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Joe Biden Freaks Out Over Bernie Sanders Supporters Threatening Nevada Workers: ‘Find Out Who The Hell They Are!’

Former Vice President Joe Biden is not happy that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) supporters have been attacking members of one of Nevada’s bi...

Former Vice President Joe Biden is not happy that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) supporters have been attacking members of one of Nevada’s biggest unions, the Nevada Culinary Union, over that union’s decision to forgo endorsing a Democratic candidate — and Biden wants the Sanders supporters named and shamed.
Fox News reports that Biden said Sanders has “accountability” for the way his supporters treat voters on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning, adding that he would “disown” any of his supporters who threatened fellow Democrats.
“He may not be responsible for it, but he has some accountability,” Biden told the Sunday morning news program. “You know me well enough to know if any of my supporters did that, I’d disown them. Flat disown them. The stuff that was said online. The way they threatened these two women who are leaders in that Culinary union. It is outrageous.”
Biden went even further, though, encouraging Sanders to hunt out his errant supporters and ensure none of them are involved in his campaign — a difficult task for a grassroots presidential operation with arms in many states and perhaps thousands of volunteers. Sanders has not taken his response that far, saying in statements only that he abhors “harassment in all forms” and encouraging “supporters of all campaigns not to engage in bullying or ugly personal attacks.”
“And to say I disassociate is one thing. Find out who the hell they are, if any of them work for me, fire them. Find out, see what’s going on,” Biden added.
The dustup started last week when Nevada’s Culinary Union, which might typically endorse a pro-worker’s rights candidate like Sanders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, instead declined to issue an endorsement in the all-important Nevada caucuses, which take place next weekend.
The group then released a flier to its membership — some 60,000 hotel and casino workers, many of them minorities — deriding Sanders, in both English and Spanish, for looking to “end culinary health care” with his Medicare for All Plan, which would supercede benefits the union had worked hard to get for its members. The document added that “presidential candidates suggesting forcing millions of hardworking people to give up their health care creates unnecessary division between workers, and will give us four more years of Trump” — clearly a jab at Sanders.
In response, the so-called “Bernie Bros” — Sanders’ volunteer army of supporters on social media — targeted officers of the Culinary Union directly, burying them under an avalanche of profane, often racist and sexist hate mail, per the Nevada Independent. They received “dozens of phone calls, more than 300 emails and thousands of tweets” in the two days following their decision.
“In tweets, the union and its leadership have been referred to as ‘bitches,’ ‘whore,’ ‘fucking scab’ and ‘evil, entitled assholes,'” among other things, according to the state-based outlet.
“This is your chance to fix your mistake before the millions and millions of Bernie Sanders supporters will find you and end your ability to earn a living,” one email, sent to a Culinary Union official read. “We will find you corrupt mother fuckers of that you can be sure and we will make sure you wallow in poverty and suffering. Apologize and fix your mistake or else you will pay … I know tens of thousands of Bernie supporters and we will come after you fascist imbeciles. #Bernie2020 #NotMeUs.”
Sanders supporters saw the Union’s decision as an underhanded effort to kneecap the Vermont socialist in the Nevada caucuses, and they are likely right. The Culinary Union has close ties to powerful former Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who remains a power player in the state, weilding the votes of casino workers to help more establishment Democrats like Joe Biden, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
The Culinary Union works hard to get its 60,000 members to the caucuses — and they can do a lot of damage. In 2016, for example, the “Harry Reid-Culinary Union machine” mobilized tens of thousands of caucus-goers in Nevada to vote for Hillary Clinton, who was in trouble after losing first the Iowa popular vote and then the New Hampshire primary to Sanders. Reid’s efforts created a “firewall” for Clinton, stopping Sanders’ rise dead in its tracks.
“The week before the caucuses, Reid called D. Taylor, head of Culinary’s parent union, to make sure members (generally thought to be pro-Clinton) would be encouraged to turn out. Reid also spoke with the heads of several Strip resorts to push for workers to be allowed time off to caucus,” the Sun reported back in 2016. “The Culinary Union had planned to message its workers about the caucuses, but Reid’s call to Taylor served as a ‘reconfirmation,’ said Yvanna Cancela, the union’s political director.”
Cancela went on to use the Culinary Union’s power for herself. She’s now a state senator and has endorsed — to perhaps no one’s surprise — former Vice President Joe Biden.