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Audience Cheers as Moderator Shuts Up Bernie Then Puts Him in His Place

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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was clapped down at Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate when he was asked a question about race and tried to pivot to climate change instead.

While Sanders was criticized on social media for his awkward pivot, his behavior actually makes sense in the context of intersectionality.

Moderator Amna Nawaz, a moderator for PBS, asked Sanders a pointed question related to race.

But Sanders pivoted.

“I wanted to get back to the issue of climate change for a moment because I do believe this is the existential issue.”

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“Senator, with all respect, this question is about race,” Nawaz replied before Sanders could continue. “Can you answer the question as it was asked?”

The audience cheered in response, giving Nawaz perhaps its most vigorous response of the night up to that point.

Watch below:

Sanders’ pivot got quite the reaction on social media:

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In the context of the leftist theory of intersectionality, Sanders’ reply actually does make sense.

Many on the left believe all issues of oppression are intrinsically linked — in other words, you cannot talk one without considering the others as well.

If you’re not familiar with intersectionality, Reason’s Robby Soave has offered a concise definition.

Do you think Bernie Sanders is qualified to be president?

“The idea is that various kinds of oppression — racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, economic inequality, and others — are simultaneously distinct from each other and inherently linked,” he wrote.

“They are distinct in the sense that they stack: A black woman suffers from two kinds of oppression (racism and sexism), whereas a white woman suffers from just one (sexism),” he added.

“But they are also interrelated, in that they are all forms of oppression that should be opposed with equal fervor.”

Indeed, Sanders would go on to talk about why he believes race and climate change are linked:

The issue with intersectionality, of course, is that infinite intersections exist.

The latest injustice will always be displaced by a newer one, and thus, intersectionality collapses on itself.

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Joe Setyon was a deputy managing editor for The Western Journal who had spent his entire professional career in editing and reporting. He previously worked in Washington, D.C., as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine.
Joe Setyon was deputy managing editor for The Western Journal with several years of copy editing and reporting experience. He graduated with a degree in communication studies from Grove City College, where he served as managing editor of the student-run newspaper. Joe previously worked as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine, a libertarian publication in Washington, D.C., where he covered politics and wrote about government waste and abuse.
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