In an interview with John Dickerson from CBS Face the Nation, Bernie Sanders voiced his support of the “Women’s March” rallies.
“…I think the point yesterday, at rallies all over this country, all over the world, what people were saying to Mr. Trump, women are not going backward. They are not going to become second-class citizens. Listen to the needs of women…”
The Sanders’ 2016 Campaign is now under fire for allegations of harboring a voracious environment of sexual harassment and sexism. Sanders responded to the allegations only after dozens of former staff members requested to sit down and talk with Sanders and top advisors about the ‘sexual violence and harassment’ that plagued his campaign team.
Sanders’ response when asked by Anderson Cooper if he knew about the harassment epidemic was, “Uh, yes. I was a little bit busy running around the country, trying to make the case.”. Many former Sanders supporters were not appeased by his inability to recognize such harassment in his own campaign.
In an interview with the New York Times, Guilianna Di Lauro recalled a time when a campaign surrogate ran his fingers through her hair ‘sexually’ and continued to harass her in which she said, “I just wanted to be done with it so badly.”. Ms. Di Lauro said she told several people high up in the campaign but, “It was as if nothing happened.”
On top of the sexual harassment allegations, Sanders’ campaign has also been criticized for sexism in wage differences between male staffers and female staffers where the females earned thousands of dollars less for the same job.
Sanders made sexist tweets to Liz Cheney, daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, when she openly expressed her negative opinions on socialism.
Sanders tweeted, “Rep. Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney, yesterday attacked “the fraud of socialism.” Really? I wasn’t aware that it was “socialism” that lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and got us into a horrific war that we should never have started.”. Sanders openly degraded Liz Cheney’s views by using mistakes made by her father.
We need an America with leaders who treat all people with respect, regardless of their position in society. Political leaders should have enough wherewithal to recognize when heinous acts are consistently taking place in their organizations in order to foster a country where no group of people feel helpless and disenfranchised.