Bernie Sanders mulling 2020 run: Trump must be 'defeated'

Sen. Bernie Sanders is eyeing a 2020 bid to get President Donald Trump out of the White House, he said on ABC’s The View Monday.

“I would not be honest with you if I did not say that I am thinking of that," Sanders said. "Also, there are other great candidates out there, many of them personal friends of mine. I think what is more important right now is that Trump be defeated, his hateful rhetoric and his divisiveness, and that we come together as a nation respectfully.”

Sanders is one of Trump’s most vocal critics, having called him the “most racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted president in history.”

“There is so much work to do that we don’t need to spend our time listening to someone trying to divide us up,” Sanders said. “The job of our president in these difficult times is to bring our people together, not to divide people up with cheap votes.”

Sanders said that while he agreed with Trump on issues like infrastructure reform and reducing high drug prices, the senator questions whether there will be “meaningful legislation” to combat them.

Sanders also criticized the Trump administration's handling of the migrant caravan – part of that group is currently holding at the U.S.-Mexico border. Over the weekend, U.S. troops used tear gas to disperse crowds seeking asylum at the border.

Sanders criticized the president for sending troops to the border and said Trump has "strong authoritative tendencies."

“I worry very much about the first time using the military in that way in this country,” Sanders said.

In the midst of the broader immigration issue, Sanders said it is clear that immigration reform is necessary, but asked Americans to consider the welfare of those seeking entrance into the U.S.

“We have got to understand who these people are and where they are coming from," Sanders said. "In most cases, these are men, women, and children who are coming from countries ... where the poverty rate is abysmally high, where there is crime, where there is drug cartel violence that is really terrible.”

Sanders, in the midst of a media blitz promoting his new book, “Where We Go From Here,” called on the newly-Democratic Congress to push hard for reform on universal healthcare and a higher minimum wage, not just hot-button topics like immigration.

“I hope the day has changed, and I hope the Democrats, not only on immigration reform, move this country forward to guarantee healthcare as a right, that if you work 40 hours a week you should not be living in poverty.”

“Democrats are now taking control over the House and I hope that we can come together,” Sanders said.

Sanders is among a slew of big-name Democrats who have voiced interest in the Oval Office in 2020, including former Vice President Joe Biden and outgoing Rep. Beto O’Rourke.