When Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO and unlikely Brand New fan Martin Shkreli bought the rights to the toxoplasmosis-fighting drug Daraprim and promptly raised the price by more than 5000 percent, the internet responded in kind with an estimated 5000 percent increase in disgust for the pharmaceutical industry at large. Daraprim, used by AIDS and cancer patients, saw its per-pill cost balloon from $13.50 to an astounding $750. After facing the wrath of people who don’t necessarily enjoy the presence of someone who really thinks being an AIDS drug price hiker is a good idea, Shkreli ultimately agreed to seek a "small profit" only.
Bernie Sanders, however, hasn’t forgotten about Shkreli’s original claim to fame: pharmaceutical greed. When the trash man requested a meeting with Sanders and donated a reported $2,700 to his campaign, Sanders essentially responded with a more politically correct version of the middle finger. "He is the poster boy for pharmaceutical company greed," Sanders spokesperson Michael Briggstold Mashable in a statement. "We don't want his stinkin' money." Shkreli's contribution will instead be redirected to Whitman-Walker Health, a center specializing in the treatment of HIV/AIDS based in Washington D.C.
Sanders, arguable debate victor and tremendous dancer, has actually been making similarly quiet moves all week. Without any fanfare or attempts at politically capitalizing on its potential virality, Sanders met with Sandra Bland's mother prior to Tuesday's debate. In a detailed account of the meeting quoted by the Huffington Post, Rev. Hannah Bonner reveals Sanders' meeting with Geneva Reed-Veal was actually spurred by a happenstance encounter:
We asked Senator Sanders if we could take a picture with him and he consented. He did not impose upon Ms. Geneva to ask for a picture of his own. He did not use the moment as an opportunity to promote his campaign. He took no record, he made no statement. He did not try to turn it into a publicity stunt. He simply made space for a sacred moment, and then let it pass without trying to gain anything from it.
