Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., urged Vice President Kamala Harris to appeal to his supporters by explaining that the U.S. is "moving toward an oligarchic form of society."
Sanders, appearing Wednesday on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper," was asked if Democrat presidential nominee Harris needed to do something "stylistically" or "message wise" to be a more attractive option than the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.
"Here's the message, and it's a message that I know it's difficult for many politicians to bring forth. And that is the recognition that increasingly, the United States is moving toward an oligarchic form of society," said Sanders, referring to a country in which a small group of people have power.
"The economy is very clear. What's going on right now? The billionaire class and the 1% have never, ever had it so good, period. End of discussion. More income and wealth inequality than any time in American history, tens of millions of people, working people, struggling to put food on the table. That is the reality."
Sanders, who ran for the White House in the 2016 and 2020 elections, claimed the societal situation was not caused by today's politicians.
"It's not Kamala Harris's fault, it's not [President] Joe Biden's fault, not Donald Trump's fault, it's been that way for a long time, getting worse," Sanders said. "But, you know what, you got to recognize that, and then what you got to say is, 'Look, working people of America, I am on your side, and I am prepared to take on the billionaire class, including these wealthy campaign contributors who right now are dominating the political process.'"
Tapper mentioned to Sanders that a Pennsylvania voter had told CNN "the economy was higher, inflation was lower, things were better overall" during Trump's administration.
"Well, obviously, in my view, given the fact that Biden and Harris came in, in the midst of this terrible pandemic, when, as you recall, unemployment was soaring, small businesses were going out of business," Sanders said. "Workers were not going to work. We had a major public health crisis. I think that Biden and Harris did an excellent job, by the way, in getting our economy back on track in a way that economists did not even think possible. So I think they did a good job."
Sanders then returned to his message on economic inequality.
"The economy today is an economy where working class people are struggling. That is absolutely true," he said. "And what we have got to do is not just demonize undocumented people, which is Trump's mantra, but have the guts to talk about the greed of the people on top, people who fight workers when they try to organize unions, people prepared to shut down factories in this country and move them to Mexico or China.
"People who want massive tax rates, want to cut Social Security and Medicare. Do we have a political system today? Were members of Congress are prepared to stand up to these big money interests? And I think if we do that, she will understand that it's not Trump who's going to deliver for her [the voter] or Kamala Harris."