AP Photo/Josh Reynolds
- In response to the election loss, Bernie Sanders is blaming Democrats, not Joe Biden.
- Democrats didn't get enough support from the working class, Sanders said.
- He said Donald Trump did a better job on economic issues.
Sen. Bernie Sanders isn't playing the blame-Joe-Biden game.
In the aftermath of Donald Trump's win in the presidential election, Sanders said the Democrats' loss was the result of losing touch with the working class — a statement that put Democratic leaders on the defensive.
"The working people of this country are extremely angry. They have a right to be angry," Sanders said on "Meet the Press" on NBC News on Sunday. "You got an economy today doing phenomenally well for the people on top. It is not working for the working class. All right? How do we address those issues?"
Comments like these from Sanders have drawn the ire of Democratic leaders like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told The New York Times last week that the election outcome may have been different if Biden had left the race sooner and the party had an open primary. In response to Sanders's criticism, Pelosi told the Times that she didn't "respect him saying that the Democrat Party has abandoned the working-class families."
Sanders said that Democrats have failed to pass legislation to support workers, especially on issues like raising wages and Social Security benefits.
"In the Senate, in the last few years, we have not even brought forth legislation to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, despite the fact that some 20 million people in this country are working for less than $15 an hour," he said. "If you're an average working person out there, do you really think that the Democratic Party is going to the mat, taking on powerful special interests and fighting for you? I think the overwhelming answer is no, and that is what has got to change."
Sanders also said that Trump responded more strongly to Americans stressed about the economy, even if he gave a "pretty crazy explanation."
"What Trump did in this election is to say, 'I know that you're hurting and the reason is you've got millions of people coming across the border illegally. They're eating your dogs,'" Sanders said. "The Democrats need an explanation, and that explanation is corporate greed and the power of the billionaire class. I know that's uncomfortable for people in the Democratic Party, some people, but that is the issue we have to address."