MSNBC Host Denounces Sanders Supporters As “Privileged White Voters” For Not Supporting Biden

We have been discussing the open hostility that Sen. Bernie Sanders has faced on MSNBC and CNN during both his runs for the presidency in 2016 and 2020. In one of the last large rallies of Sanders in Michigan (and his campaign) I spoke with Sanders supporters who were adamantly opposed to Joe Biden (here and here and here). For them, it is no accident that, once again, the only option for the general election is the most establishment figure in the race. They joined Sanders (some for their first campaign) because of his agenda and in opposition to the establishment policies that they see controlling the Democratic National Committee and Biden. Now, MSNBC host Joy Reid has denounced those Sanders’ supporters as “privileged white voters” because they refuse to support Biden.

Reid’s ire was drawn by statements by commentator Kyle Kulinski who told critics that they could “blame” him if President Trump defeats Biden in November: “As a left-winger who will not vote for Biden I want you to know I’m 100% okay with you blaming me if Trump wins a second term. I mean it. Blame me. Then get to thinking real hard how you’re gonna get me to support your candidate the next time! Maybe even ask me, I’ll tell you! We shouldn’t be defensive about this. If they’re blaming us for Trump that’s an admission that they need us to win. If they need us to win then they need to make concessions. Own it!”

Reid and others pounced. Reid declared:

“What this kind of thing says to me is that these are not ‘left-wing’ voters. They are privileged white voters who demand to be bowed down to, no different than Trump’s voters want those who are not white and Christian to take the knee for them like in the ‘good old days.’ These are voters whose primary concern is that everyone else kneel. That’s it. Kneel. Or they threaten the rest of us with the endless torment of Trumpism. Caged children. Viral death. Poverty. Want. Voter Suppression. Muslim bans. Of course none of this harms or impacts them.”

So Sanders voters who refuse to support the establishment candidate are “white privileged voters?” There are substantial differences between the candidates that turn on fundamentally different visions for this country.

Notably, this is the same type of argument for Republicans who oppose Trump to vote for him because they cannot let the Democrats win. Those Republicans have good-faith and legitimate opposition to Trump.

Many Sanders supporters that I spoke to at that rally were drawn to Sanders precisely because they wanted to break with the establishment. They saw the continued work of the DNC (and MSNBC and CNN) against Sanders in 2020. After an unrelenting and unified front against Sanders, the Democratic establishment now expects the Sanders supporters to flock to their chosen candidate. That doesn’t sound privileged; it sounds delusional.

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