Users on the website Reddit (which generally has a left-leaning userbase) revolted after Bernie Sanders responded to a personal question by plugging his book. The backlash came during an “Ask Me Anything” interview on the website, where anyone can submit a comment for a person (usually a celebrity) to answer. Sanders was asked to name his favorite book – and then things went downhill from there.
As it turns out, Bernie’s favorite book of all time hasn’t even been published yet! Why? Because he wrote it. “My favorite book at the moment is a brand new book that I wrote that will be coming out in a couple weeks called “Where We Go From Here” he replied. The backlash was immediate, with the comment receiving a net negative 5,400 “downvotes” as of writing. The most up-voted reply called Sanders response the “worst ***ing response” he’d ever heard to that question.
On the day the interview was held (November 2nd), Bernie’s comment was the most downvoted comment on the entire website that day. For reference, Reddit receives 14 billion monthly (or 460 million daily) pageviews. The 10th most downvoted comment of all time on Reddit received just over 7,200 downvotes, so Bernie is coming close to making the list.
“Bernie just cares about money to buy his next lake house” remarked one user in reply to that answer. Bernie received a $505,000 advance for the book he’s plugging.
It’s evident while reading through the entire Reddit thread interviewing Sanders that users quickly began to see the “interview” as a book promo, and not a genuine attempt to answer political questions. Frustration is apparent in many other comments elsewhere in the read.
Some small business owners excoriated Bernie’s calls for a $15 minimum wage, which obviously went ignored.
Books have been a lucrative source of income for Bernie, far surpassing his salary as a Senator. Sanders earned just north of $1 million last year, with most of it, $885,767, coming from book sales (and an advance for his then-forthcoming book). No wonder he can afford three homes!
Bernie clearly isn’t willing to live by his socialist philosophy, so why the heck should the rest of us?
