Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson took to Twitter amid the delayed Iowa caucus results, which have yet to arrive due to alleged issues with the smartphone app used for the event.
The self-help guru took particular aim at Tom Perez, the chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and suggested he should resign.
“In a healthy democracy, Tom Perez would resign today,” Williamson wrote.
“As it is the results will probably never be fully determined, the DNC attitude will be ‘They’ll get over it,’ and the entire incident will hang like a cloud of uncertainty over the entire campaign,” she added.
The American author also pointed to Pete Buttigieg’s decision to announce victory before the official results — a decision that sparked #MayorCheat to trend on Twitter — and suggested that problems with the app are not the real issue behind the chaos.
“America, something went wrong here tonight and it wasn’t just an app. If an app goes down, there are such things as telephones. Then a moderate candidate came out and made this weird victory speech, while MSM started talking about what a good night this was for Mike Bloomberg.”
Williamson said making the problem center around the app’s issues is a “red herring.”
The caucus app blamed for the Iowa vote count chaos was created by tech firm Shadow, Inc.
Shadow’s CEO Gerard Niemira, product manager Ahna Rao, CTO Krista Davis, and COO James Hickey all worked on the Hillary for America campaign. pic.twitter.com/hA0JPYX5Ig
— Mike Coudrey (@MichaelCoudrey) February 4, 2020
Although the results of the Iowa caucuses have yet to be released, the developer of the problematic app in question, Shadow , has come under scrutiny for donations it allegedly received from Buttigieg’s campaign, as well as from the Nevada and Iowa Democratic Party. Per The Intercept’s Lee Fang, Shadow is a spinoff from ACRONYM, a “new Dem dark money/superPAC hybrid” of which former President Barack Obama campaign official David Plouffe sits on the board of directors.
Newsweek reported that #TomPerezResign trended on social media amid the Iowa caucus chaos. However, the hashtag is reportedly the result of the DNC’s recent announcement that it would be scrapping the donor requirements for future debates. The move paves the way for billionaire Michael Bloomberg to take the stage, prompting some to accuse Perez and the DNC of corruption.
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang , who previously called on the DNC to relax its debate requirements amid his strong grassroots support, was critical of the DNC’s decision and noted that it appeared designed to help Bloomberg get on the stage.
Bernie Sanders , who previously accused Perez and the DNC of rigging the 2016 primary in favor of Hillary Clinton, was also critical of the decision.
