Bernie Sanders Argues Against Identity Politics During Speech in Boston

In the wake of the 2016 election, many are looking at what went wrong for Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Darty. Bernie Sanders, who ran against Hillary Clinton in the primary and has been vocal in the days since the election, spoke at Berklee about how the Democrats should rebuild, and about what kind of message they should have moving forward.

In his remarks, Sanders explained that Trump won the presidency by appealing to the working class. “The working class of this country is being decimated. That’s why Donald Trump won,” Sanders said. “And what we need now are candidates who stand with those working people, who understand that real median family income has gone down.”

Sanders also stated his belief that the Democrats should move beyond identity politics, and focus more on an economic message. “It is not good enough for somebody to say, ‘I’m a woman, vote for me.’ No, that’s not good enough,” Sanders said. “What we need is a woman who has the guts to stand up to Wall Street, to the insurance companies, to the drug companies, to the fossil fuel industry.”

In the wake of the election, it’s easy to read Sanders’ comments as a jab at his primary opponent, who lost to Trump in a shocking upset. Sanders was at Berklee promoting his book, Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. Although he is still an independent, Sanders was recently named to Democratic leadership, and has been vocal about his vision for the party’s direction following the Nov. 8 election.

Read Sander’s full remarks in the tweet embedded below.