Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the Democratic Party had control and “did virtually nothing for working people.”
Partial transcript as follows:
KARL: So we’re about 60 days into the Trump era, the second Trump era. How would you grade the Democratic Party’s response?
SANDERS: Well, I would take us back even two years before that, before Trump was elected, in saying that it saddens me that when the Democrats had control of the Senate, they did virtually nothing for working people. I have to say that. I’m a member of the Democratic Caucus as an Independent, so I’m not going to lie to you and tell you otherwise.
KARL: Yeah.
SANDERS: And since then, do I think the Democrats have been effective in rallying the American people, in stopping Trump’s movement toward oligarchy and authoritarianism? No, I don’t.
KARL: Is there anything that you think Trump has done right?
SANDERS: Yeah. I mean, I think cracking down on fentanyl, making sure our borders are stronger. Look, nobody thinks illegal immigration is appropriate, and I happen to think we need comprehensive immigration reform, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for people to be coming across the border illegally. So, we’ve got to work now on comprehensive immigration reform. The idea that Trump has, I don’t know what his latest numbers are. He wants to deport 20 million people who are in this country who are undocumented. Well, you do that, you destroy the entire country. Because, I got news for you, Trump’s billionaire friends are not going to pick the crops in California that feed us. They’re not going to work in meat packing houses. That’s what undocumented people are doing. So, we need a variety of programs, guest worker programs, but mostly comprehensive immigration reform.
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