The party must now embrace Sanders' vision, insiders say

Sanders could have taken Trump due to anti-status-quo attitude, fans say

He called her 'part of the problem' and Hillary Clinton 'a flawed candidate'

'Part of the problem': Interim DNC chair Donna Brazile was shouted down by a staffer in front of 150 people for 'backing a flawed candidate' and crashing the party

With Trump in the White House and the Democrats in disarray, one staffer decided he'd had enough Thursday and let rip at DNC interim leader Donna Brazile in a furious tirade.

According to two staffers at the scene, Brazile had been giving a 'rip-roaring' speech to around 150 employees when the man - named only as 'Zach' - stood up interrupted, The Huffington Post reported.

'Why should we trust you as chair to lead us through this?' he asked. 'You backed a flawed candidate, and your friend [previous DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz] plotted through this to support your own gain and yourself.'

Brazile opened her mouth to respond, but Zach wasn't finished.

'You are part of the problem,' he continued. 'You and your friends will die of old age and I'm going to die from climate change.

'You and your friends let this happen, which is going to cut 40 years off my life expectancy.'

Elites: Anti-establishment Donald Trump (pictured in a transition meeting with President Obama) trounced Clinton, who represented the status quo and Washington elites

Outsider: Many - apparently including the DNC staffer who shouted at Brazile - believe Bernie Sanders, who also opposed banker collusion and lobbying in Washington, could have won

As Zach left, he told her to go out and 'tell people there' why she should lead the Democrats. There were nods of approval from some in the room, the two witnesses said.

A third person told the HuffPo that Brazile had the 'overwhelming' support of the room, and had addressed Zach's comments after he left.

Brazile took over from Wasserman Schultz in July, after WikiLeaks released emails showing that DNC staff had discussed scuppering Sanders' run for the Democratic nomination.

Brazile herself is a long-time backer of the Clinton camp. She was dropped as a CNN contributor in October when it emerged she had leaked questions for CNN-sponsored events to the Clinton campaign.

That revelation also came from WikiLeaks.

Resigned: Brazile took over as DNC chair from her friend, Florida Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz, after it emerged DNC staff plotted against Sanders

This encounter indicates a deep divide at the center of the party - one that became pronounced in the long struggle between status-quo Democrat Clinton and progressive-left candidate Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, who describes himself as a 'democratic socialist,' had long critiqued Clinton for her closeness to Wall Street and corporate interests - a line shared by Trump.

And Clinton, a long-time promoter of corporate interests in NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and pretty much the poster child for well-connected Washington insiders, found it hard to fight back against that accusation.

For that reason, many Sanders supporters had argued that he was the only one who could take down the Republican candidate.

And on Wednesday Sanders himself said that both he and Trump 'tapped into the anger of a declining middle class that is sick and tired of establishment economics, establishment politics and the establishment media.'

Insider out: Clinton, a long-time politician, represented exactly the kind of Washington insider mentality Trump and Sanders campaigned againts

Now the Democrats must seek to emulate Sanders and his supporters, said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

'The Democratic Party needs to remold itself in the image of them and offer a systemic critique of the rigged economy that shows the voters who put Trump over the top that they understand why they are angry,' he explained.

Hawaii senator Brian Schatz urged a slow deliberation rather than knee-jerk politics, but acknowledged that the DNC had become too removed from voters.

'Obviously talking to just each other didn't work,' he said. 'We need to open our minds and expand our Rolodexes beyond the people who live and breathe Washington politics. That's what got us here.'

The time issue is especially concerning because so many of the party's most recognizable names are far older than the core Democratic coalition.

Sanders is 75, Elizabeth Warren is 67, soon-to-be Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer turns 66 this month, and across the Capitol, Democrats are led by 76-year-old Nancy Pelosi.