In Post-Election Speech, Bernie Sanders Pledges To Hold Donald Trump Accountable For Promises Made During The Campaign

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has had a huge week. His book Our Revolution came out on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Sanders was appointed to a leadership post in the Senate shortly before giving a major speech on what Americans can do after Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton and won the White House.

Our Revolution, a political action organization that promotes progressive politics, live-streamed the Sanders speech on Facebook.

“Toward the end of the campaign, [Trump] was actually using the term that many Democrats have used,” Sanders said.

“He was saying that he was going to be the champion of the American working class. Well, Mr. Trump, we have a list of everything that you said and we are going to hold you to account.”

Sanders went on to say that he believes the Democratic Party is in need of major reform. In his speech, Sanders listed several economic policies that appealed to Trump’s voters in the Rust Belt states that the Democrats fight for and are willing to work with Trump on.

“What Mr. Trump said and talked about is something that the pundits here in Washington have no clue about, and the corporate media has little very understanding about,” Sanders said.

“Despite the fact that today we are far, far better off economically after eight years of Obama than we were when Bush left office, and that is true, there is another reality, and that is that all across this country there are millions and millions of decent, good people who are frightened of the world that they are living in.”

After Clinton’s dramatic electoral college defeat to Trump, a few of the progressives being tossed around that represent the future of the Democratic Party are names like Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Keith Ellison.

Ellison officially announced he will run for DNC chairman next year and has already received numerous endorsements from top Democrats like Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, Warren, Sanders, and others.

The speech took place at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Sanders sharply criticized Trump for picking Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist and senior counsel.

“I call upon Mr. Trump to rescind the appointment that he made of Mr. Bannon,” Sanders said.

“The president of the United States should not have a racist at his side. Unacceptable.”

Schumer, who was elected minority leader of the Senate on Wednesday, delivered a nearly identical criticism of the president-elect’s decision to hire former Breitbart chairman in a speech to the progressive group Democracy Alliance on Monday.

“Steve Bannon’s appointment to a senior White House post signals that many of his dangerous and bigoted ideas will have a seat at the table in the White House,” Schumer said, according to Politico.

“We will be watching. And everyone here will be ready to actively stand up for one another if ever one group is attacked.”

Sanders also reminded a room full of supporters to remember the promises Trump made to the working class voters throughout the campaign, such as no cuts to social security, Medicaid, and Medicare while investing a trillion dollars in rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure.

“Pay attention to see what he now does,” Sanders said in his speech.

“The question that will be resolved pretty quickly is whether or not everything that he was saying to the working class families of this country was hypocrisy, was dishonest, or whether or not he was sincere, and we will find that out soon enough.”

In a statement issued the morning after Trump’s election, Sanders said that he’d be more than happy to work with Trump.

“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,” Sanders said.

“To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him.”

As the new Outreach Chair for Senate Democrats, Sanders will now play a key role in promoting the party’s agenda to citizens across the country. Townhall reports that Sanders will do so as a registered independent. His speech on Wednesday night proves that even though Sanders is 75-years-old, he’s ready for the challenge that will be working with and against the Trump presidency.

[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]