump does not respect the constitution of the United States or civil liberties,” Sanders continued. “That is not just my opinion. That is what many conservative Republicans believe. Trump is a danger for the future of our country and must be defeated. I intend to see that he is defeated.”
Some delegates encouraged official convention proceedings become the forum for additional advocacy — yelling, “Take it to the floor!”
For other delegates, however, Sanders’s point was discouraging amid a looming general election battle.
Waleed Shadid, a 25-year-old delegate representing Pennsylvania said that he felt “a shiver down my spine” when Sanders spoke about the threat posed by Trump. “What I was feeling was the possibility of electing Donald Trump, because if our delegates can’t get in line and support the Democratic nominee in service of not electing a fascist, the hateful, divisive candidate that the GOP is running, I think that it’s terrifying for our country.”
Shadid said that he “just wished that Bernie took greater leadership and made the case for why it’s important to defeat Trump and the best way of doing that in November is electing Hillary and then put her feet to the fire come January. But I don’t think he made the case at all. It was sad.”
Sanders spoke amid the ongoing scandal in which leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee revealed that party leaders were actively working against Sanders’s candidacy during the primary elections.
On Sunday, Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down over criticism of her leaked emails, as Sanders supporters argued that the incident confirmed what they had always claimed — that Democratic institutions were working against their candidate.
The crowd on Monday cheered when Sanders told them that Wasserman Schultz’s resignation “opens up the possibility of new leadership at the top of the Democratic Party that will stand for the working people and will open the doors of the party to those who want real change.”
Sanders also emphasized that his supporters had already left their mark on the party’s internal politics. “Despite the fact that our people were a minority on the platform writing committee, we came out of that committee with by far the most progressive platform ever written,” he told them. “Just the other day the Democratic Rules Committee met and once again we won a major victory in transforming the Democratic Party.”
The Vermont senator noted that as a result of Sanders supporters’ pressure, the number of superdelegates — seen by Sanders supporters to be bastions of party elites — would be reduced in the next presidential primaries from 715 to 250. He also promised that the DNC was establishing commissions to end closed primaries, which have been criticized as favoring party insiders.
Sanders thanked his delegates for “the incredible support you have provided our campaign and the political revolution over the last year,” but stressed that they must continue to build his primary challenge into a political movement.
“We have got to be strong and consistent, making it clear that what we want to achieve is nothing less than the transformation of American society,” he told them, detailing the variety of economic programs that were at the heart of his campaign.
Even before Sanders spoke, a message of party unity was far from unanimous among the Vermont senator’s most vocal supporters.
Waiting to enter the massive ballroom where Sanders was set to address his audience, supporters cheered and chanted, with cries of “no justice, no peace” intermingled with “jail the Clintons” and chants of “Bernie, Bernie.”
“It’s not just about Bernie,” said actress Rosario Dawson. She warned that “Hillary Clinton is not a leader, she’s a follower,” telling the audience that they must maintain support for Sanders’s progressive agenda in order to push Clinton to the left.
“If the promises of 100 days aren’t there, then civil disobedience will follow,” she added.
With Sanders supporters repeating chants heard at last week’s Republican convention for Clinton’s incarceration, the rally’s message seemed to be a far cry from what convention organizers hoped would be the message of the day.
Clinton campaign director Robbie Mook told reporters earlier in the day that when Sanders takes the stage Monday night at the Wells Fargo Arena, he would “talk about how we are stronger together when we join forces as a party.”
“Senator Bernie Sanders has already endorsed Hillary Clinton. He is coming to double down on that endorsement,” Mook said.
But with over one thousand delegates still “feeling the Bern,” Mook’s and Sanders’s messages of party unity seemed to be aspirational rather than reflective of the sentiment among the senator’s grassroots supporters.
As reported by The Times of Israel