Sanders Says He's Willing to Work With Trump
But the Vermont senator said he would not indulge racism.
— -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, the maverick independent who almost denied Hillary Clinton the Democratic nomination, said today that he was willing to work with Donald Trump on some issues.
"To the degree that Mr. Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country, I and other progressives are prepared to work with him," Sanders said today. "To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him.”
Trump regularly praised Sanders on the campaign trail after his defeat in the primaries, saying that he had started a movement.
But the real estate mogul said Sanders "made a deal with the devil," referring to Clinton.
Sanders seemed to acknowledge that Trump was a maverick just like him who tapped into populist anger.
"Donald Trump tapped into the anger of a declining middle class that is sick and tired of establishment economics, establishment politics and the establishment media," Sanders said in a statement.
"People are tired of working longer hours for lower wages, of seeing decent paying jobs go to China and other low-wage countries, of billionaires not paying any federal income taxes and of not being able to afford a college education for their kids - all while the very rich become much richer."
Both Trump and Sanders made economic arguments to what they said were forgotten segments of the population. And Trump frequently said that he and Sanders saw eye-to-eye on trade reform.