Like millions of American, Bernie Sanders tuned into Wednesday evening’s debate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Sanders, the independent Vermont senator who is challenging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, turned the debate into a way for supporters to engage with his campaign by livetweeting the event with the hashtag #DebateWithBernie.
Sanders’s #DebateWithBernie tweets were a little grumpy, a little snarky, and as unabashedly progressive as one would expect from a self-proclaimed “democratic socialist.”
Live-tweeting the debate starting now. #DebateWithBernie pic.twitter.com/iQFf3dj7Hb
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Sanders called out the GOP candidates for all the issues they didn’t talk about:
At a time when media looks at politics like a baseball game, will the serious issues be discussed tonight? Let’s see. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
As a result of Citizens United, billionaires are now controlling our politics. Will any R support the overturn? Let’s see. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Rubio knows California has a drought. Will he have the courage to connect that to climate change or reject the science? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
What about the disastrous Supreme Court decision on Citizens United allowing billionaires to fund @JebBush and the others. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Rich get richer. Everyone else gets poorer. And all these guys can talk about is war and defunding Planned Parenthood. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Rich get richer. Median fmly income $5k less than in 1999. One of the highest rates of childhood poverty. Any discussion? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Have you heard anyone use the word “poverty” yet? 47.7 million Americans living in poverty. No discussion. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
He advocated in favor of the Affordable Care Act:
30mil Americans have no health insurance. Even more underinsured. And Trump wants to get rid of Obamacare. Really? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
He threw shade at GOP front-runner Donald Trump:
Trump. What a pleasant and humble person. Can’t stop saying kind and generous things about his fellow Republicans. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
He slammed Republicans’ hawkish foreign policy:
Now we’re really getting to the Republican talking points. More money for war and confrontation. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Gee. How come these guys are not talking about the great “success” of Bush’s foreign policy and the war in Iraq? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Can these guys talk about anything other than their desire to go to war? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
.@JebBush – yes. Let’s continue the great ideas that got us into Iraq. Fine idea. #DebateWithBernie #GOPDebate
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
He stuck it to George W. Bush:
Yup. Bush was a great president. Yes. No doubt. Great president. All Obama’s fault. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Just what we need. More neocon policies to continue the Bush legacy. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Yes @ChrisChristie. George W. Bush — gave us Iraq war, Wall St crash — was one of our great presidents. You are right. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
He attacked them on being anti-feminist:
Does anyone on that stage believe the women of this country have the right to control their own bodies? Anyone? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Trump: “I will take care of women.” Really? What about respecting the right of women to control their own bodies? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Waiting, waiting, waiting. Will we hear anything about racial justice, income inequality or making college affordable? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Sanders hammered Republicans on ignoring the majority of Americans who support raising the minimum wage. However, it seems like he missed the earlier undercard debate, during which former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum made a passionate argument in favor of raising the minimum wage:
Vast majority understand we need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. Is there any R who agrees? Will they discuss? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
The American people overwhelmingly want to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. Too bad, the Republicans don’t. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
And then he just got frustrated with the whole thing and promptly hit #PeakBernie:
Okay. Let’s vote for Reagan. Sounds better than any of these guys. #DebateWithBernie #GOPDebate
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Finally, he said what everyone was thinking:
Does anyone know… when will this debate finally end? #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
And then he called it a night well before the stage was cleared:
Thank you all. I’ve had it. I’m going home. Talk to you soon. #DebateWithBernie
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 17, 2015
Nevertheless, Sanders’s fans were pleased with his debate performance, even though he called in early:
https://twitter.com/Texans4Bernie/status/644336109665652736
28k new bernie folowers. The people are done with the GOP. #FeelTheBern #DebateWithBernie
— (political) Purity Tester (@WAProgressive) September 17, 2015
Petition to have @BernieSanders host the next GOP debate to get them to talk about other issues. #GOPDebate #DebateWithBernie
— 🏳️🌈Luke Escobar-Foster🏳️🌈 (@sonofasith) September 17, 2015
Photo by berniesanders.com/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain)
