Bernie Sanders thrashes Trump on Wall Street: 'I don't mean to be disrespectful, this guy is a fraud'

On Sunday's State of the Nation, CNN's Jake Tapper showed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) a clip of President Trump sitting next to top Wall Street executives on Friday and saying he expects to be "cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank, because frankly I have so many people, friends of mine, that have nice businesses, they can't borrow money." Sanders, who favors stricter regulation of Wall Street, grimaced.

"It is hard not to laugh to see President Trump alongside these Wall Street guys," Sanders said. "I have to say this, Jake — I don't mean to be disrespectful — this guy is a fraud. This guy ran for president of the United States saying, 'I, Donald Trump, I'm going to take on Wall Street — these guys are getting away with murder.' Then suddenly, he appoints all these billionaires," and moves to cut consumer protections. Trump also swore he would protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, then appointed people who will cut those programs, Sanders said.

Tapper said Sanders had warned during the campaign that Trump would pull this switcheroo, but a lot of his supporters apparently believed Trump was sincere and voted for him over Hillary Clinton, who Sanders had accused of too-close ties to Wall Street. Sanders didn't address the point directly, instead pointing to the gulf between Trump's promises and how Sanders believes he will govern. If Trump had said his real plans and people still voted him in, "that's fine, that's democracy," Sanders said. "But you have a president who, I think in a totally fraudulent campaign, said that 'I'm going to stand up for the working people.' Look at his Cabinet — we've never had more billionaires in a Cabinet in the history of this country — look at his appointees. These are people who are going to go after the needs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick, and the poor. That is called hypocrisy."

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Sanders did have one nice thing to say about Trump, though. "He is a good showman, I will give you that — he is a good TV guy," Sanders said. "But I think he is going to sell out the middle class and the working class of this country."