Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Wednesday ripped into the Democratic Party for abandoning working-class people after Donald Trump handily beat Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
"It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them," the Democratic socialist said in a statement on X.
"First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they're right."
Trump piled up support among Hispanic voters, young people, and Americans without college degrees.
The starkest increase may have been the 14-percentage-point swing in Trump's share of Hispanic voters, according to an exit poll conducted by Edison Research. Some 46% of self-identified Hispanic voters picked Trump, up from 32% in the 2020 election, when Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
"Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?" Sanders asked.
"Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy, which has so much economic power?
"Probably not," he said.