Bernie Sanders has made it his mission to establish himself as a man of the culture ahead of the 2020 election. Over the past few years, the presidential candidate’s sat down with Cardi B and Killer Mike, watched a furry fight a Jack Skellington cosplayer, and even joined Twitch. Last week, Bernie showed some love to New York by sitting down with the Bodega Boys for an interview on Showtime’s Desus & Mero, where they spoke about weed, Cardi B, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Hilariously, Bernie Sanders was introduced to sneakerhead culture. During one segment, the hosts brought out a number of kicks, asking Bernie if they were “Bernie-approved drip” before tasking him with guessing the resale value. His guess for a pair of Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 “Cactus Jacks”? $100. The answer: “$1,500.” Bernie’s face falls.
“This is a status thing?” he asks after learning a pair of Off-White x Air Jordan 1 “Chicagos” go for $4,500. “It’s a flex,” Mero replies. “You’re not a big flexer?” asks Desus. Bernie, shaking his head like a father who just found out what his children spend their allowance on, offers a terse “no.”
His sneaker of choice? A modest $50 pair of New Balances.
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Did I find this exceedingly charming? Yes, of course. Would I buy some Air Bernies? Psh, yeah. Â
Wouldnât the point of an âAir Bernieâ be that youâd made it yourself by writing âBernie 2020″ in sharpie on the side of a sensibly-priced sneaker?Â
Depends on how much the Sharpies cost. No more than $45-50 for everything.
I have been so resistant to warming up to Bernie, particularly because a lot of media covers him as the inverse Trump, still a angry old man yelling at the world. (Also, a lot of the Bernie fans I personally know are real jerks about it.) However, this got me good. I understand the fascination.
Well those donât exist, but you can buy some Bernie inspired Balenciaga stuff. The t-shirts are about $500.
Because if anything says âenemy of the bourgeoisieâ itâs a $500 t-shirt.
Firstly, they donât say âBernieâ they say âBalenciagaâ. The designer himself said they were not inspired by the Bernie logo. Supporters like myself were not amused by this, whether it was intentional or not. https://fashionista.com/2017/10/vogue-conference-balenciaga-bernie-sanders-logo
Itâs an identical logo, but sure definitely not at all inspired by Bernie. Sure Demna Gvasalia.Â
Made from 100% legal hemp.
He feels the same way about our wasteful war spending.
Are New Balances safe to wear now, or are they still in the okay symbol/Pepe realm of âoriginally fine but co-opted by racists so you should probably stay awayâ? They seem comfy, and I could use some new sneakers, but I donât want to walk around with tiki torches on my feet.
Man… I didnât realize that turned into a thing. There are so few affordable sneakers that are easily found in wide sizes.
depends on how many grass stains they have from mowing the lawn.
Eh, Larry David wears them and thatâs the main demographic, people just wanting comfy shoes.
FOH with that stuff. Sneakers are not racist, nor are they symbols of any kind of racism. The only way stupid shit like that happens is stupid ass people accepting that as a real thing.Unless you sharpie some swastikas on your K-Swiss… Then youâre probably a racist.
I canât lie. I have a few Fred Perry polos and I donât reach for the dark blue one much these days for fear of being associated with some Proud Boy incel loser.
The only way stupid shit like that happens is stupid ass people accepting that as a real thing.
You mean exactly how symbols work?
You can also leave with your nonsense responses. A brand of sneaker =/= a symbol. If 300 people on the internet decide to wear new balance cuz WHIATEPOWAH good for them. Itâs a very different debate than making an actual symbol for a group of people to âfly a flagâ.
Nowhere is it required that symbols be universally recognized or understood. If you want to claim that NB as a white power symbol doesnât have enough cultural permeation to matter to most people, yeah youâre probably right about that. But thatâs a very different debate than claiming that it doesnât matter to anyone. I work/have worked with high school and college students, groups that are keenly aware of memes and online conspiracies and similar Internet detritus, and it behooves me to stay ahead of potential assumptions/associations they might make about me. So while the majority might be free to wear certain brands with no greater concern than fleeting judgment by random strangers with no real impact on their lives, Iâand others in positions similar to mineâdo need to be mindful of presenting myself in ways that might be taken, even unintentionally on my part, as validation of detrimental points of view.
I get that. But my point is, you shouldnât. The fact that you do have to be hyper aware of this is because of stupid people being stupid. Acknowledging dumb shit gives it more power than it should ever have, and attributing the concept of racism to a brand of footwear definitely rings in as dumb shit.
Was that really a thing or just more 4chan trolling, like what they did to the okay hand gesture?
https://www.cracked.com/blog/how-alt-right-trolls-keep-tricking-mainstream-media/
Eh, I wear a pair to the gym for running. Theyâre comfortable as fuck and I also fucking hate Nazis.
Iâd be careful w/ $50 sneakers, especially from a major brand, regardless of whether the shoes are racist. That sounds like an arch problem waiting to happen, especially for an older guy like Bernie. He canât afford to be sidelined by plantar fascists.
I dont think they ever were a symbol really. I remember the controversy came when they supported a trump policy that benefited them and everyone spazzed and said they supported white supremacy then they put out a press conference saying they supported the same policy for Hilary, it just got amplified because people heard trumps name. That being said its very easy to see New Balance becoming the choice shoe of white supremacists because it does support those uppity athletes speaking out.
Iâm sure this gullibility will serve all of us Democrats well in the next election đđť
New balance supports trump, fuck that.Â
I canât imagine anyone who isnât terminally online choosing to look at your mass-market sneakers and determining that youâre a white supremacist based on them.
Some of us are in positions where the bulk of the people weâre in contact with on a daily basis are terminally online.
Canât say I give a fuck. If I need a pair of running shoes, Iâm going NB.
Thatâs not a thing. Theyâre definitely dad shoes though, and very comfortable.
theyâre fine. used to be NBâs were the only shoe for fat guys b/c they made wide sizes. but now Nike does too (iâm wearing a 4E right now). I went back from Nike to NB and found it was like walking in cement shoes, b/c the curve of the NB sole doesnât propel me forward like Nike does.
I switched off of NB a couple years ago when that was a bit of a thing. The big brands have plenty of options in the sub-$100 range, most of the major retailers are constantly running significant sales on about half their inventory, upshot you can still get solid everyday shoes in the $50 range and my experience is that Nike and Adidas outlast NB anyway so even if you pay $10-15 more you get the difference in wear.
Styles upon styles upon styles is what I haveYou wanna diss the Phifer but you still donât know the halfI sport New Balance sneakers to avoid a narrow pathMess around with this you catch a size eight up your ass
adidas and puma originated from nazis, so…..
I have a red Brooks Brothers Baseball cap that has been hiding in my closet for four years. I have no idea when it can come out again.Â
Iâm surprised Costco employee baseball caps are still red, honestly.
đż Jim Spanfellerâs đż months-long campaign of sabotage against the kinjaverse, his constant attempts to bully staff, his constant and concerted union-busting efforts, the murder of Splinter News (ahead of election) the woodchippering of Deadspin (on the eve of the World Series finale) – his henious actions have not gone unnoticed.We stand in solidarity with GMG staffLooking to follow them on twitter? Check out the list of following: https://twitter.com/SquinterMedia/following/
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Man, donât tell Bernie how much idiots pay for shoes, you are gonna break the guy and make him rethink everything. âThese assholes are paying 10k for shoes and are complaining they canât pay for the fucking Doctor, screw them I am going to hang out with Trump!!â.I kid, I kidAlso second article today with a big ass ad on the side that covers a quarter of the text, has no button to close and follows the scroll. Maybe the bosses need to stop with all the ads and âStick to AV stuffâ
The bosses donât care. I wasnât sure how a VC could sell off a website for parts, but apparently the way to do it is to take the ads that pay the best without regards for the user experience and make money off them for as long as you can till readers get annoyed enough to go away. Iâm not even being sarcastic here – I read at least one story on the death of Deadspin that described exactly that and I donât think they were being sarcastic.
Imagining Bernie Sanders trying to Tom Haverford shoes made my morning.âWhat do you want; itâs a shoe! Itâs well-constructed. The stitching is solid. You can walk five miles a day for two years before it falls apart. You can play the games and the sports with it, and it will keep its sole. The only thing you canât do is bowl with it, but thatâs because you have to rent special bowling shoes! Which, I might add, is a quintessential example of monopoly, and which I have a plan to solve!â
If there was ever a time to not feel guilty about ad-blocking here, itâs now.
I am running ABP and it is still letting some of this shit in.
ABP lets ads that they pay ABP for through, I recommend switching to uBlock Origin.
Thanks!
I never realized until today how much Bernie Sanders sounds like Larry David doing Steinbrenner. That gutteral tone.
Wait, what?! NB is a right wing thing?! This canât be THAT widely known or accepted, no? I have like 3 pair! 1 modern and two old schools 70s retros. I refuse to be co-opted by alt right incels!! And though Iâm supporting another candidate, I join Bernie in his disgust for these insane retail prices!!
Okay, now get him to eat hot wings.
lol – Bernie describing his sneaker design âif it had laces, thatâd be pretty goodâ.