SLASH AND BERN

I' think what Trumpism is about is an understanding that the system in America is not working for working-class people," says Bernie Sanders. "In a phoney, hypocritical way, Trump has tapped into that. His quote-unquote 'solutions' will only make a bad situation worse."

- By Zoe Williams

In person, Sanders' 83 years read differently than in photograph, perhaps because of how conversational he is. His voice is magnetic-a Brooklyn accent that feels both warm and tough. "But what I have been aware of, and I've talked about it for years, is that in America, the very richest people are doing phenomenally well, while 60% our people live paycheck to paycheck." Later, he will say the same thing to an audience in London - only with more emphasis and passion. "Sixty per cent. Six-zero. Do you know what paycheck to paycheck means?" It's exhilarating to hav Sanders speak to a crowd: his zeal is reflected back in their faces, his moral clarity is such a relief, set against the cynicism and resignation of most of the Democratic party's opposition to Trump and his administration. Class war is as old as time, but it's a peculiarity of this age that you rarely hear a politician name it. "I do," he tells me.

"There is a class war going on. The people on top are waging that war." It's a look at what could have been. Sanders ran, of course, to be the Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, and again in 2020 first time, there was a real sense, in the US and abroad, that something incredible might happen: that someone with "almost no name recognition", he says, a senator from the small state of Vermont, might successfully challenge Hillary Clinton, whom the party had alread anointed. We all know how that worked out. Was it the greatest disappointment of his political life? "Well, you're too busy to feel things he says. "You're just working very hard." What is absolutely unequivocal is his criticism of the Democrats.