Dems2020: Candidates ranked by cult level

We had stereotypical (and often overblown by the media, but not necessarily always overblown) Berniebros in 2016. With a crowded Democratic field this year, what levels of cultic behavior do we have among followers of different candidates this year? Conspiracy thinking and refusal to listen to actual facts are my main two criteria.

Tulsi Gabbard's fans are No. 1 with a bullet. They're so bad that one of them claimed all the facts in my original Tulsi Kool-Aid piece were not facts because they weren't about her Congressional votes. Many others simply refused to read. Then, after one of them called "black" as "white" on her anti-BDS vote without even prompting, having already invented the #TulsiTwerkers hashtag, I did a separate piece about the cult level. And it IS a cult, just as much as the cult of the guru Tulsi herself follows. (She hasn't answered Tweets about India's putting Kashmir under martial law, either.)

And, no, she's not "the peace candidate," either.

Second? Mayor Pete, or Mary Pete. As I said in writing him up, if he weren't gay, he wouldn't have this following. Don't believe me? Dale Peck, gay himself, said so for New Republic, in a piece that got so many people pissed off it "had to be" hauled down, but is still archived. The same SJW type folks in and around the LGBTQ world were part of why it was hauled down, but not the only reason. And, no, SJW folks, starting with the fact that Peck himself is gay, it's not anti-gay. And other gays also said it was not homophobic. And, thus, within at least the SJW precincts of the LGBTQ, Mary Pete has a definite cult following, enough to allegedly send Peck death threats. And, although written as a gay-world callout, and with the rudeness deliberate, Mayor "Gays are more diverse than blacks in South Bend" was also called out from the straight side not just by me, but by Slate.

Third? The man who isn't even a presidential candidate, Mike Gravel. Hey, cultists? He openly admitted he was not a candidate (and has dropped out of being even a quasi candidate), but that he just wants a spot in a debate and then he'll exit. GFY any of you attacking the mainstream media for reporting the actual facts. Besides, he's the one open 9/11 falser among actual or fake candidates. (Tulsi might be an under-the-radar one, but that would actually let Mooslims off the hook; she's far more likely to be a Seth Rich conspiracy theorist.) Speaking of, Gravel endorsed Tulsi and Bernie both, then had the alt-Illuminati sector of Twitter (Tulsi or Bust? Tulsi or Bernie or Trump?) parsing Gravel vs. Gravel's non-campaign team and who was endorsing whom. I think Gravel was endorsing Tulsi (shock) and his team was endorsing Bernie as PR. Since then, Gravel has weighed in further, moving outside the duopoly to tell people that they should help Howie Hawkins with Green Party ballot access. I agree, Howie, and Gravel is a more real antiwar politico than Gabbard or Sanders. But don't get in too tight of an embrace with him or some followers.

Fourth? Sorry, Sandernistas, or whatever, but it is the Berniecrats. You're up with the Peteys at times in conspiracy thinking level. Yes, sometimes, the MSM may be targeting him, and Jacobin singles out MSNBC (and it seems rightly so, including Horse Pee-er, I mean Hoarse Whisperer involved) but on other things? Madcow had him dead to rights on guns and many Berners haven't yet fully faced that. Others, though he sounds more peaceable than in the past, have yet to address his own degrees of military Keynesianism for F-35s. (And pulling up the Bernie of 30 years ago, and per Seven Days in Vermont with Bernie on guns as Just.Another.Politician.™, and pretending he's remained static? Uhh, no. Jacobin, as with Liza Featherstone throwing shade at other candidates' families while carefully writing around Bernie's nepotism via Jane, as I note here, is among major promotors of his cult.

Fifth? I would say Elizabeth Warren, but she has a plan for that, too, surely. This cult will surely grow as Nick Kristof earlier this month showed he's a fake pergressive even within the duopoly world with calls for a Warren-Mary Pete ticket and nary a mention of Bernie. At places like Lawyers, Guns and Money, otherwise known to me as The New Daily Kos, the cult factor is high.

Beto? He had a cult nine months ago. He had remnants of one six months ago. He has none now. Or so I thought when I started this a week or so ago. But now? There are second acts indeed in politics. He still doesn't have any big cult, but the guns issue, complete with Meghan McCain stupidity, has revived him.

Marianne Williamson has the orb-ish goofers on Reddit, but that's not a cult, it's a parody of one.