Who knew that Bernie Sanders was as insecure as Donald Trump?

How else to explain Sanders' dismissive comments about Russian meddling in our nation's 2016 presidential campaign? How else to explain his efforts to turn the spotlight away from himself and focus it instead on Hillary Clinton, who bested him in the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination?

In a recent interview with Vermont Public Radio, Sanders, responding to a question regarding Russian interference in our electoral process "including by supporting your campaign," said:

"Well, ha. 'Supporting my campaign?' No, they were attacking Hillary Clinton's campaign using my supporters against them."

Not exactly.

According to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for their efforts to undermine the very core of our democratic process, in part by adopting false personas on various social media sites, those taking part were instructed to "use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except for Sanders and Trump -- we support them)."

Seems fairly straightforward, no?

Those who back Sanders like to think of their man as standing apart, as being above it all, removed from the typical political rough and tumble.

But he's got more in common with Trump than he'd like to admit.

Each ran for president as a populist outsider. And each held up Clinton not only as out of touch, but also as corrupt. Clinton's connection to the Wall Street set made her anathema to Sanders; Trump's unrelenting critique of Clinton was more general.

Sanders, of course, is an independent U.S. senator from Vermont. The self-described socialist sought the Democratic Party's nomination without even being a Democrat. Trump, who was a registered Democrat for most of his life, ran for president as a Republican, securing the nomination of a party into which his politics weren't exactly a natural fit.

In his radio interview, Sanders, who said that the Clinton campaign "had more information about [Russian interference] than we did," told the tale of a certain suspicious Facebook page. "A guy who was on my staff ... checked it out and he went to the Clinton campaign, and he said, 'You know what? I think these guys are Russians.'"

Makes a good story, doesn't it? Deflect attention. Blame Clinton. Trouble is, it may not be exactly true. According to former Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver, the 76-year-old senator based his story on a recent news account.

Pick and choose and spin and call it fact. It's a move ripped directly from Trump's playbook.

And what's Sanders' game here? That's an easy one. There's every reason to believe that the onetime mayor of Burlington, Vermont, intends to be a player in the Democratic Party's presidential nominating contest in 2020. As such, the last thing he wants is to be thought of as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's favored candidates. Thus, his efforts to put as much distance as possible between his campaign and Russian meddling.