Sanders: This is a ‘tough day for millions of Americans’

Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday released an Inauguration Day message urging supporters to “fight back” against Donald Trump’s agenda.

“Today is going to be a tough day for millions of Americans, including myself,” Sanders said in a video posted on Twitter. “But our response has got to be not to throw up our hands in despair — not to give up — but in fact to fight back as effectively and as vigorously as we can.

“And our job is to keep our eyes on the prize, and the prize is that we will continue fighting for a government that represents all of us; not just the 1 percent,” he continued. “And we are going to go forward, in the fight for economic, social, environmental and racial justice. That’s who we are, that’s what we are going to do. We are not giving up.”

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Sanders’s comments were posted just hours before Trump was set to take the Oath of Office.

The Vermont senator gained a sizable following among progressive Democrats during the 2016 primaries with his critique of economic and social inequality in the U.S., but eventually lost the primaries to Hillary Clinton.

Sanders has said in recent weeks that he sees opportunities to work with Trump, particularly on job creation and a plan to overhaul the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Still, he has not shied away from criticizing the president-elect, and has vowed to oppose him on a number of issues, such as climate change, which Trump has called a “hoax.”’

Some protesters took to the streets of Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration. Bigger protests are expected on Saturday.