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Is Bernie Helping Hillary Or Trump? Sanders Backers Will Decide

By Nancy Bailey
Published on: 05:41 PST, May 17, 2016

Bernie Sanders’ supporters are becoming more and more disgruntled with the way his campaign is going, which is leading to concerns about Democratic unity.

On Tuesday, CNN ran a story about Sanders backers in the “chaotic” Nevada primary. The Nevada State Democratic Party said in a statement that security was becoming an issue at the event.

The casino hosting the convention threw them out.

“At approximately 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night, the director of security for the Paris Las Vegas Hotel informed the state party and representatives from both presidential campaigns that the property could no longer provide the necessary security under conditions made unruly and unpredictable.

“Paris Las Vegas Hotel security requested a prompt conclusion to the event.”

Sanders backers reportedly booed, threw chairs and created mayhem when realizing that they didn’t have the hoped-for delegate win.

State Minority Leader Harry Reid scolded Sanders supporters for their behavior in an interview with CNN on Monday.

“I’ve been dealing with Nevada state conventions for 50 years: To say I was disappointed was an understatement.”

Reid, who is purportedly close to Sanders, but backs Clinton, said that he has not asked Sanders to leave the race.

“I hold his people accountable, and I’m sure if Bernie found out about it, he would not accept what happened there.”

Bernie’s spokesman, Michael Briggs, called on Democrats to “harness” the strong opinions incited by supporting Sanders.

“The Democratic Party would be doing itself a favor if it could find a way to embrace the millions of people who have been energized by Bernie’s campaign and want to participate in the democratic process.”

Sanders spokesman Jeff Weaver agreed on Tuesday, telling CNN that by staying in the race, Bernie is actually helping Hillary’s campaign.

With this philosophy, Sanders insists he has no intentions of dropping out, even if he has to follow Clinton all the way to the bitter end.

But this is raising concerns that Sanders will become the next Ralph Nader, whom according to Politico.com, probably cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000.

“And while Clinton would be the most enraged if she suffers Gore’s fate, it is not in Sanders’ interest to join Nader on the Democratic Party’s unofficial Wall of Shame.”

Nader himself told The Hill there is no way Sanders can win, because the election is rigged.

“If he had an open primary, he’d have beaten her. It should be open to all voters. And that helped her; that gave her a big advantage.”

“The Democrats years ago didn’t want an insurgency like Bernie Sanders, so they rigged it. They’re called superdelegates. They’re members of Congress, they’re Democratic governors, they’re party hacks…. Hillary’s cronies, mostly.”

The article in Politico threw up Jesse Jackson as an example, who lost to Michael Dukakis in 1988. Jackson counseled his voters to support Dukakis, though George H.W. Bush eventually won the presidency in that election.

“I’m going to ask you to do a hard thing. Put your focus on why we’re here. If you’re following my lead, then reflect my spirit, attitude and discipline. We don’t have the time to fill up the media airwaves with pollution.”

Meanwhile, Sanders supporters are complaining that CNN is not taking his run seriously, and it may be affecting his vote among the delegates. Some say they will not vote for Hillary, no matter what.

The Kentucky and Oregon democratic primaries are held on May 17. According to the Washington Post, Bernie is favored to win both.

Clinton currently leads with 1,716 delegate and 524 pledged superdelegate votes, while Sanders follows with 1,433 and 40 pledged votes, respectively.

[Image via Juli Hansen/Shutterstock.com]

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