Up North Progressive

How do you know you need to do a better job checking credentials at caucuses this election year? Because the first time you do, you discover the rampant fraud exercised by Bernie Sanders supporters last Saturday in Nevada. People wanting to caucus for Bernie Sanders turned into a violent mob when their tactics went against Nevada Democratic Party caucusing rules.

What are those rules? You have to be a registered member of the Democratic Party and be able to prove you live in your precinct to vote. 57 out of 64 people wanting to caucus for Bernie Sanders were tossed out because they failed verifying who they were. Any time these pathetic crybabies don’t get their way, they scream fraud and it’s the Democratic Party’s corruption keeping them out.

Wrong, they didn’t get to vote because they didn’t read the rules. Sanders supporters erupted into a fit of violence that would make any Trump supporter proud. They leaked the personal phone number of state party Chairwoman Roberta Lange, and left thousands of death threats. and text messages. She had to be escorted everywhere on Saturday in the Paris Las Vegas Hotel – even to the bathroom – by security because of the violence and threats coming from Sanders supporters was so severe.

Then Bernie Sanders supporters defaced the party headquarters:

Here is how Bernie’s NV supporters protested outside state Democratic HQ today — by scrawling messages on the bldg. pic.twitter.com/Fgh78ZtZZV

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) May 15, 2016

Here’s another sample of the Sanders protesters’ handiwork outside Dem HQ: pic.twitter.com/KmE907mxv2

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) May 15, 2016

And there was plenty of complaining online, like this ignoramus here:

That’s right, he was a Democrat, switched to independent convinced the Democratic Party is corrupt, and now crying big crocodile tears because he can no longer vote in a Democratic Party caucus. If there’s one thing this election is doing, it’s weeding out the stupid.

What this confirms is that other state Democratic parties weren’t checking credentials carefully before allowing people to vote in closed caucus in their states. It had worked enough times the Sandernistas thought they could get away with it in Nevada too, and when it didn’t work this time, they became a belligerent mob.

The Nevada Democratic Party refuses to lie down and take this abuse from the Sanders campaign. They filed a complaint with the Democratic National Committee against Bernie Sanders.

We believe, unfortunately, that the tactics and behavior on display here in Nevada are harbingers of things to come as Democrats gather in Philadelphia in July for our National Convention. We write to alert you to what we perceive as the Sander Campaign’s penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior—indeed, actual violence—in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting, and furthermore what we can only describe as their encouragement of, and complicity in, a very dangerous atmosphere that ended in chaos and physical threats to fellow Democrats.

The Nevada State Democratic Party is right. This is what we can expect Sanders supporters to do in July when the national convention takes place in Philadelphia. What we saw on Saturday was a rehearsal for what will happen if they don’t get their way. Today is the next primary election in Kentucky and Oregon. Keep in mind Hillary Clinton only needs 143 more delegates to have the nomination, and her chances of winning are at this point assured no matter how violent and criminal Sanders supporters become.

Anyone who still considers themselves a Bernie Sanders supporter after what happened Saturday in Nevada needs to think long and deep about what they’re really supporting this election. The more Democrats – and independents that support Sanders – fight, the better chances we have of dealing with a Trump presidency come November. Sara Palin could win the veepstakes, and John Miller will be press secretary. Is this what we want? With the way Sanders is running his campaign, and as of this writing has yet to answer to what his supporters did on Saturday, The Democratic Party needs to unify, tell the Bernie or Bust faction to bust on out, and get to work to make sure Hillary Clinton wins the White House in November.