On Monday, just as Bernie Sanders was poised to win the New Hampshire primary, Meet the Press anchor Chuck Todd took the opportunity to complain about the candidate’s online supporters, quoting a right-wing writer who called them Bernie’s “digital brownshirt brigade.”

The language was extreme, especially given that Bernie’s extended family was killed in the Holocaust by actual Nazis, but the theme wasn’t new: cable news pundit or other mainstream media personality compares Bernie supporters online to a dangerous mob, motivated by contempt and driven to cruelty, prevented from storming the fortress only by the bulwarks of centrism.

One reason why this theme is so popular is that the professional pundit class is genuinely startled and stung by the phenomenon of ordinary people being nasty to them online about politics, their very own area of expertise. One detects a note of injury in Chuck Todd’s lament when he says, “We’ve all been on the receiving end of the Bernie online brigade.” In fact, only three days prior Todd had faced a backlash online from Bernie supporters after defending the honor of billionaires on air. No doubt he was airing a personal grievance.