This past Monday, former Ohio state senator and co-chair of the failed 2020 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, Nina Turner, did little to help the Democratic cause in November. She took aim at her own foot, landing a solid wound that is likely to come back to haunt her in the future by telling The Atlantic about her displeasure at the prospects of voting for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in November.
“You have a bowl of shit in front of you, and all you’ve got to do is eat half of it instead of the whole thing. It’s still shit.”
Even for Turner, who is known for her flamboyant style, flowery language and frequent changes of coiffures, her reference to dining on fecal matter was a bridge too far. Silence or a more tempered expression of her lack of enthusiasm for Biden would have been a more prudent response to an inquiry about the November election.
At a time when it is imperative that Democrats unite to defeat Donald Trump, Democrats and Americans in general do not need naysayers like Turner to turn voters off. Turner’s progressive agenda, which has many positive aspects, would hardly have a chance with another four years of Donald Trump. What Turner failed to realize was her statement only adds to voter apathy and could put Trump back in office. For the good of our democracy and her own political future, she should be leading Bernie voters to the polls in November to vote the Democratic ticket, not chase them away.
Turner has come a long way from Cleveland’s inner city, where she was the oldest of seven children born to teenage parents. After earning an undergraduate and graduate degree from Cleveland State University in 1997, she started her political career as a legislative assistant in the Ohio Senate. After a stint in the administration of Cleveland Mayor Michael White, she won a seat on Cleveland City Council in 2006. In 2008 Turner was appointed to the seat in the Ohio Senate and won re-election.
In 2014 Turner ran for Ohio Secretary of State, garnering a respectable 35.5% of the vote against Republican Jon Husted. In a major political coup for any up-and-coming candidate, black or white, former President Bill Clinton supported her campaign and even wrote a fundraising letter on her behalf.
This Clinton connection made her a natural for the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. But Turner jumped ship. To the surprise of many, she retracted her initial endorsement of Hillary Clinton and signed on with the Bernie Sanders campaign. Prominent in the 2016 Sanders’ campaign, she rose to the ranks to be co-chair of the 2020 Sanders’ campaign and was often a Bernie surrogate, with frequent appearances on major news channels.
In 2017 she became president of the Sanders-affiliated group Our Revolution, which provided her with an income and even more media exposure. She was a political pundit on CNN and MSNBC, although her appearances of late have tapered off to nonexistent.
While the move from Clinton to Sanders may have done a lot for Turner’s career and national profile, it did little for her among Democratic party loyalists, where there is an underlying belief in the concept of loyalty. Switching to Sanders after the Clintons had done a major political favor for her showed a lack of loyalty. And the Clinton camp is known to be a group with long memories.
Hopefully for Turner, her gig with the Our Revolution group and future media gigs will provide her with a steady income for the coming years. In moving to Washington, she seems to have cut her ties with Cleveland voters. She is no longer mentioned as a possible Cleveland mayoral candidate. Although rumors circulate that she would challenge Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (as she briefly did in 2012), the question remains as to whether she still has a political base in Cleveland and the now far-flung reaches of Ohio’s 11th Congressional District.
Having cast her lot with Sanders, Turner can hardly expect anything from the loyal base of the Democratic party. They fully realize how important it is to defeat Trump and disparaging Biden is not helpful to the cause. Clearly, Turner need not apply for any position in a Biden administration. And if the Clintons have any influence, there will be no kind words in her anywhere.
Turner has tied her political wagon to the 78-year-old Bernie Sanders, now known only as an also-ran who probably did a lot to cause the defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016. If Sanders has hopes of passing any of his progressive agenda under a Biden administration, he should be distancing himself from Turner’s fecal matter comment. But his silence is downright deafening.
Turner apparently failed to realize that politics is a game of chess, not checkers — every move must be considered for his consequences two or three steps ahead. She did no long-range planning when she posed the possibility of eating a bowl of shit — she just got herself into a deep pile of it that may be difficult to dig herself out of.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
3 Responses to “COMMENTARY: Nina Turner and Fecal Matter – A Bridge Too Far”
irma bradford
She needs to take a bath in it! What is wrong with her? We just lost John Lewis and Elijah Cummings, both men gave up their lives for us and remained humble until the end. They both realized that it took patience and kept their eyes on the prize so we can succeed and have a better life and she is willing to give it all up because Sanders is not the candidate! John Lewis made it clear that he was not a trump fan but he maintained his dignity and worked with both parties and garnered everyones respect. She needs to grow up, if Sanders can give Biden his support so should she.
Alfonso Guildhorn
Obviously, she wasn’t brought to this country as a two-year-old and has to continually look over her shoulder because of a fear of deportation to a country where she knows nobody.
J. M. K.
Why would Biden comment on such an insignificant person? He’s a little more dignified than that, and certainly more then she is. Has-been