I can’t explain the former - I think it’s a false propaganda number four times the actual figure - but I can explain the latter.
Sanders is basically the leftist version of Trump - a vessel for boiling-over anti-establishment anger.
The Left was looking at a Clinton walk-in nomination. Clinton in many ways is the epitome of what they despise - a pandering, pro-war, corporatist weathervane. What you and I see when we look at people like Romney, Boehner, Paul Ryan, is what they see when they see Clinton.
Clinton had all other potential opponents intimidated out of the way, and into the void stepped Sanders - who, compared to Clinton, is an icon of integrity, who actually does appear to care about what they care about, who has real credibility to that end.
Sanders is the grassroots Democrat’s weapon to wrest control of their party from the establishment. Trump fills the same role for the GOP. It’s the same phenomenon happening on both sides, with the entire system in the hands of a Uniparty of bribe-gorged corrupt establishment elitists who have no genuine values other than the will to power.
The thing about Sanders that I find funny is that he has been in Congress for 30 years he is part of the establishment and part of the problem.