Sanders knocks Trump in MLK Day speech

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a speech commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday accused President Trump of trying to divide Americans.

“Today we say to Donald Trump: We are not going back to more bigotry, discrimination and division,” Sanders said at an NAACP rally in Columbia, S.C.

“We are going forward toward a non-discriminatory society where, as Dr. King reminded us, we judge people not by the ‘color of their skin, but by the content of their character,’ ” he added.

{mosads}Sanders said Trump has done what no other president in modern history has: “[I]nstead of bring us together as Americans, he has purposely and aggressively attempted to divide us up by the color of our skin, by our gender, by our nationality, by our religion and by our sexual orientation.”

Sanders, who is expected to run again for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2020, called Trump a racist, a line he has repeated many times. 

He used the speech to tout many of his policy platforms, like a $15 an hour minimum wage and “Medicare for all.” 

He also called for “real criminal justice reform” that includes investing in jobs and education, instead of “more jails and incarceration.” 

Sanders also criticized the border wall Trump wants to build, arguing the money should instead be used to “put people in this country to work building the affordable housing we desperately need.”