As anti-GOP protesters amp up their tactics, confronting officials in restaurants and other public spaces, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) skirted around any condemnation of the behavior in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday.

“I am very strongly in favor of mobilizing the American people to stand up and fight for economic justice and social justice and racial and environmental justice, and I think we have to mobilize people,” he told the State of the Union host, adding that he’s “not a great fan of being rude or disrupting activities.”

Continuing, Sanders said what mattered in elections was voter turnout, urging those upset with the status quo to speak out at the ballot box.

“If you are out there and you’re sick and tired of what’s going on, of the very rich getting richer while the middle class continues to struggle, then you are going to have to not only get out and vote but you’re going to have to get your friends and your families to vote,” he said.

Last week, former Attorney General Eric Holder made headlines for revising former First Lady Michelle Obama‘s famous statement on ugliness in politics, “when they go low, we go high,” changing it to “when they go low, we kick them.”

While Holder has since said that the remark was made to encourage a tougher stance on the left, Sanders said, “I don’t think it’s a question of going high or going low. I think it’s a question of telling the truth. And the truth is that you have a president who lies all of the time, a pathological liar. I don’t think that’s what the American people want.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

[Image via screengrab]

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