With the Democratic primaries concluding in a few weeks, battle lines continue to harden between supporters of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders with some Sanders' fans saying they might welcome businessman Donald Trump as the president.
In interviews with the New York Times, members of the “Bernie-or-bust” movement say they are holding out hope that something will derail Clinton's drive for the nomination because they want change -- even if it's a "Nazi-type change."
Speaking with Yamiche Alcindor of the Times, a sizeable contingent of Sanders supporters in California believe Clinton has no business running for President during the FBI investigation into her emails that cast a cloud over her candidacy.
“She should be removed,”explained stay-at-home mom Julie Crowell, while attending a Sanders rally on Tuesday. “I don’t know why she’s not already being told, ‘You can’t run because you’re being investigated.’ I don’t know how that’s not a thing.”
“If there’s any chance of her getting indicted, they shouldn’t even consider her for the nomination,” added 21-year-old Zachary O’Neill. “We can’t have a criminal in the White House.”
Saying, “We can’t go back and undo giving her the Democratic nomination,” Jennifer Peters, 28, said she would blame the Democratic Party if Donald Trump becomes the next president, because she has no intention of voting for Clinton. "If the D.N.C. wants to go ahead and put out the candidate who can’t win and we lose in November, it’s not because I didn’t vote. It’s because they were looking out for their interests and not for the better interests of the country.”
According to Victor Vizcarra, 48, a Trump presidency might not be all that bad based upon what he has seen of Trump on his reality show "The Apprentice."
“A dark side of me wants to see what happens if Trump is in,” Vizcarra, an IT worker, said. “There is going to be some kind of change, and even if it’s like a Nazi-type change. People are so drama-filled. They want to see stuff like that happen. It’s like reality TV. You don’t want to just see everybody be happy with each other. You want to see someone fighting somebody.”
Jackie Becerra, 28, agreed.
“Everyone is like: ‘Trump has these terrible social issues. He hates Muslims and he hates the L.G.B.T. community,’” she said. “But our world is big enough that he’s not actually going to implement any of those changes in a realistic way. But what he will do is potentially audit the federal government, and he will try to break up some of the banks and try to at least influence government that way. However, with Hillary, it will just be a complacent, run-of-the-middle-of-the-road presidency.”
Not all Bernie backers agree, with lawyer Pete Navarro saying he'll vote for the eventual nominee given the choice between her and Trump.
“I think it’s a mistake to demonize Hillary Clinton,” he said. “I think that just serves Republican purposes. It’s chopping your nose off to spite your face.”