Former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenPelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Hillicon Valley: Subpoenas for Facebook, Google and Twitter on the cards | Wray rebuffs mail-in voting conspiracies | Reps. raise mass surveillance concerns Fox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio MORE told wealthy donors at a Tuesday evening fundraiser that he does not want to “demonize” wealth because he finds “rich people are just as patriotic as poor people.”

“Remember I got in trouble with some of the people on my team, on the Democratic side,” the Democratic front-runner said. “Because I said, ‘You know what I’ve found is rich people are just as patriotic as poor people.’ Not a joke. I mean, we may not want to demonize anybody who has made money,” Biden told 100 supporters at the Manhattan event.

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The comments come as a several of Biden’s opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination have focused on wealth disparity in the U.S., vowing to boost taxes on the wealthiest Americans to pay for policies they say seek to close economic gaps.

“We can disagree in the margins, but the truth of the matter is it’s all within our wheelhouse and nobody has to be punished. No one’s standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change,” Biden said.

The former vice president appeared to take a veiled swipe at Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersThe Hill's Campaign Report: Trump faces backlash after not committing to peaceful transition of power Bernie Sanders: 'This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy' The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump stokes fears over November election outcome MORE (I-Vt.), a self-proclaimed democratic socialist and the primary competitor polling closest to Biden most often, over his goal of a “political revolution,” suggesting his policies may overreach in trying to buoy low-income families.

“When we have income inequality as large as we have in the United States today, it brews and ferments political discord and basic revolution,” Biden said.

He went on to jab at President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE, saying economic disparity “allows demagogues to step in and say the reason where we are is because of the other, the other.”

“You’re not the other,” he added. “I need you very badly. I hope if I win this nomination, I won’t let you down.”

Biden has cast himself as a centrist in a primary field while several other top contenders are seeking to appeal to the party’s progressive flank, which seeks action against an expanding income gap between working-class Americans and the nation’s top earners.