Bernie Sanders has hinted at plans to run for president again in 2020, saying in a Thursday interview that he intends to be Donald Trump’s “worst nightmare.”
“Four years is a long time from now,” said the 75-year-old Vermont senator, noting that he faces re-election to the Senate in 2018. But he added: “We’ll take one thing at a time, but I’m not ruling out anything.”
Sanders also issued a bristling riposte to the Democratic party establishment, calling them out for running the wrong campaign for the times and becoming hopelessly out of touch with their base.
“It is an embarrassment, I think, to the entire Democratic Party that millions of white working-class people decided to vote for Mr. Trump,” Sanders told the Associated Press. “Which suggests that the Democratic message of standing up for working people no longer holds much sway among workers in this country.
“You cannot be a party which on one hand says we’re in favor of working people, we’re in favor of the needs of young people but we don’t quite have the courage to take on Wall Street and the billionaire class,” he wrote today. “People do not believe that. You’ve got to decide which side you’re on.”
If Donald Trump takes people's anger and turns it against Muslims, Hispanics, African Americans and women, we will be his worst nightmare.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 10, 2016
Sanders wrote in a statement yesterday that he is willing to cooperate with Trump “to the degree that Mr. Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country.”
However, Sanders expressed doubts about the likelihood of this happening. Unlike many in the political arena, Sanders’ pronouncements regarding Trump have not changed since the election.
“I hope I’m wrong, but I believe that he is a fraud, and I think despite all of his rhetoric about being a champion of the working class, it will turn out to be hollow,” Sanders said.