Bernie Sanders vows he would call Trump a 'racist' right to his face in a debate

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Reaction and analysis from former Bernie Sanders surrogate Chuck Rocha on 'Fox & Friends First.'

Sen. Bernie Sanders declared after Thursday night's debate that he would call President Trump a "racist" right to his face if the two ever met on a similar stage.

In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper after the Democratic presidential debate in Miami, the Vermont senator was asked whether he is "prepared to call [Trump] a racist to his face."

"Absolutely," he answered. "Look, it gives me, honestly, no pleasure to say that, I have conservative friends who are certainly not racist. You know, we can disagree in this country.”

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Sanders ticked off several actions by Trump that he deemed to be racist, including birther claims against then-President Barack Obama, along with Trump's "attacks" on immigrants and Muslims.

“If you look at Trump, if you look at Trump’s life, history ... yes, sad to say we have a bigot in the White House and that’s exactly what I would say to him," said Sanders.

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In a separate interview after the debate, the Democratic socialist called out "ageism" against former Vice President Joe Biden, specifically from Rep. Eric Swalwell, who called on Biden to "pass the torch."

"I think that's kind of ageism to tell you the truth," Sanders responded. "And I think what we're trying to do and all of us are trying to do is to end discrimination in this country against women, against minorities, against the LGBT community, and I think ageism as well."

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During the debate, Sanders also made headlines by proposing an idea of "rotating" Supreme Court justices.

"I do believe constitutionally we have the power to rotate judges to other courts and that brings in new blood into the Supreme Court and a majority I hope that will understand that a woman has a right to control her own body and that corporations cannot run the United States of America," he said.