House Minority Whip Steve Scalise responded Thursday to Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s claim that supporters of Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are not violent.
“I have never seen [Bernie Sanders] supporters being unusually mean or rude,” Ellison said Wednesday. “Can someone send me an example of a ‘Bernie Bro’ being bad.”
“I can think of an example,” Scalise responded. (RELATED: Bernie Sanders Has A Complicated History With Violent Rhetoric And Communist Regimes)
I can think of an example. https://t.co/KwuvyYgyGw
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) February 20, 2020
Scalise was shot in 2017 by left-wing activist James T. Hodgkinson during practice for a Congressional baseball game. Hodgkinson was a staunch supporter of Sanders, and a volunteer on his 2016 presidential campaign.
After news broke of Hodgkinson’s support for Sanders, the senator disavowed Hodgkinson, calling his actions “despicable,” and saying that “violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society.”
Sanders’ campaign has come under fire from other Democratic presidential candidates over the rhetoric of his online supporters, popularly known as “Bernie Bros.”
Sanders attempted to blame the rhetoric of some of his supporters on Russia during the Nevada Democratic presidential debate Wednesday night.
“Let me say something else, not being too paranoid. All of us remember 2016. And what we meant — what we remember is efforts by Russians and others to try to interfere in our election. And divide us up. I’m not saying that’s happening,” Sanders said. “But it would not shock me.”