Democratic Party’s role after losing the presidential
election now is to hold President- elect Donald Trump accountable, former White
House aspirant Bernie Sanders said on Sunday.

“He (Trump) won the election. I did everything I could
to see that he not become elected, but he won. Our job now is to hold him
accountable,” Sanders, who lot to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in
the primaries, told CBS News.

“Trump claimed that he was the champion of the working
class of this country. And, as you know, there are millions people who are
working longer hours for low wages. They don’t have any health care. They can’t
afford to send their kids to college. They can’t afford child care,” the
75-year-old Vermont Senator said.

Sanders said if Trump has the courage to take on Wall
Street, to take on the drug companies, to try to work forward, go forward to
create a better life for working people, the Democratic Party will work with
him on issue by issue.

“But if his presidency is going to be about
discrimination, if it’s going to be about scapegoating immigrants or
scapegoating African-Americans or Muslims, we will oppose him vigorously,”
Sanders said.

Now that the Democrats have lost the White House, House of
Representatives and the Senate, it is time for the party leadership to do a lot
of rethinking and ask themselves, how does it happen that they have a
President, a US Senate, a House, and most governorships around this country
that are controlled by people who want to give huge tax breaks to billionaires,
in many instances, want to cut social security and medicare and medicaid,
Sanders said.

He called for introspection as to how people who do not even
believe in the concept, the understanding of climate change, which is virtually
unanimously agreed to by the scientific community have been elected to the
offices.

“How does it happen that they win elections and
Democrats lose? And I think what the conclusion is, is that Democrats are
focused too much with a liberal elite, which is raising incredible sums of
money from wealthy people in the upper middle class, but has ignored to a very
significant degree the working class and the middle class and low-income people
in this country,” Sanders rued.

“Look, the truth is, in my view, this country is moving
toward an oligarchic form of society, where a handful of billionaires and large
corporations control the economy. As a result of Citizens United, they now
control our political system, where the Koch brothers and the billionaires can
buy elections,” he alleged.

“They have undue influence over the media as well. What
the Democratic Party has got to say to working people, we are on your side. You
know what? We are going to take on Wall Street. We’re not going to take their
money.

We’re going to lower the cost of prescription drugs. We’re
going to raise the minimum wage. We’re not going to be the only country, major
country on Earth that doesn’t guarantee health care to all people,” he
added.