In a presidential campaign that was less about hope and change and more about resignation and horror, there was, thankfully, one candidate who provided a dose of inspiration and emotional uplift. Bernie Sanders may not have won his party's nomination—and his indefatigable stumping on behalf of Hillary Clinton didn't change the outcome in November. Even if the Vermont Senator had been the one facing Donald Trump, it's far from clear he would have won. But Sanders nonetheless recognized the discontent and anger that so many Americans were feeling in 2016 and, unlike our president-elect, proposed solutions to their problems that sought to bring the country together rather than tear it apart.

In the process, the self-declared socialist became an unlikely hero to both frustrated working-class Americans and a new generation of young voters. Sanders—his hair unkempt, his Brooklyn accent untamed—brought campaign crowds to their feet with wonky calls to reinstate Great Depression-era banking legislation. And now, in the wake of Trump's election, Sanders has become a crucial voice in determining the direction of a depressed and decimated Democratic Party. We spoke about all that, and about the path ahead for Sanders, in two conversations—one prior to the election and another that took place this past weekend. A condensed and edited transcript of our conversations follows:

** GQ: Presumably there are people who voted for you in the Democratic primary and then voted for Donald Trump. If you could have gotten them in a room, what's the message you would have given them to try to convince them to vote for Hillary Clinton instead of Trump?**

Sanders: Well, I think that what Trump understood—that many Democrats do not—is that while we are better off today, under Obama, than we were eight years ago, much better off, there are millions and millions of working families in this country who are really struggling.

Trump posed as a champion of working families—somebody who is going to take on the establishment. And it's beyond belief that he could do that. This is a guy who's a billionaire who doesn't pay anything in federal income taxes, who outsources his jobs for his companies to Bangladesh, China, Mexico, and Turkey, and who has been sued time and time again by workers for not keeping up his end in contracts. But nonetheless a lot of working people voted for him.

What I would tell those people if I were in the room with them, and I suspect that I was because I did a lot of traveling for Hillary Clinton, is, "Don't believe everything that this guy says. There is no particular reason to believe that he is gonna follow through on the promises that he made." And already we're beginning to see that.

There are some Democrats, like Harry Reid, who say that it's a mistake to try to work with Trump at all. Why is that view wrong?

Clearly there is no working with a president who believes in, or will bring forth, programs or policies based on bigotry, whether it is racism, sexism, homophobia, or xenophobia, and there can be no compromise on that. There can be no compromise on the issue of climate change, which is a threat to the entire planet.

But if Trump is prepared to work with me and others on rebuilding our infrastructure and creating millions of jobs, on raising the minimum wage, on passing Glass-Steagall, on changing our trade policies—yes, I think it would be counterproductive on issues that working-class Americans supported and depend upon if we did not go forward.

**Is there any silver lining to the fact that Trump's victory will help ensure big changes to the Democratic Party—changes that could push it in the progressive direction you favor? **

No, I would not say that there's any silver lining in Trump's victory. It is scary, and I think there are many, many people throughout this country who are very frightened about what will happen over the next four years. So I don't see any silver lining.

But what we are working on right now is to transform the Democratic Party. I will introduce legislation that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Mr. Trump talks about his concern about working families. I look forward to him supporting it. I am going to introduce legislation—I or somebody else, it's not just me—demanding pay equity for women workers. I hope Mr. Trump supports that. We're going to have very definitive legislation on infrastructure. I hope Trump supports that. Trade policy, Trump based his whole campaign on trade. So it's not a question of us working with Trump. It's a question of Trump working with us.