Sen. Bernie Sanders ripped President Trump as a racist Monday during a blunt Martin Luther King Jr. Day address at a NAACP rally in South Carolina.

"Today we talk about justice and today we talk about racism, and I must tell you it gives me no pleasure to tell you that we now have a president of the United States who is a racist," Sanders told the crowd. “We have a president of the United States who has done something that no other president in modern history has done. What a president is supposed to do is to bring us together. And we have a president intentionally, purposely ... trying to divide us up by the color of our skin, by our gender, by the country we came from, by our religion."



Sen. Bernie Sanders at MLK event in South Carolina: "It gives me no pleasure to tell you that we now have a President of the United States who is a racist." https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/OQHoiTn4WA — ABC News (@ABC) January 21, 2019



Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, spoke at the 2019 King Day at the Dome, held at the South Carolina State House in Columbia. During his remarks, he recalled being in Washington for King's 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech. And he called for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote.

"Racism is alive when the United States Supreme Court and Republican governors make it harder for people of color to vote and when they suppress the vote," he said.

Sanders has previously blasted Trump for being racist, but his Monday appearances at a prayer service, march, and rally in the early nominating state was closely watched by political pundits as the 2016 Democratic presidential contender continues to weigh whether he'll launch another bid for the White House.

Sanders' remarks come in the wake of a comment to the Daily Beast in November that "white folks" may have felt too "uncomfortable" to vote for black candidates in the 2018 elections.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., another 2020 prospect, also attended the events in the Palmetto State.

"I've come to learn in this country that we have a common pain, but we seem to have lost a sense of common purpose," Booker said, echoing an Instagram post he shared at the weekend. "We need each other. We must awaken a more courageous empathy."

The pair's foray to South Carolina coincided with one of their Senate colleagues officially entering the 2020 race. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., announced her candidacy Monday during an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America." More than two dozen Democrats are expected to seek their party's nod to become the president.