At the last debate, Bernie Sanders defended his supporters while also condemning anyone who exhibited the culture of bullying that many who claim to support him display online. Earlier tonight, reporter Scott Bixby of The Daily Beast reported that one of Bernie Sanders staffers was using a private Twitter account to trash the other Democratic candidates. One example is shown above.
Using the account @perma_ben, Ben Mora, a regional field director for Sanders’ campaign based in Michigan, has attacked other Democrats in the field—as well as their family members, surrogates, journalists, and politically active celebrities—in deeply personal terms, mocking their physical appearance, gender, and sexuality, among other things.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mora has tweeted, “looks like her name: pained, chunky, [and] confused origin/purpose.” Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg “is what happens when the therapist botches the conversion,” and his husband, Chasten, Mora predicts, will be “busted for running a meth racket” in 10 years. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a frequent subject of Mora’s private account, is called a “dumb Okie,” “an adult diaper fetishist” who “looks like shit” and who lied about having Native American ancestry “to get into Harvard.”
The thing is, this is a thing. This is exactly what other candidates were complaining about. It's what many of us experienced online in 2016, and it's an acknowledged problem by the Sanders campaign despite his disavowal of the attitudes and sentiments expressed by these guys.
So it was encouraging -- very encouraging -- to hear that Mora had been fired. Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story. Since Mora was fired, the reporter has been doxed and is being harassed.
The BS campaign has fired the staffer whose account was revealed in the article.
It’s a good first step, but, again, this is an entire subculture with thousands and thousands of people. These are the “bros” (some are women) we have been telling you about.https://t.co/p3WggxbWwI— Leah McElrath 🏳️🌈 (@leahmcelrath) February 25, 2020
In addition to doxxing the journalist, they are spamming his cell phone (over 4,800 messages so far, according to him).
I am now also receiving abusive tweets for doing this thread and for tweeting the journalist a note of thanks for doing the story.https://t.co/h4kOsX7Cyf— Leah McElrath 🏳️🌈 (@leahmcelrath) February 25, 2020
Here’s one of the dozens of abusive tweets I’ve received tonight.
In this case, @RobTester32 is just mimicking behavior. He’s too ignorant to use an anonymous account and doesn’t seem to realize I could reach out to the University of GA, which I’d guess has a behavioral code. pic.twitter.com/D4Okcqsutb— Leah McElrath 🏳️🌈 (@leahmcelrath) February 25, 2020
There's more, but you get the idea.
Good for Bernie for firing this guy. Mora deserved it, just for the bad judgment aspect without regard to what he was saying. It's a good beginning.
