The first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia did not get off to an auspicious start for Bernie Sanders. The former presidential hopeful was booed at an afternoon event by his own followers after exhorting them to support Hillary Clinton over Republican nominee Donald Trump.
.@BernieSanders booed telling supporters to help elect Clinton: “This is the real world that we live in.” https://t.co/8jV2wUWtiK
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 25, 2016
Afterward, storm clouds continued to gather. Reporters canvassed pro-Sanders activists and found that many were refusing to line up behind the Democratic nominee:
Sanders/Stein supporter saying on @MSNBC right now: “I think four years of Trump getting nothing done is better” than voting for HRC
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) July 25, 2016
Jerry Martinez, 31, says “I fear climate change more than I fear Trump.” Said he’s “tired of voting out of fear” pic.twitter.com/bLc3PQPF6K
— Emma Roller (@emmaroller) July 25, 2016
With this backdrop, the convention officially kicked off. In the opening prayer, Reverend Cynthia Hale made brief reference to Hillary Clinton, and her words were met with chants of “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.” This unusual interruption of a clergywoman proved to be a sign of things to come.
Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge took the stage to chair the convention, but quickly ran into opposition. Every time she mentioned Clinton’s name, she was met with a chorus of boos. It was as though it was Purim and the Democratic nominee was Haman. Members of the California delegation even adopted the popular “Lock her up!” chant from the Republican National Convention. A frustrated Fudge finally chastised the delegates, scolding, “We’re all Democrats, we should act like it.”
The booing continued. The hecklers interrupted progressive stars like Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, former head of the Congressional Black Caucus, and even those few politicians who had endorsed Sanders in the primary, like Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley. When comedian Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, attempted to make the case for Clinton alongside Sen. Al Franken, the cavalcade of condemnation grew so loud that she snapped in unscripted exasperation, “To the Bernie or Bust people: You’re being ridiculous!”
Meanwhile, on Twitter, Sanders’s campaign press secretary Symone Sanders tweeted that Clinton hadn’t stolen the election, only to be deluged with replies from putative Sanders supporters insisting that the former Secretary of State had.
Back in the convention hall, the anti-Hillary chanting continued through New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s powerful keynote. It was temporarily silenced by Michelle Obama’s showstopping speech, but returned during Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s. There was also this:
Here’s video of Bernie supporter yelling at Warren about selling birthright for bowl of porridge, in all its glory pic.twitter.com/uDNT14gIW5
— Jon Ward (@jonward11) July 26, 2016
As the volume rose, so did tensions. Worries surfaced over whether Sanders would indeed endorse Clinton, and if he did, whether his so-called supporters would boo him too. It was into this charged atmosphere that Sanders finally took the stage to rapturous applause.
The Vermont senator opened by appealing directly to his supporters. He thanked them for their campaign contributions and assured them that the “political revolution” they had started would go on. Then he pivoted to the moment of truth:
This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions—not just bombast, fear-mongering, name-calling, and divisiveness.
We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger—not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans—and divides us up.
By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that—based on her ideas and her leadership—Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close.
From that point forward, Sanders was met by scattered boos and chants from “supporters”—if they can be called that after heckling their purported standard-bearer. Undeterred, however, Sanders thundered on:
Hillary Clinton will nominate justices to the Supreme Court who are prepared to overturn Citizens United and end the movement toward oligarchy in this country. Her Supreme Court appointments will also defend a woman’s right to choose, workers’ rights, the rights of the LGBT community, the needs of minorities and immigrants and the government’s ability to protect the environment.
If you don’t believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country.
Sanders went on to underscore his many commonalities with Clinton, from climate change to healthcare to higher education, and drew a stark contrast between them both and Donald Trump. “While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another,” he said, “Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths.”
The senator closed by declaring unequivocally: “Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight.” When all was said and done, he had referenced Hillary by name 15 times, refusing to give an inch to hardliners in the hall.
After Sanders’s speech, reporters on the scene interviewed his crestfallen supporters, some of whom refused to commit to Hillary regardless. These delegates will doubtless be a cause for concern for the party going forward.
The convention’s schedule for opening day was clearly designed to mollify such Sanders supporters. It featured an all-star line-up of progressive icons like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie-backers like Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison. The hope was that these speakers and Sanders himself would win over the room for Hillary, and head off any embarrassing protests for the rest of the proceedings. That way, the convention could pivot for its remainder to the more traditional terrain of attacking the opposing party and bolstering the Democratic nominee.
Sanders clearly gave his all to accomplishing this task. The question is whether it was enough to restrain the revolutionary ardor of his most ardent followers.
Yair Rosenberg is a senior writer at Tablet. Subscribe to his newsletter, listen to his music, and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
