There is some Olympic-level mental gymnastics going on here. The audacity of it all is frankly kind of amazing.

Refusing to take billionaire donations isn’t “symbolic.” To even make this claim puts you on the very fringe of politics, as almost no one on either side of the political spectrum would disagree that money in politics has some kind of corrosive effect on democracy. That’s why there is strong bipartisan support for campaign finance reform.

Billionaires are businesspeople. They only invest if they can get a return on that investment. They don’t give money out of the kindness of their hearts. It’s much harder to get any sort of agenda done if you have to worry about alienating people with a vested interest in opposing said agenda.

It’s also quite disgusting that you weaponize the language of “privilege” to justify oligarchy while casting aspersions on candidates, like Bernie Sanders, whose base is primarily made up of working-class folks, women and people of color.