On 'Late Show,' Sanders says he's running a 'people's campaign,' calls Trump 'disgraceful'

Sen. Bernie Sanders told Late Show host Stephen Colbert on Friday that his campaign has resonated with people and explained why he doesn't have, nor want, a super PAC.

The Vermont independent senator joined the growing roster of presidential candidates to appear on late night TV as the 2016 election cycle rolls along. He kicked off his interview with Colbert by giving the host a "Feel the Bern" mug (something that the audience seemed to feel, as they cheered and chanted throughout much of the senator's interview). Sanders then dove right into his campaign message: He's drawing tens of thousands of people to his events because people have "moral outrage" over the status of the country, from the lack of wealth distribution to the high childhood poverty rate.

When Colbert noted that capitalism is what made the United States what it is, Sanders countered that it should be a country "in which all of our people can enjoy a decent standard of living." He criticized major corporations who "don't pay a dime in federal taxes."

Sanders pointed to Denmark, noting its health care, higher education and childcare systems:

What you have is a society where government, as I believe it should in this country -- radical idea though it may be -- should actually represent working people and the middle class rather than large campaign donors.

Later, Colbert wondered why Sanders doesn't have a super PAC. "If you want to win it, you gotta be in it," he told Sanders. "Don't bring a spoon to a knife fight."

Sanders said:

I don't have a super PAC because, frankly, I don't support the agenda of billionaire America...I don't want their money. What I want, what we are doing -- and I'm pretty proud of this -- we have over 450,000 people who have made individual contributions averaging $31.20 a piece. That's called a people's campaign, not a billionaire's campaign. That is the campaign I am running.

Colbert also asked Sanders about his thoughts on GOP front-runner Donald Trump and the comparisons that are being drawn between them. Sanders said Trump was appealing to people's "baser instincts," such as xenophobia and racism, and using their anger to his advantage:

I think that is disgraceful and not something we should be doing in 2015.

Addressing questions about whether he would be able to compete against a Republican nominee in the general election, he pointed to recent polls that show he's doing almost as well as Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and said "that will only get better." Further, he said, he believed that large voter turnouts would help Democrats not only win the White House in 2016, but also take back the Senate and gain in the House.