Bernie Sanders Talks Trump, Protests, and Future of the Democratic Party on 'The Late Show'

Bernie Sanders made an appearance on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' on Monday to talk about Trump, protests, and the future of the Democrats.

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Bernie Sanders was a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday night, and during his appearance on the show, he discussed the 2016 presidential election, how the Democrats and our country can move forward now that Donald Trump has been elected president, and his new book Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In.

"It's been a tough week," Sanders told Colbert at the start. He then went on to discuss the Trump campaign and how he believes the president-elect appealed to voters.

"Above and beyond, the incredible bigotry of the Trump campaign, what he did is he tapped into a lot of pain and anxiety and angst that the American people are feeling, which is very rarely reported in the media or understood by the punditry," Sanders said. "I think what the punditry and the establishment does not understand, there are a lot of people in this country who are suffering, who are hurting, who are scared to death about tomorrow for their kids."

Nonetheless, Sanders said he doubts Trump is a "hero of the working class America," but he added, "I hope I'm wrong."

Regarding the anti-Trump protests that have been taking place around the country, Sanders said supportively, "I think people are expressing their feelings. They're exercising their constitutional rights."

He also continued to slam Trump. "Trump's views are a minority," he said. "People do not think we should give tax breaks to billionaires. They do believe we should raise the minimum wage and have pay equity for women."

Sanders said he feels that message could help fix the struggling Democratic Party. "Democrats should not be losing to a candidate who insults so many people, who wants to give huge tax breaks to the top two-tenths of one percent and rejects climate change," he said. "How are we losing these elections?"

And he finished by laying out his plan for what Democrats should do in the future. "Our job now, in my view, is to figure out how to create an effective opposition," he said, while arguing that the Democrats should be a "grass-roots party." "Our job is to bring tens of millions of people together to say, number one, this country is not an oligarchy—it’s a democracy. And number two, you’re not going to split us up by attacking our Muslim friends or our gay friends or women or anybody else. We’re going to stand together and fight for a government and an economy that works for all of us." 

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Sanders caused the crowd to erupt into applause towards the end of his appearance. "Now more than ever, it's our revolution," he said. "The Democrats cannot continue to be run by what I call a 'liberal elite.' Our job right now is get involved heavily into the political process. When millions of people stand up and fight back, we will not be denied."

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