Tezlyn Figaro, the former national justice director for Senator Bernie Sanders, takes strong exception to remarks by Hillary Clinton about millennials.
During a private Virginia fundraiser, the Democrat presidential candidate reportedly dissed Sanders voters as living in their parents’ basement and said that Bernie Sanders was offering them what amounts to false promises, particularly in the context of student loan debt relief. At the same event, Clinton also described her political views as “center-left to center-right.”
Over the weekend, the hashtag #basementdwellers was one of the top trending items on Twitter.
The Vermont senator was Hillary Clinton’s insurgent, anti-establishment rival during the primaries and ultimately endorsed her after she locked up the nomination with the help of superdelegates. Clinton also recently characterized many Donald Trump voters as a “basket of deplorables” and irredeemable.
Sanders made the rounds on Sunday TV to downplay Clinton’s perceived condescending comments about his supporters, insisting that they should still vote for the former secretary of state on Election Day. “Of course it [bothers me], but we are in the middle of a campaign. Trust me. if you go to some of the statements I made about Hillary Clinton, we have real differences ,” Sanders told CNN.
1st it was Deplorables, now it’s Basement Dwellers. HRC has no respect 4 hard working Americans. #tcot #ccot #gop #maga pic.twitter.com/wLTwrmvRVG
— Proud to be an American (@NavyFlyBoyUSA) October 3, 2016
Behind the scenes, things may be slightly different between the Clinton and Sanders camps, however. Team Clinton has canceled several Sanders-Clinton joint campaign appearances in Ohio and Wisconsin scheduled for this week. Sanders will apparently campaign for Clinton on his own in those states.
During a panel discussion on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel show last night, military vet Tezlyn Figaro delivered a strong message to Hillary Clinton about basement dwellers in the video embedded below.
“Well, I never thought I would vote for Senator Sanders either. I’m an independent fiscal capitalist. I supported him because he was saying at the time that he was against the establishment. And I have news for Hillary Clinton and everybody who supports her. I did not grow up in mommy’s basement in Oklahoma. The only time I was in the basement was when I was running from an Oklahoma tornado. I grew up with the shirt on my back at 18, went to Dallas with no car and no job, became a business owner with 300 paid employees. No one has ever gave me anything. I’ve never looked for anything for free. I never got anything out of this country that I didn’t earn while I served my time in the U.S. Air Force. So for her to say they we grew up in mommy’s basement, well what type of basement did Chelsea Clinton grow up in? Because in north side of Oklahoma City, her basement sure as hell was nicer than mine.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDEz5nvk0zY
Despite Bernie Sanders public support for Hillary, Tezlyn Figaro added that Sanders fans may not follow his lead into the voting booth.
“When [Hillary Clinton] says we’re believing in false promises, the only thing false about this election is the fraud of the policies that she continues to switch every other time. Remember, Bill Clinton said that people who believed in Obama believed in a fantasy. So this is a typical strategy that they use… but guess what, this generation has figured it out, and the only unfortunate thing is for her, when election time comes, they’ll be staying in the basement and sitting that one out.”
Figaro also chided Bernie Sanders for “folding like a napkin” after Hillary Clinton’s basement dwellers remarks became public.
Chicago attorney Brunell Donald-Kyei, a former Bernie Sanders supporter and Barack Obama voter, is now an official with the Trump campaign’s diversity outreach coalition. The lifelong Democrat who ran for Illinois lieutenant governor explained in an interview that “I was a Bernie Sanders girl. Once… I saw how we were treated at the Democratic National Convention, I knew that I would not vote for Hillary Clinton, and the Trump Train just kept calling my name.”
Watch Brunell Donald-Kyei on WGN-TV :
Added: Watch what happens when an MSNBC anchor asks a group of millennial women at Longwood University, the site of tonight’s vice presidential debate, if they feel connected to Hillary Clinton:
[Featured Image by Matt Rourke/AP Images]