Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the self-described socialist running for president in the Democratic primary, says Donald Trump is tapping into the anger of many "right-wing Republicans" who think President Obama is a foreign-born Muslim.
"I can't tell you all of the reasons why Trump is as popular as he is, but clearly he is tapping an anger in America," Sanders said on Boston Herald Radio on Monday.
"What concerns me about the way he is doing it is to tap that anger and say 'look you see all these Mexicans who come into this country,'" he continued. "I mean making outrageous statements like you know 'we all know' - or something to the effect that - 'Mexicans are rapists and they're all criminals or whatever they are' and just the other the day when somebody asked right here in New Hampshire I guess, what was it 'that we all know that President Obama is a Muslim who wasn't born in this country,' I mean total nonsense and not rejecting that."
Sanders said Trump was tapping into the instincts of people who believe these things, something he finds disturbing.
"And the reason for that is sad to say that what polls show is there many, many Republicans, right-wing Republicans who actually still believe - to this day - that Barack Obama was not born in America or that he is not a Christian and you know to tap on those kind of base instincts I find very disturbing," he said.
Sanders, meanwhile, said his supporters and campaign were nothing like Trump's.
"What we are trying to do is something very, very different, yeah. We're talking about anger in America, people are angry," stated the senator. "You would be angry. The average male today makes $700 dollars less in real inflation accounted for income than he made 42 years ago. How does that happen with all of the productivity that we have seen? People are angry. They should be angry and we're trying to provide constructive answers to say that the middle class and working class in this country deserve a fair shake. We're trying to do things very, very differently than the way Trump does it."
Take a listen to the audio:
