This is the best, most circumspect assessment I’ve read about the fault lines in the Bernie Sanders’ candidacy. As Elizabeth Warren moves up the activity of some Bros and some of what I truly believe are right wing trolls trying to sew discard among Democrats. But do not misunderstand for a moment that — after the truly mind blowing feedback I’ve gotten from white males identifying as Democrats for having written so extensively about Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren — I have no doubt that there is a serious strain of misogynist white liberals who’ve hitched their rides to Bernie’s wagon. My beef with Bernie — and he never rectified it in ‘16 — was that he never called out that really unhinged behavior from some of his supporters, some of them women. That really turned a lot of us way off the bern…

And one point I will take exception with is that you make a pretty broad comment about the DNC’s support of Hillary Clinton, but Bernie was not a Democrat, and he’s still not. He joined the party to play ball in ’16, then he encouraged his fans to make every effort to essentially overthrow the party. That’s why black female Clinton voters were so unimpressed with his constituency. Lots of us white gals were pretty unimpressed as well, but we simply chose to keep our commentary to ourselves and speak our minds at the polls.

And to be clear, when you approach a Clinton supporter and start the lofty diatribe about why Sanders is a better choice for their lives, especially if you genuinely believe that what you are sharing is news to them — or that you think you do know better — it is not NOT POSSIBLE not “to be condescending and self-righteous when the nature of what you’re doing involves trying to convince someone else you know what’s best for them.”

You all seriously have no idea how that lands with black — or white — women who’ve lived long harsh lives at the behest of some very nasty guys, more like Hillary Clinton’s than yours. Someday you will, and certainly Donald Trump’s turning out to be who we all told you he would be has chilled your mellow on that “Clinton’s not my kind of feminist” trope.

I can pretty much guarantee you that, cordial and well-intended as you tried to be — you didn’t change any minds. For those of us who now wish there’d been any way in the world to communicate to you the damage you were doing when you insisted on “your way or the highway” and played your little part in getting Donald Trump elected, when Secretary Clinton told you who he was and what he was doing… Well, we all feel pretty committed to not doing that again.

Especially the guys, and I’m hearing a lot from that contingency right now that they are prepared to do the same shit again.

Please be prepared to be more measured and flexible if someone you really don’t “prefer” is the nominee to simply participate in our collective salvation and vote for the Democrat. I have written a great deal about Kamala Harris and I like her a lot, I would be happy with Elizabeth Warren if she can win, but we may find ourselves with Joe Biden, and he’s a decent — if complex human being as all are when they live long enough — and with these candidates constituting his cabinet, he can start the healing form this American horror show.

But when you have an opportunity to ease the spin, to acknowledge that the Democrats are decent people doing what they can to pull us back for this abyss, please do it. Thank you for putting this out there, I hope that some other young people follow your lead, our survival depends on it.