William Cummings

USA TODAY

Sen. Bernie Sanders campaigned hard for Hillary Clinton in the final weeks leading up to Tuesday's election, but the next day he expressed his empathy with the anger that won Donald Trump the White House and offered to work with the president-elect on policies that benefit working families.

“Donald Trump tapped into the anger of a declining middle class that is sick and tired of establishment economics, establishment politics and the establishment media," Sanders said in a statement Wednesday. "People are tired of working longer hours for lower wages, of seeing decent paying jobs go to China and other low-wage countries, of billionaires not paying any federal income taxes and of not being able to afford a college education for their kids — all while the very rich become much richer."

The economic frustrations of working-class Americans were the dominant theme of Sander's primary campaign against Clinton. Some critics have said that Sanders would have been a stronger candidate against Trump that Clinton because he understood that working-class anger.

Would Bernie Sanders have defeated Donald Trump?

“To the degree that Mr. Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country, I and other progressives are prepared to work with him," Sanders said. "To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him.”