It’s so clear that is what is going on here.
There is a concerted effort to make “Bernie Supporter” a pejorative and to create a group identity that any Liberal/Progressive/Democrat would start to hesitate to be identified with because Bernie supporters are (according to the trope): white, male, racist, sexist, misogynist, angry, prone to violence, etc. etc.
This is a new angle — don’t attack the leader of a movement or their issues, but characterize and stigmatize the followers or rank and file as characters that you wouldn’t want to be associated with. We’ve seen this from the very earliest days in a more benign form- Bernie “appealed” to white male voters — the racism, sexism and misogyny were just hinted at, but the subliminal messaging is clear.
But now it’s all in the open, no holds barred with pleas and/or demands from Democrats for Bernie to bring all his violent, liberal, supporters to heel. This is just beyond the pale and the Democrats have pushed a very dangerous envelope.
It’s one thing for liberal progressive Democrats to be disappointed and/or disillusioned. We’re used to that. It’s an entirely different thing to be DISGUSTED to your core by the collective actions of your current and very possibly former party. The Democrats and the DNC and all the people going down this very wrong-headed path of stigmatizing Bernie voters are doing the most effective things they could possibly do if they want to permanently alienate a LARGE portion of the Democratic Party who will very possibly sit out the election, or write-in a vote or vote a protest Third Party vote for the Greens. And the person to blame will not be Bernie Sanders. It will be all TPTB within the Party who will have finally achieved their greatest dream:
Drive out all those annoying liberal, bleeding heart, working class, poor, FDR Democrats once and for all.
