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Bernie Or Bust: Bernie Sanders Says It’s Hillary Clinton’s Responsibility To Win Over His Voters

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 05:43 PST, May 29, 2016

The Bernie or Bust movement could be gaining steam, as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said this weekend that the onus is on Hillary Clinton to win over his supporters, who may be skeptical of her positions or fed up with her scandals and too-close connections to the Democratic Party establishment.

As the primary between Sanders and Clinton has stretched on toward its finish, a growing and vocal contingent of Sanders supporters have said they do not plan to support Clinton if she wins the party’s nomination. Many have been turned off by her policy reversals, FBI investigation, and a primary process they believe to be unfairly tilted against Sanders. Others say the poor treatment of Sanders supporters, including Clinton’s refusal to schedule a May debate she had previously agreed to, has led them away from Clinton for good.

And Bernie Sanders doesn’t feel obligated to rein them back in. Speaking to NBC News anchor Chuck Todd on Sunday, Sanders said he will not instruct his supporters on how to vote. Instead, it is Clinton’s job to win them over, he said.

The Huffington Post recounted his stance on the Bernie or Bust crowd.

“But at the end of the day, whether it’s Secretary Clinton or Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump, anybody else, the way you gain support is through the candidate himself or herself. So my job is to make sure that Trump does not become president. And I will do that. But if Secretary Clinton is the nominee, it is her job to reach out to millions of people and make the case as to why she is going to defend working families and the middle [class], provide health care for all people, take on Wall Street, deal aggressively with climate change. That is the candidate’s job to do.”

Even as a growing number of Democratic Party insiders have hinted that he should drop out, Bernie Sanders has shown little sign of backing off his fight for the nomination and for power within the Democratic National Convention this summer. He has fought for representation on the committees drafting the party’s platform, and this weekend he sent a formal letter to the co-chairs of the committee’s rules and bylaws committee asking that Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank be removed as chairs of two standing committees.

As Politico noted, Sanders noted that both have been vocal backers of Hillary Clinton and hostile toward Sanders.

“Governor Malloy and Mr. Frank have both been aggressive attack surrogates for the Clinton campaign. Their criticisms of Senator Sanders have gone beyond dispassionate ideological disagreement and have exposed a deeper professional, political and personal hostility toward the Senator and his Campaign.”

The Democratic National Committee turned down the request, setting the stage for what could be a battle at this summer’s convention.

But, the Bernie or Bust crowd could have a difficult decision in November. While the bitter primary process has turned many of them away from Hillary Clinton, others who said they were moving toward Republican presumptive candidate Donald Trump were put off this week after Trump backed out of a planned debate with Bernie Sanders.

The backlash from Sanders supporters was immediate, with the hashtag #ChickenTrump trending on Twitter as many vented at his last-minute refusal for the debate, which had been seen by Sanders supporters as a chance to show his strength against Trump compared to Clinton.

So, if Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump hope to win over the Bernie or Bust crowd, it appears there is a lot more work to be done.

[Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images]

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