Though Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were once rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, they are now uniting against “a unique threat to American democracy”, a.k.a. Donald Trump. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of MA, who is adored by many in the progressive movement, was booed and interrupted last night as she delivered a speech at the Democratic National Convention, asking Sanders supporters to rally behind Clinton, despite their disappointment that Sanders did not win the nomination.
Advertisement
On Monday evening, police cited 54 people for disorderly conduct for trying to climb the barriers outside the convention center during a pro-Sanders protest that reflected tensions between the Vermont senator’s supporters and Clinton’s.
It remained unclear whether Sanders would interrupt the process to ask that Clinton’s nomination be approved by acclamation.
“Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States”, the senator said in his convention speech, after noting the disappointment he experienced after losing the nomination.
“I don’t know how they don’t get that”, Rose said of the “Bernie or bust” supporters – if they don’t vote for Clinton, it’s as if they’re voting for Donald Trump.
Chris Scully, a 28-year-old an engineer from Troy, New York, held a “Jill Before Hill” outside City Hall and said he opposes Clinton because of her war record as secretary of state.
But Bill Clinton and the others – who include mothers who have lost children to gun violence or in clashes with police – will also have the unstated mission of mending fences with Sanders’ army of vocal young activists. The noise she was referring to came on the convention floor Monday as some Sanders supporters heckled speakers and started several negative chants.
Michelle Obama appeared to soothe some of the Sanders zealots on Monday night, as she delivered a heartfelt endorsement from one first lady to another and hailed the inspirational prospect of a first female United States president.
“In this election, I’m with her”, Obama said.
She offered a thinly veiled jab at Trump while discussing how her family has had to adapt to the shrill tone of today’s politics. “Now it’s time for them to get behind Hillary”. “I wish we could go all the way through a contested convention”.
Despite best efforts, however, this proved a hard sell to the angry Bernie delegates.
Sanders tried to preempt any interruptions by his supporters by texting his delegates, asking them “to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor”, reports the Times.
But Sanders’ self-styled “political revolution” appears to have transformed into a revolt.
Sanders himself was booed by some sections of the audience when he told the crowd: “Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight”. “It’s something we respect”, campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri said of the Sanders delegates’ noisy support for him. “The people who voted for Bernie”, Niswander said. On Sunday, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., announced she would step down as DNC chairwoman at the end of the party’s convention, after some of the 19,000 emails, presumably stolen from the DNC by hackers, were posted to the website Wikileaks.
There was Warren, the MA senator and hero of the left who withheld her endorsement of Clinton until June, blasting away at Trump, which has become her favorite past-time on Twitter.
The 69-year-old Democratic icon, while no longer the charismatic speaker he once was, remains a powerful force on the national stage.
He has played such a role before.
Advertisement
In contrast, the Republican convention last week in Cleveland was held in a bustling part of the city.
