Sanders is losing his mind. He’s not sure Democrats can ever recover.
And Bernie Sanders is sweating buckets after sounding the alarm on the Democrat Party.
Sanders Shifts Focus from Schumer, Urges Democratic Party Overhaul
In a fiery CNN interview with Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont didn’t hold back. While many have been pointing fingers at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sanders argued the real issue runs far deeper than one man. “I know everyone’s beating up on Chuck, and I strongly disagree with him. Strongly. No one is in the caucus more critical of Schumer than I am. But it’s not Schumer, it’s the caucus. It’s not the caucus, it’s the Democratic Party,” Sanders declared, urging a moment of reflection. “You’ve got to take a deep breath.”
Schumer’s been catching heat since Friday, when he crossed party lines to back a Republican-supported spending bill, a move that staved off a government shutdown but left many Democrats fuming. He’s stood by his choice, even as the criticism piles up. But Sanders isn’t buying the narrative that Schumer’s the sole problem.
Instead, he’s calling out the entire Democratic machine, painting it as a party “heavily dominated by the billionaire class, run by consultants who are way out of touch with reality.” In his view, the Democrats have lost their connection to the ground level, boasting “virtually no grassroots support.”
Sanders has a vision, though—one that involves shaking things up from the inside. “So, what we are trying to do is, in one way or another, maybe create a party within the party, of bringing millions of young people, working-class people, people of color, to demand that the Democratic Party start standing with the working-class of this country, and take on the very powerful corporate interests that have never had it so good,” he told Collins. It’s a bold call to action, one that sidesteps the usual top-down power plays.
When Collins pressed him on whether Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might challenge Schumer in a 2028 primary, Sanders waved off the speculation.
“Look, the issue right now is not worrying about a primary three years from now, whenever it is going to be. That’s media stuff, Kaitlan. That’s not what people are worried about. What we have got to do now is wake up,” he shot back. For Sanders, the focus isn’t on future political showdowns—it’s on rallying the troops today.
He doubled down on that point, stressing the need for a grassroots surge. “The vast majority of the American people do not believe that we should give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Medicaid, cut Social Security, cut veterans’ programs and nutrition. And our job is to rally the people, at the grassroots level, have them run for school board, or Congress, or the Senate, on an agenda that says that we’re going to stand up for working-class people, not the rich. That’s what we’ve got to do in this moment,” Sanders insisted.
This isn’t a new tune for Sanders. Since President Donald Trump’s 2024 victory, he’s been hammering the Democrats for turning their backs on everyday Americans.
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working-class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” he said in the wake of Trump’s win.
Democrats Still Reeling from 2024
Fast forward to March 2025, and the Democratic Party is still licking its wounds from last year’s election losses. Trump’s return to the White House caught many in the party off guard, exposing fractures that had been simmering for years.
The sting of defeat has left Democrats scrambling to figure out where they went wrong, with finger-pointing and soul-searching dominating their ranks. Sanders’ latest comments only amplify the unease, shining a spotlight on a party that seems caught between its progressive wing and its establishment core.
The 2024 debacle wasn’t just a presidential loss—it rippled through Congress, too. Democrats saw their Senate majority slip away and their House numbers shrink, a double blow that’s forced a reckoning. Party leaders have tried to project unity, but behind closed doors, the tension is palpable
Progressives like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are pushing for a hard pivot toward working-class priorities, while moderates argue for a more cautious approach to win back swing voters. The result? A party that’s talking past itself, unable to settle on a clear path forward.
For now, the Democrats are stuck in a kind of limbo, haunted by what-ifs and grappling with an identity crisis. Trump’s win has emboldened his base and left his opponents playing catch-up, with no easy fix in sight.
As Sanders sees it, the clock’s ticking—and unless the party can reconnect with the people it claims to represent, 2024 might just be the start of a longer slide.
Stay tuned to the Conservative Column.
