If You "Felt the Burn", I'm Sorry

 To the Bernie Sanders supporters, I'm sorry. The DNC leak makes it very clear the Democratic Party did everything they could to undermine the Sander's campaign, leaving his supporters up in arms. Outside of the DNC rose protests, with many Sander's supporters saying they would be voting for Trump instead of Hillary, citing her untrustworthy nature and due to the leaks specifically. The leak was so bad the Democratic National Committee apologized to Bernie for how malicious the emails were, one suggesting an attack on his Jewish faith. Despite the fact that DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schult, who in emails belittled Bernie to help Hillary's campaign while claiming to be unbiased in her job , resigned, the damage was far from over, at least for Sander's supporters

At the DNC, Bernie Sanders took being thrown away by the Democratic party like a champ, as he again preached to his devoted supporters that Trump was not a viable option and that Hillary, who he once said was unfit for the job, was the only option for POTUS.. Some supporters embraced the idea of the first women president, while most of his supporters wept as their hero essentially gave up on the "revolution". Despite efforts of the Cameramen to avoid the emotional Sander's supporters, it was evident that the DNC was divided, even more so than the RNC. As Sanders hit his key points including the distribution of wealth, harmony among races and those with varying sexual preferences, and raising the minimum wage, his supporters stood firm and were arguably the loudest and most genuine in showing their support. Though Bernie left the stage vowing to do everything he could to make America greater, the disdain from other speakers towards the strong Bernie supporters was apparent.

The most disgusting moment towards the Bernie supporters came before Bernie had even spoken, when Sarah Silverman and Al Franken took stage. Sarah Silverman claimed to have been a supporter of Sanders but then suggested she would happily take up voting for Clinton. The moment of disgust came moments later where Silverman said "Can I just say, to the 'Bernie or bust' people, you’re being ridiculous." The crowds didn't take the comedian's words well, and the once quiet chant of "Bernie" rose, leaving Silverman and Franken looking a bit worried and confused, but it got worse. After the noise calmed down came the final blow, where Franken said him and Silverman were a "bridge". Silverman chimed in and said "How do you figure that, Al? How do you figure that we’re a bridge?”, "Well, you were for Bernie, I’m for Hillary, so we are like a bridge" in a very scripted attempt, more than likely suggested by someone else(Hillary reps), to bring Bernie and Hillary supporters together. But understand, the unification was only attempted with the purpose of Hillary winning the election.

As someone who would never vote for Hillary or Bernie, I was in shock at how poorly the Sander's supporters had been treated at the convention and during the campaigning process by their own party. Silverman and Franken's commentary turned into an overwhelming smack in the face to anyone who wouldn't convert to support Clinton, when it shouldn't have shocked anyone that Bernie supporters were straying from the Democratic party. Why would such a dedicated following switch to the side of a woman who had the party eating from her hand encouraging the failure of the Sander's campaign? Bernie never had a chance and his supporters were completely cheated due to the Democratic parties agenda to promote the Clinton dynasty. While I strongly disagree with the "Feel the Bern" movement,  their choice to abandon their party's candidate on the grounds they won't compromise their values is missing in all parties, and admirable.