Bernie Sanders: ‘Maybe I Would’ve Been Elected President’

Nearly one week out from last week’s surprise Donald Trump win, Bernie Sanders stopped by the Late Show on Monday night to chat with Stephen Colbert about what went wrong for Hillary Clinton-and to share what he thinks will be the path forward for the Democratic Party.

The senator, whose new book, “Our Revolution”, is available on Tuesday, told Colbert that he is pushing for “structural changes” in his party to make it more “grassroots”. “We have traveled too far to descend back into racism and sexism”. Republicans have taken control of the house and the senate, they’ll dictate the perspective of the Supreme Court for decades to come, and they’ve picked up major wins in state and local governments across the country. It’s possible we could have.

Sanders dismissed this speculation as unimportant in the face of a reality in which Trump holds the highest office in the land, while arguing that the Democratic Party must change if it hopes to better speak to American voters.

“The Democratic Party has got to make it very clear that it is the party of working people in 50 states in this country, not just in NY and California”, he said.

“I come from the white working class, and I am deeply humiliated that the Democratic Party can not talk to the people where I came from”, said Sanders, who ran against Hillary Clinton in the primaries for the Democratic Party’s 2016 election nomination. “Now is the time for Keith”, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said in a statement on Sunday.

Outside the halls of Congress, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is similarly responding to the election by attempting to determine who will lead the party. He listed the promises to invest a trillion dollars in infrastructure, to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour and six weeks of paid maternity leave among other things that he plans to hold Mr. Trump accountable to.

“And people are saying all over this country, black and white and Latino, what about me”, he added.

“I would hope that he understands he has an extraordinary opportunity, an unbelievable opportunity to say, ‘I said … awful things”.

Earlier Wednesday, Sanders had called on Trump to rescind the appointment of Steve Bannon as his chief strategist and senior counsel, echoing the rest of the Vermont congressional delegation and many congressional Democrats. “So, I look forward to working with him if he is going to be honest and consistent with his campaign rhetoric on improving the economy for working families, we’re going to oppose him vigorously in terms of his bigotry”.