Gay Bernie Sanders staffer shares toxic tweets about Pete Buttigieg and Jonathan Van Ness’ HIV status
A Bernie Sanders campaign staffer has been fired after his private tweets were revealed. (Drew Angerer/Getty)
Tweets from the private account of a gay Bernie Sanders staffer have been revealed, mocking Elizabeth Warren’s appearance, Pete Buttigieg’s sexuality and Jonathan Van Ness’ HIV-positive status.
Ben Mora was a newly promoted regional field director for Sanders’ campaign based in Michigan, but screenshots of his private tweets were shared with The Daily Beast by one of his followers.
He derided other presidential candidates, including describing Buttigieg as “what happens when the therapist botches the conversion”, and Warren as a “dumb Okie” and “adult diaper fetishist” who “looks like s**t”.
Mora also went after other Democratic politicians, and said that “Hillary Clinton should literally be catapulted off the planet”.
In another tweet, Mora said that Amy Klobuchar’s face was like “that optical illusion where it’s an old lady but also a young woman depending on how you look at it but with her it’s just two different old ladies”. He added that she “looks like her name: pained, chunky, [and] confused origin/purpose”.
The Sanders campaign has confirmed that Mora has now been fired and Mike Casca, communications director for Sanders, told The Daily Beast: “We are running a multiracial, multigenerational campaign for justice where disgusting behaviour and ugly personal attacks by our staff will not be tolerated.”
As well as politicians, the Sanders campaign staffer attacked celebrities and public figures associated with politics.
He said of Buttigieg’s husband Chasten: “Chasten Buttigieg has the vibes of a housewife whose slow burning repression is leading to an inevitable psychotic break, mark my words in 10 years he will go missing and then resurface in Fort Lauderdale after getting busted for running a meth racket with a bunch of Guatemalan twinks.”
He also posted photos of Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness, who openly supports Elizabeth Warren, is openly HIV-positive and once made a joke about Ronald Reagan’s hair gel, with the caption: “Jonathan Van Ness trying to look hot while Daddy Ronald Reagan watches him die of AIDS.”
This is the tweet a former Bernie staffer tweeted from a locked account. How many senior Bernie staffers saw these tweets for months and promoted their behavior? It’s commonplace I endure this by extreme Bernie supporters daily. The change has to come from inside their campaign. https://t.co/TyjKc6KGtW
— Jonathan Van Ness (@jvn) February 25, 2020
Supporters of Bernie Sanders have been repeatedly criticised for online abuse.
Bernie Sanders supporters have become known online for harassing those who disagree with them, an issue which Sanders himself was questioned on at the presidential primary debate in Las Vegas last week.
Pete Buttigieg said: “You have to accept some responsibility and ask yourself what it is about your campaign in particular that seems to be motivating this behaviour more than others.”
Elizabeth Warren added: “We are all responsible for our supporters, and we need to step up – that’s what leadership is all about.”
According to MSN, Sanders said at the debate 99.9 per cent of his massive Twitter following “are decent human beings, are working people, are people who believe in justice, compassion and love, and if there are a few people who make ugly remarks, who attack trade union leaders, I disown those people.
“They are not part of our movement.”
