Jason Johnson, who contributes to MSNBC and The Root, has spent the majority of the 2020 election cycle going to war with Bernie Sanders supporters on Twitter. Johnson is repeatedly negative towards Sanders and his presidential aspirations, garnering obvious pushback from Sanders' supporters.
Following this, David Doel, host of progressive Youtube show The Rational National, recently produced a video of Johnson's comments about Sanders in early 2019 and the beginning of 2020.
The video begins with Johnson's remarks about Sanders while on Morning Joe on the 2nd of January 2020, in which Johnson stated that he believed that Sanders supporters were not supporting him for policy reasons, just that his supporters saw him as some kind of Democratic saviour, also claiming that his supporters couldn't be convinced with policy arguments as all of Sanders' supporters are just "Bernie or bust type people".
Now, I could tell you from personal experience that this is not the case. Sanders supporters are exclusively policy based, so much so in fact that many other media talking heads have accused Sanders and his supporters of using his policies as 'purity tests', claiming that they would have to settle for a candidate who isn't 'pure' and who may not have the same policy ideals as Sanders. So which is it? Are his supporters not interested in policy at all or are they using the policies they believe in as a ransom, not voting for anyone who doesn't pass the supposed purity tests?
The second half of the video shows both Johnson and MSNBC host Chuck Todd, another Sanders detractor, commenting on Sanders and his 2020 chances on January 10th, 2019. Host Chuck Todd said that because of the fact Elizabeth Warren, his closest ideological rival, was entering the race that Sanders would find it tough to win because Warren would take progressive voters from him, but also gain votes from those who would like to see a female president in 2020. Todd also claimed that Sanders and his supporters are under fire for being 'anti-woman'.
In response Johnson said that Bernie Sanders chances were effectively over, suggesting "he's done". Johnson then went on to tell us the future, that he sees Bernie launching his campaign and by August, Sanders wouldn't even be in the top five in Iowa polling and would subsequently drop out of the race. Iowa is the first state to vote in primary elections.
Well, what has happened in Iowa? Has Bernie Sanders dropped out? Is he fifth in Iowa polling? Not quite. In fact, the exact opposite has happened, Sanders is still in the race. He isn't fifth in the polls. Instead, Sanders looks on course to win three of the first four early states and mainstream pundits are starting to treat him as though he has a serious chance of winning the Democratic nomination.
Following this, David Doel, host of progressive Youtube show The Rational National, recently produced a video of Johnson's comments about Sanders in early 2019 and the beginning of 2020.
The video begins with Johnson's remarks about Sanders while on Morning Joe on the 2nd of January 2020, in which Johnson stated that he believed that Sanders supporters were not supporting him for policy reasons, just that his supporters saw him as some kind of Democratic saviour, also claiming that his supporters couldn't be convinced with policy arguments as all of Sanders' supporters are just "Bernie or bust type people".
Now, I could tell you from personal experience that this is not the case. Sanders supporters are exclusively policy based, so much so in fact that many other media talking heads have accused Sanders and his supporters of using his policies as 'purity tests', claiming that they would have to settle for a candidate who isn't 'pure' and who may not have the same policy ideals as Sanders. So which is it? Are his supporters not interested in policy at all or are they using the policies they believe in as a ransom, not voting for anyone who doesn't pass the supposed purity tests?
The second half of the video shows both Johnson and MSNBC host Chuck Todd, another Sanders detractor, commenting on Sanders and his 2020 chances on January 10th, 2019. Host Chuck Todd said that because of the fact Elizabeth Warren, his closest ideological rival, was entering the race that Sanders would find it tough to win because Warren would take progressive voters from him, but also gain votes from those who would like to see a female president in 2020. Todd also claimed that Sanders and his supporters are under fire for being 'anti-woman'.
In response Johnson said that Bernie Sanders chances were effectively over, suggesting "he's done". Johnson then went on to tell us the future, that he sees Bernie launching his campaign and by August, Sanders wouldn't even be in the top five in Iowa polling and would subsequently drop out of the race. Iowa is the first state to vote in primary elections.
January 2020: 'I never thought Bernie was going away'— David Doel (@daviddoel) January 2, 2020
January 2019: 'I think Bernie is out by August 2019'
Never let these pundits forget how dishonest they've been this entire time. pic.twitter.com/kYpjIUuLs8
Well, what has happened in Iowa? Has Bernie Sanders dropped out? Is he fifth in Iowa polling? Not quite. In fact, the exact opposite has happened, Sanders is still in the race. He isn't fifth in the polls. Instead, Sanders looks on course to win three of the first four early states and mainstream pundits are starting to treat him as though he has a serious chance of winning the Democratic nomination.
- Sanders is FIRST in Iowa (21.3%), Pete Buttigieg is second (21.0%) and Joe Biden lags behind in third (17.7%)
- Sanders is FIRST in New Hampshire (21.5%) followed by Biden (18.8%) and Buttigieg (18.3%)
- Joe Biden has a large lead in South Carolina (32%) compared to Sanders' (15%)
- Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders both have positive polls in Nevada, with some having Biden in the lead and others have Sanders winning.
This is just one example of pundits being completely wrong about Sanders. Elizabeth Warren was expected to eat into a chunk of Sanders' support, as was claimed by Chuck Todd in the video above and Warren has now begun to lag behind in the polls, trailing Sanders by 5.5%. Beto O'Rourke outraised Sanders in the first quarter of 2019, which led to Washington Post opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin claiming Sanders now faces "stiff competition for the youth vote" and now we know that O'Rourke has dropped out of the race. As Doel mentions in the video above: never let these pundits forget how dishonest they've been this entire time.
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