We won't be hearing any kumbayas at the Democratic National Convention this year. Sen. Bernie Sanders's (D-VT) fans have now gotten the short end of the stick two elections in a row, with their candidate being tossed aside for the more establishment contender. At the beginning of the 2020 campaign, the momentum was on the progressive's side. And if they are any bit as peeved as Nina Turner, Sanders's energetic former campaign co-chair, then there won't be many cheers when Joe Biden is finally nominated.
Turner spoke for many of those jilted voters when The Atlantic asked her to describe what it was going to be like voting for former vice president Joe Biden.
*graphic language*
“It’s like saying to somebody, ‘You have a bowl of shit in front of you, and all you’ve got to do is eat half of it instead of the whole thing,’" she told The Atlantic's Peter Nicholas. "It’s still shit.”
Earlier in the campaign, Turner criticized Biden for using his "proximity" to President Obama to try and suggest he was the better candidate for African-American voters. In fact she wrote a whole column about it, entitled, "While Bernie Sanders has always stood up for African Americans, Joe Biden has repeatedly let us down."
While Biden was "trying to block school integration," working with segregationists "to pass 'tough on crime' legislation that targeted black communities with punitive criminal justice policies," and publicly ridiculing Clarence Thomas accuser Anita Hill in a series of hearings, Turner claims, Sen. Sanders was organizing civil rights protests and supporting prominent black leaders.
In an interview with the Hill, Turner stated that Biden was "not in any position to advance the causes in a very deep way for the African-American community."
An inter party fight is also brewing over what the Democrats' platform will include at next month's convention. If party leaders don't include language about Medicare for All, one of Sen. Sanders's key campaign proposals, then his delegates have pledged to stage a rebellion.