--- title: Bernie Sanders Responds to Donald Trump's Win description: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders released a statement in response Donald Trump's election victory canonical: https://time.com/4565698/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-election/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-10T00:08:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:19.523Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bernie Sanders Says Trump 'Tapped Into the Anger of a Declining Middle Class' og:description: But Sanders said he would oppose any "racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies" og:url: https://time.com/4565698/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66ea6e226d3c5bca/6988adf5428a9e62f5cd4f51/bernie-sanders-trump-react.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Bernie Sanders og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bernie Sanders Says Trump 'Tapped Into the Anger of a Declining Middle Class' twitter:description: But Sanders said he would oppose any "racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66ea6e226d3c5bca/6988adf5428a9e62f5cd4f51/bernie-sanders-trump-react.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders Says Donald Trump 'Tapped Into the Anger of a Declining Middle Class' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 10, 2016 12:08 AM UTC  Bernie Sanders on September 28, 2016 in Durham, New Hampshire. Bernie Sanders on September 28, 2016 in Durham, New Hampshire.Justin Sullivan—2016 Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 10, 2016 12:08 AM UTC Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders finally [commented](http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-statement-on-trump) on Donald Trump’s [election victory](http://time.com/4564440/donald-trump-wins-2/?xid=homepage), saying “Trump tapped into the anger of a declining middle class that is sick and tired of establishment economics, establishment politics and establishment media.” Sanders echoed his own [presidential campaign’s message](http://time.com/4550015/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-democratic-party-pressure/) by noting that American people are “tired of working longer hours for lower wages, of seeing decent paying jobs go to China and other low-wage countries.” He added that people are also sick of seeing “billionaires not paying any federal income taxes,” something Trump may have been [able to do for more than a decade](http://time.com/4515840/donald-trump-tax-records-loss/). Trump himself performed better than expected in Rust Belt states — exactly where Sanders did well in the primary. “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 wrote in conclusion. “To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4565698/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4565698/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-election/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders Says Donald Trump 'Tapped Into the Anger of a Declining Middle Class'","datePublished":"2016-11-10T00:08:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:19.523Z","description":"\"To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him\"","url":"https://time.com/4565698/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-election/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66ea6e226d3c5bca/6988adf5428a9e62f5cd4f51/bernie-sanders-trump-react.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66ea6e226d3c5bca/6988adf5428a9e62f5cd4f51/bernie-sanders-trump-react.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bernie Sanders","caption":"Bernie Sanders on September 28, 2016 in Durham, New Hampshire.","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4565698/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-election/","name":"Bernie Sanders Says Donald Trump 'Tapped Into the Anger of a Declining Middle Class'"}}]}] ```