Hi, i'm Kya. I'm 26 and I have a BA in Psychology w/ a Minor in Statistics from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. I also have some semi-professional experience in full-stack web-development. I currently work freelance as an AI Trainer. As a hobby, I engage in discourse regarding politics and psych/sexology, and I do some independent research in sexology (some of which will hopefully be published in the near future).
It's probably wrong to call it a "Red Herring". Bernie-likes are generally "democratic socialists" in particular. While "democratic socialism" is the most popular strand of socialism right now, it is certainly not the only popular one. Even the DSA, named for its basis in democratic socialism, actually has quite a large faction of more authoritarian leftists heavily influence by Marxism-Leninism (i.e. Stalinism).