In a stark contrast to the Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tweeted on Saturday that he does not think the majority of Donald Trump supporters are racists and sexists. He does, however, think they are wrong to support the candidate, but does not think they're inherently bad people.
I do not believe that most of the people who are thinking about voting for Mr. Trump are racist or sexist.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 5, 2016
Some are, but I think most are people who are hurting, they’re worried about their kids, they’re working longer hours for lower wages.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 5, 2016
Our job is to reach out to Trump voters to tell them that we’re going to create an economy that works for all of us, not just a few.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 5, 2016
Compare this, of course, to the rhetoric espoused by Clinton in September:
Charming stuff.
Of course, Sanders is correct. Most Trump supporters aren't racist or sexist. Sure, some are, but most of them are either fed up with the status quo or simply cannot fathom the idea of a Hillary Clinton presidency. This does not make them bad people, which is a concept that has seemingly been lost this cycle from the beginning.
A little over a year ago, during the first Democratic primary debate, Clinton cited "The Republicans" as the enemy that she was most proud of. Republicans--also known as a group consisting of roughly half of the American population. (The other candidates said the coal lobby, the NRA, an enemy soldier who attempted to kill him, and Wall Street were the enemies they were proudest of.) None of those groups encompasses as a large segment of the population as Clinton's "proudest enemy"--and she's been starkly unapologetic about that remark. If Clinton were to be elected on Tuesday, how is there going to be any sort of bipartisan compromise on anything?
Perhaps she should look to Sanders as an example of how to properly treat people with whom you disagree.