Bernie Sanders has some harsh words for the party he once hoped to lead.
In a May 19 appearance on the Flagrant podcast, Sanders joined hosts Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh in a rant about the Democratic Party’s handling of the 2024 presidential election, at one point agreeing with Singh that the party has become “a threat to democracy.”
The episode opened with Schulz introducing Sanders as having been “mocked, sidelined, and betrayed—and that’s just by his own party,” earning a laugh from the senator.
For the next 90 minutes, Sanders, 83, joined the hosts in a frank breakdown of his issues with the Democratic Party.
Schulz, who described himself as a “lifelong Democrat,” complained that establishment Democrats seemed incapable of connecting with young and working-class voters. Sanders echoed his woes, venting that even after losing the 2024 election, his colleagues still “won’t listen” to him about how to appeal to voters.
While Sanders credited the Biden administration for being open to discussion and “understanding that [Sanders] represented millions of people,” he said that willingness has gone away since the former president left office.
“You’ve got a Democratic establishment which is funded by wealthy people,” said Sanders. “You have consultants who are really way out of touch with reality who make a whole lot of money in campaigns, and the working class is ignored.”
The senator blamed Kamala Harris’ loss on these same consultants, saying he “begged” her team not to move forward with messaging that implied her presidency would be a redux of Joe Biden’s. However, the senator agreed with Schulz and Singh that Democrats had generally mishandled the 2024 election.
“Democrats, we felt that we didn’t have a say on who could be president,” lamented Schulz. “We talk a lot about the Republicans being autocrats and oligarchs and taking over democracy. But from the Democrat perspective—and I’m a lifelong Democrat—I felt like the Democratic Party completely removed the democratic process from its constituents. And I think they need to have some accountability [for] that.”
“No argument here,” Sanders replied.
However, Sanders did strongly disagree with one of his host’s points when Schulz expressed disappointment that, despite being sidelined by the establishment, Sanders continued to back Democratic nominees like Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
“[Trump] won anyway, so why not just burn it all down?” asked Schulz.
“Because it’s easy to say,” said Sanders. “But ‘burning it down’ means children will not have food to eat. The schools will deteriorate. People will not have healthcare. I’m an elected official. I’ve got to represent the people. I can’t turn my back on them.”
Singh interjected with another question: “But could we not also say, if there hasn’t been a fair primary for the Democrats since 2008, are they not also a threat to democracy?”
“Fair enough,” Sanders answered. “I’m not gonna argue with that.”
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