When Socialist Millionaires Fight They Should Sell Tickets

Many would call it a heavyweight fight, but the comedy requires a 2-drink minimum.

Bernie Sanders has been in a state of paradox the past few weeks. The Presidential candidate is becoming a swelling media presence in order to get recognition for his campaign, and this is leading to a mixture of positive exposure and negative blowback. He is still looked at negatively by some Democrats for opposing Hillary in 2016 but he is also leading in the polls (depending on the vacillating VP Joe Biden). And that is only the start, as he is currently in a battle with the far-left news outlet, Think Progress, which carries numerous contradictions.

The basis of this newest controversy is Bernie’s financial status. The self-avowed socialist is a man who has never worked in the private sector. Yet recently the career public servant has been elevated to the level of “millionaire”. He attributes this to his recent book sales, and when challenged on this reality he has steadfastly refused to apologize over this, stating that the book was popular, and therefore he truly earned his wealth. What the man who rails against capitalism avoids is the reality that he is describing involves free market principles, and he is actually making the case in support of capitalism.

Reacting to what many have described as a rampant contradiction in the Sanders platform a video surfaced last week showing a shift in politician’s stump speeches. For years Sanders has railed against the wealthy to illustrate the perceived unfair practices of our economic system, repeatedly citing “millionaires, and billionaires” as the demons. However recently it was noted that a subtle change has taken place, as a supercut shows Sanders now simply invoking “billionaires”. It seems Bernie had become self-aware and had to make an edit.

The most surprising aspect of the video is that it was supplied by Think Progress. Why the ultra-leftist outlet would target Sanders is a mystery, and unraveling things only seems to deepen the confusion. Sanders sent a letter of complaint to the Center for American Progress, the left-wing activist group with significant donor support. CAP operates Think Progress, and Sanders complained the outlet was not helping candidates defeat Trump. He complained about the coverage he has received, and specifically the video.

Part of the intrigue is that Think Progress was launched by Faiz Shakir, who was its editor in chief. Shakir is now campaign manager for Bernie Sanders. Bernie’s foreign policy advisor, Matt Duss, also was a longtime TP staffer. Why their former site was working against them is not yet evident. But things became only more convoluted over the weekend.

In response to the Sanders letter Neera Tanden, the CAP President — and frequent critic of Bernie — put out a press release Monday.

“The orientation of CAP is to positively engage with all political leaders about the country’s future. ThinkProgress is editorially independent of CAP and CAP Action, which is what has made it valuable as a news outlet. We believe the content of the ThinkProgress video critiquing Sen. Sanders is overly harsh and does not reflect our approach to a constructive debate of the issues,

Additionally, megadonor Tom Steyer came out in support of Sanders, and his complaint. Steyer, a board member and major funder of CAP (along with George Soros) tweeted out his response, essentially echoing the complaints of the candidate.

Voters deserve a fair and unbiased primary election — and I will use my voice on the Center for American Progress’ Board of Directors to discourage any such attacks on any candidate seeking the Democratic nomination in the future. pic.twitter.com/36wadgGnFy

— Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) April 15, 2019

Now try to make sense out of any of this. The former outlet of two Bernie Sanders staffers has been overly harsh on the candidate being a millionaire. The woman Sanders called out in his letter comes out in support of him and disavows the blog affiliated with her organization. After complaining about billionaires for years a prominent billionaire rises up in defense of the socialist, meaning said billionaire wants TP to tone down its millionaire coverage. Sanders, who claims to hate billionaires, turned to one of these hated and hateful souls to help him out.

This coming campaign season will only get funnier going forward. Waitress! Bring me another round!

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