-Welcome back to our show.
Both Brooklyn kids, so I appreciate you
coming back on the show. -My pleasure.
-How are you feeling?
-I'm feeling good. -Yeah.
-Could feel better. -Yeah, okay.
[ Light laughter ]
Last night probably did not go as planned.
-No, it did not. We won one state.
We are in the lead in the second state up for grabs last night,
the state of Washington,
with about two-thirds of the votes cast.
But we lost some important states.
-So where is your head at right now?
-Well, my head is at...
that we have introduced an agenda, Jimmy,
that I think the American people now support.
And what poll after poll shows is that people support
raising the minimum wage to a living wage.
People now understand, especially with the Coronavirus,
that it is insane that we live in a nation
in which 87 million Americans are uninsured
or underinsured and can't get to a doctor when they should.
That we need a Medicare For All single payer program.
People got that.
People understand that in this day and age,
if you are going to make it into the middle class,
you need to be able to go to college,
regardless of your income, or go to a trade school.
That we got to make public colleges and universities
tuition free.
I think people understand that despite Trump's nonsense,
climate change is a real, existential threat
to our planet.
We got to take on the fossil fuel industry.
We got to transform the country.
On all of those issues, we have succeeded, I think,
in bringing the American people into a progressive agenda.
What we have also done, and I'm enormously proud of this,
is in poll after poll and election after election,
we win the overwhelming majority of young people.
The young people of this country are on our side.
Truth is, Biden does very, very well with older people,
and they vote.
Young people don't vote as much as I would like.
But the future of this country
believes in a progressive agenda,
which says that we need a government and an economy
that works for all, not just a few.
That we have to overcome the racism and the sexism
and the homophobia and the xenophobia
and religious bigotry that we're now experiencing.
So on all of those issues, we have succeeded.
Where we have not succeeded, frankly,
is that most people today think that
Joe is more electable than I am.
So we see people say, "Oh, we love you, Bernie.
We love your ideas, but I'm voting for Joe
because he's more electable."
Bet-- -Why?
Why do you think he's coming across as more electable?
-I mean, I think the fact that he was vice president
for eight years with Obama,
and Barack Obama remains a very popular figure
within the Democratic world.
I think that's one thing.
And I think the media has played a role in that as well.
But what I honestly believe --
and Joe is a friend of mine.
What I honestly believe is that in order to defeat Trump,
we need the largest voter turnout
in the history of this country.
Trump is not going to be easy to beat.
And I think you need a campaign of energy and excitement.
I think you're going to have to bring young people
into the political process in a way we've not seen before,
and I think you've got to get through to working class people,
who in many cases have given up on the political process.
They don't vote anymore.
They think nobody cares about them.
You know, they can't afford health care.
Can't afford child care.
Can't afford to send their kids to college.
Is anybody worried about them? Well, we are.
But they don't -- they've gone and given up,
and I think we are the campaign to bring those folks in.
-You think we can do that, yeah. -Yeah.
-Do you think -- say it is Biden,
do you think Biden can beat Trump?
-I do. I mean, I think, you know,
when you have a president who is a pathological liar.
[ Whistle, applause ] When you have a president --
[ Cheers and applause ]
When you have a president
who truly, apparently has never read
the Constitution of the United States...
[ Light laughter ]
...who thinks he is above the law,
who is a racist and a sexist and all of that stuff,
I think even, you know, Republicans and moderates
are going to say, "You know what?
We can't have four more years of this guy."
So do I think Joe can beat him? I do.
You know, between you and me, don't tell anybody.
[ Laughter ]
-Don't worry about it.
-I think we're the stronger campaign to do that.
-Yeah. You think you are. Yeah.
-I do. -What do you think about --
Are you getting pressure from the DNC for you
to step down and drop out?
-Well, there's been pressure from day one.
You know, I think it's no great secret
that there was a lot of nervousness at a time
when you had people like Amy Klobuchar
and Pete Buttigieg and Bloomberg
kind of splitting the more moderate vote.
So there was an effort to try to get rid of all of those folks.
-Because there was also that stuff,
Donald Trump has been saying for at least a month
that the DNC is trying to squash the Sanders campaign.
"They're never going to let him be the nominee.
Trust me, folks."
Do you think the president is right?
-What amazes me, here we have a stock market
that is collapsing.
You have a Coronavirus that is scaring the entire world.
We have climate change, which is a threat to the human planet.
And Donald Trump keeps worrying about the Democratic primary.
[ Light laughter ] So, Mr. President,
if you watch anything other than Fox --
I don't know that you do... [ Laughter ]
Why don't you do your job?
Pay attention to the needs of the American people.
Don't worry so much about the Democratic primary.
[ Laughter ] [ Cheers and applause ]
-I think he watches.
I think he watches.
So you announced today that you're not stepping down,
and you are going to the debate this Sunday.
-Right. -And this Sunday -- no audience.
-No audience, right.
-How will that affect the way you do a debate?
Is that going to be different for you?
-It will be different. I mean,
all of the other debates, I think this is like
the tenth or the eleventh debate, had audiences.
But it's okay.
What is most important -- this is the first debate
where there are only two people,
which makes it a very different debate
than when you have 8 people or 10 people or whatever.
-Did you hate those things? -I did.
-Those giant debates? -It was like a food fight.
You know? And -- [ Light laughter ]
And everyone's yelling and screaming.
And you can't get anything of substance.
I think on this debate with two people in two hours,
you know what, we are actually going to be able
to discuss the issues impacting the families of America.
-It's on CNN and Univision, so everyone tune in for that.