Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday was asked by a radio host from The Breakfast Club whether America needed another white man, like himself, to be president.
During the nationally syndicated morning-drive program on Power 105.1 in New York City, host Lenard Larry McKelvey, known professionally as Charlamagne Tha God, told Sanders that "44 out of 45 presidents in this country has been white men" and asked him if he thought "we need another one?"
"Well, I think you need this one," Sanders replied. "Look, we are living in an unprecedented time. We have the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country, somebody who is a pathological liar, a fraud, a racist, a sexist, a homophobe."
"You know, this is a bad news guy," the senator added. "The most important thing that has got to happen is that this dangerous president is defeated. I'm going to do everything I can to defeat him. I look forward to winning the Democratic nomination. And if I don't, I will support anybody else who's out there to defeat him, but this guy cannot win another term."
Later in the segment, the host pressed Sanders on whether he supported reparations. "What do we mean by reparations?" Sanders asked. "To my mind, it means we have to deal with the fact that there is enormous disparity between the black community and the white community. And that issue has got to be addressed."
"I think they mean some type of economic empowerment to the African-American community," Charlamagne said.
"What does that mean, economic empowerment?" Sanders continued. "I would do my best to change the banking system so that we pay attention to distressed communities that people get the loans that they need, to make the investments they need."
"Cash payouts?" Charlamagne asked.
"No," Sanders said. "You mean just a check to every African-American? Well then, there's a check to every Native American ... I think the way we go forward is we build America. There are distressed communities—white communities—distressed Latino communities."
Sanders returned to his hometown of Brooklyn on Saturday for his first rally after announcing his 2020 presidential bid last month. Speaking at the event, the 77-year-old called Trump the "most dangerous president" in recent U.S. history and promised his base a "political revolution."
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