Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders signaled a willingness to cooperate with President-elect Donald Trump, via a statement that made no mention of defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“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.
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.
Sanders also left the door open to working with Trump to rebuild the middle class.
“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,” he said. “To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him,” said Sanders, who has long opposed mass-immigration and far-reaching free-trade deals.
While Sanders endorsed Clinton, he repeatedly hammered trade deals that gutted the middle class and slashed their wages.
“In my view it is wrong to ask American workers to compete against people in Vietnam” who work for extremely low wages, Sanders has said in opposition to the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.