Donald Trump Reaches Out to Bernie Sanders Supporters on Primary Night

Donald Trump Salt Lake City, Donald Trump Utah, Donald Trump caucus,

Donald Trump speaks at the Infinity Event Center in Salt Lake City, Utah ahead of the state’s caucus. (Getty)

In a speech from Trump Tower in New York this evening, Donald Trump delivered one of his rare scripted speeches in which he made a concerted effort to win over Bernie Sanders supporters.

Trump repeatedly stressed that the primary system is rigged, specifically on the Democratic side of the aisle, inviting fans of the Sanders campaign to join him.

“To all those Bernie supporters who have been left out in the cold by a rigged system of superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms,” Trump said.

Trump went on to attack Hillary Clinton more specifically and more viciously than he has in recent weeks, using language that will sound somewhat familiar to those who have been following the Sanders campaign. He stressed that the American people can’t elect the very people who rigged the system against them, specifically the Clintons, who Trump said have turned politics into a system of personal enrichment.

“This election isn’t about Republican or Democrat,” Trump said. “It’s about who runs this country: the special interests or the people.”

 

During his address, Trump also announced he will deliver a full speech next week specifically outlining the corruption of Bill and Hillary Clinton, potentially as an attempt to win over disillusioned Sanders supporters whose candidate may drop out of the race before then.

The fact that this sort of language occurred in a scripted speech is particularly notable; Trump has previously made passing reference to Sanders and the fact that the system is rigged against him, but Tuesday’s address appeared far more like a deliberate strategy that will continue in the coming weeks.