Bernie Sanders continued his media tour ahead of the release of his book and following the results of Election 2016, sharing plenty of thoughts on Donald Trump and what needs to happen next for America. He echoes a lot of what he’s been posting online and in public appearances, but he’s also striking directly at the president-elect when given the chance. Conan asks him a few direct questions about Trump’s recent Twitter antics and his meetings with Mitt Romney, prompting the senator from Vermont to refer to the messages as “delusional and insane” and say that Romney was right when he called Trump a con man.
Sanders also decides to strike at the media for their insistence on covering Trump at every turn and waiting too long to put some checks out on him. It’s hard to curb on the Trump coverage when you’ve been a heavy user for a year or more, but there’s definitely something to be done. Today’s burning flag coverage knocks that sentiment home.
Sanders then spends the rest of the interview basically making a plea to his supporters and the rest of the public. Not only does he say that we can’t dump the political process, but he’s quick to say that anybody who wants to suppress the vote should get out of politics because it clearly isn’t where they belong. It’s a pretty strong statement, but not a surprise given the source.
He then finishes by taking on the question that a lot of supporters and critics of Hillary Clinton have been debating since election day. Could Sanders have beaten Trump in the general election? Most of the polls seem to indicate yes, but it’s hard to trust a poll after what we just went through on election day. They were a little off the mark. So he can’t say that for certain, but he does say that he wishes he got the chance. I’m sure he’s not alone there.