Sanders Told A Female Reporter Not To 'Moan' About Hillary Clinton

On Tuesday, MSNBC anchor and news correspondent Andrea Mitchell interviewed presidential candidate and proud progressive Bernie Sanders.

As Mitchell tried to discuss the challenges that fellow Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has come up against -- especially where misogynist rhetoric from Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is concerned -- Sanders responded with a phrase that could have come from Trump himself: "Do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton's problems."

MSNBC reporter Alex Seitz-Wald tweeted the transcript of the full exchange between Mitchell and Sanders for context:

Sanders is not the first (and won't be the last) person to reduce a woman's experience to the act of "moaning." And regardless of shared political affiliations and goals, when a man tells a woman that she is "moaning," like Sanders did to Mitchell, he is discrediting her opinion and shutting her down -- and, in this case, also invalidating Clinton's particular experiences as a woman running for public office.

Sanders may not fully understand Clinton's roadblocks in this election. After all, Sanders seems to be able to show up just about anywhere, disheveled and shouting -- only to be the more charming for it. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton can't so much as get a haircut without attracting swarms of criticism.

People (mostly men, but also some women) are especially keen on telling women to stop "moaning" or "nagging" when women speak up about instances of inequality and injustice. A quick browse through "moan"-worthy headlines in the past two years shows that demanding equal pay, for example, makes men particularly defensive.

What makes Sanders' statement so disappointing is that throughout his campaign, he has cemented himself as the prophet of progressives. And yet not even he -- Civil Rights protestor, socialist, feminist -- is immune to nullifying a woman's opinion with coded language. Whatever his disagreements with Clinton's policies -- or Mitchell's interpretation of the presidential race -- may be, shrugging off a woman's opinion as a mere "moan" is never OK.

As long as men hold on to positions of power while women are simultaneously held to higher standards, there will be plenty of "moaning." And only when a woman can run for president without being told to "smile" will the days of "moaning" be over.

Until then, men, get used to it.