Jacobin editor-at-large David Sirota, formerly a speechwriter for Sen. Bernie Sanders‘s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, reacted to a HuffPost article published Thursday detailing extreme behavior by supporters of Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)
“I think it’s fair to say every single candidate who runs certainly for national office has a set of supporters who will at times take things too far and take the rhetoric too far, that’s the nature of American politics,” Sirota said.
“I don’t think it’s fair to blame Bernie Sanders for situations like that, I don’t think it’s fair to blame Kamala Harris for things like that if those candidates are not inciting that kind of behavior.”
The article found instances where members of the so-called KHive harassed and at times doxed critics of the California senator. Sirota said there are parallels between those calling for Harris to take responsibility for her supporters’s behavior and those who did the same to Sanders during the Democratic primary.
“There’s no evidence that Bernie Sanders or Kamala Harris incite that kind of behavior through their own rhetoric,” Sirota said. “Donald Trump is a different story… [he] at times actually is inciting, he is encouraging a kind of behavior and phycology in the country that is toxic.”
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.