Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday went after President Trump, calling him “the most racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted president in history” during a campaign event for Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous (D).
Campaign staffers “are working to make sure that the agenda of the most racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted president in history will go nowhere because Democrats will control the House and the Senate,” Sanders said of campaigns across the country.
{mosads}Trump’s rhetoric has been thrust to the center of a national debate over the country’s political divide, with critic’s suggesting Trump bears some responsibility for the climate that led to explosive devices being sent to the president’s critics and a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday that killed 11 worshippers.
The White House has condemned both the mailed explosive devices and the Pittsburgh shooting while denying any culpability.
“I think it’s irresponsible to blame the president and members of his administration for those heinous acts,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a press briefing Monday.
Sanders is considering another presidential run in 2020, refusing to commit to serving a full six-year term if he is reelected Tuesday, as is expected.
“Right now, my focus is on the year 2018, but if you’re asking me to make an absolute pledge as to whether I’ll be running for president or not, I’m not going to make that pledge. The simple truth is I have not made that decision. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I may not run. I may. But on the other hand, I may not,” he said at a forum Monday night in Vermont.
Should Sanders run, he will likely be joining a large group of Democratic candidates seeking to prove their anti-Trump bona fides.