Bernie Sanders Calls On Donald Trump To ‘Man-Up’ And Congratulate Joe Biden

In an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called on President Donald Trump to “man-up” and congratulate Democrat Joe Biden for his apparent victory, The Hill reported.

Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, were projected the winners of the 2020 presidential race last week, but Trump has yet to concede. His campaign has alleged voting fraud, launching legal challenges in several battleground states.

Sanders told State of the Union host Jake Tapper that Trump is “undermining American democracy” by refusing to admit defeat and pointed out that the president has repeatedly told his supporters to disregard official results.

The senator then urged Trump to congratulate his opponent for the good of the country.

“The idea that he continues to tell his supporters that the only reason he may have lost this election is because of fraud is an absolutely disgraceful, un-American thing to do and I would just hope to God that he has the decency in him to man-up and say, ‘you know what, we fought hard, we lost the election, good luck to Joe Biden, I love America.'”

On Saturday, thousands of Trump supporters took to the streets of Washington, D.C., to protest what they apparently believe was a rigged contest. The protests took place despite the fact that Trump has no path to victory, being that he is projected to win 232 electoral votes, compared to Biden’s 290.

Sanders — who competed in the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries in 2016 and 2020 — also slammed Trump for refusing to participate in the transition process, noting that this has prevented Biden and his team from receiving intelligence briefings.

“The fact that he’s not even cooperating in the transition, the fact that he continues to deny reality, continue to suggest that Biden has illegally won the election is beyond belief in terms of behavior for an American president,” he said.

After dropping out of the Democratic primary race, Sanders threw his support behind Biden. Since then, however, he has criticized Democratic Party leaders for attacking progressive lawmakers.

As The Inquisitr reported, in a recent op-ed for USA Today, Sanders slammed party leadership for blaming left-wingers for losses in the House of Representatives. In his column, Sanders pointed out that progressive policy proposals such as Medicare for All enjoy broad support among the American people.

Though Trump has shown no sign of conceding, he has reportedly indicated to advisers that he accepts the results, and he is thinking about launching a 2024 bid.

A recent Harris poll found that 40 percent of Americans believe Trump will run again in four years, per Axios.