Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally in Santa Maria, Calif., on May 28, 2016. (Photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP)

Bernie Sanders says Donald Trump is a “very dangerous man” who has “already significantly damaged this country.”

“I think Trump is incredibly irresponsible and an incredibly dangerous person,” the Vermont senator and Democratic presidential hopeful told Rolling Stone earlier this month in an interview in Oregon. “A man who is primarily a showman and an opportunist and an egomaniac. A man who has already significantly damaged this country with his attacks on Mexicans and Muslims and women and veterans and African-Americans and so forth. Very dangerous man.”

Sanders was asked what his message would be to his supporters who say they’d rather vote for Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, than Hillary Clinton, who is by far the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.

“Wrong question,” Sanders replied. “It’s not, ‘What is my message to them?’ It’s not my job to think that I can reach out and say to millions, ‘Do what I want you to do.’ That’s not the way it works. The question that should be asked is, ‘Why?’ … How come you have millions of people who are prepared to vote for him and not Hillary Clinton? Why is that?”

The self-described democratic socialist attempted to answer his own question, suggesting that the billionaire real estate mogul had craftily managed to brand himself as a populist outsider.

“Many working-class people in this country no longer have faith in establishment politics,” Sanders said. “And, of course, that’s what Trump has seized upon. He’s a phony and an opportunist. But he has seized upon that and said, ‘I am not part of the establishment.’ He’s only a multibillionaire who has worked with Wall Street and everybody else. But he claims not to be part of the establishment, right? That has created a certain amount of support for him.”

Sanders further said anger is the “common denominator” between Trump’s supporters and his own.

“To the media’s great shock and to the pundits’ great shock, there are millions of Americans who are very, very angry,” he said. “And they’re angry because they’re working longer hours for lower wages. They’re angry because they’re working two and three jobs. They’re worried about the future of their children — getting decent jobs and getting homes.”

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Sanders continued: “And then they look at the leadership of the Democratic Party and the leadership of the Republican Party and they don’t see people addressing or even paying attention to their needs. And Trump comes along and starts to blame Mexicans or Muslims or women for the problems facing society. The people are seeing that someone at least is speaking to their anger. And that’s unfortunate. That’s a very ugly approach. But that’s why he’s succeeding.”

Shawnee Badger, 22, listens to Sanders speak at a rally in Santa Barbara, Calif., on May 28, 2016. (Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Earlier in the interview, Sanders also addressed his critics, including Clinton, who say he doesn’t offer enough specifics behind his ideas for launching a “political revolution.”

“What are the specifics about how I, personally, all by myself, do what nobody in American history has done? And I’m being criticized? Why don’t you do it? Why doesn’t the editor of Rolling Stone do it?” he said. “Look, you know, with all due respect, that’s an absurd question.”

Later, though, Sanders was asked what the Democratic Party has to offer to the younger generation of progressives who have come out in droves to support him.

“That’s a good question. Unlike all your other dumb questions,” Sanders said, laughing, before offering a lengthy example of the challenge the party may soon face:

We were in Denver. We had a rally at 5:00 in the afternoon. We had 18,000 people. People who are passionate about wanting to change America, wanting to be involved in the political process. My guess is that 95 percent of those people had never gone to a Democratic Party meeting — or ever dreamed of going to a Democratic Party meeting. Two hours later, I walk into a [Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson fundraising] dinner where there are 1,000, maybe 2,000 Democrats, who are contributors to the party, who are lawyers and whatever, local politicians. Older people, upper-middle-class and professional people — who are active in the Democratic Party.

There are two different worlds. So the question is: What happens when that 18,000 marches into that room with 2,000 people? Will they be welcomed? Will the door be open? Will the party hierarchy say, “Thank you for coming in. We need your energy. We need your idealism. C’mon in!”? Or will they say, “Hey, we’ve got a pretty good thing going right now. We don’t need you. We don’t want you”?

“That’s the challenge that the Democratic Party faces,” Sanders said. “And I don’t know what the answer is.”