MSNBC host Chris Matthews said on Tuesday that the level of elitism in the Democratic party is "outrageous."
"There's too many elitists. There is so much elitism in the Democrat party, it's outrageous," Matthews said.
The "Morning Joe" segment was reflecting on the legacy of former Senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, often called Bobby Kennedy, and how today's Democratic party has moved away from RFK's "common man" party to a party of elites. Matthews said a true Democrat thinks he's no better than anybody else and when the party remembers that, they will regain support among working class people.
"A true democrat, lower case 'd,' thinks they're no better than anybody else. That's what a Democrat is," Matthews said. "And the party regains that when white, black, hispanic people, everybody, starts to think of themselves as one of them instead of being better than them. [Then] they'll get back to the party of the people, and they're not there yet."
2016 Democratic presidential primary runner up and independent Senator Bernie Sanders (Vt.) has been a vocal critic of the Democratic party by saying it has abandoned the grassroots.
"A party that speaks to the pain of the working class in this country," Sanders said of what the Democrats needed to become. "The Democratic Party has got to take the lead, rally people, young people, working people, stand up to the billionaire class, and when we do that, you're going to see voter turnout swell. You're going to see people coming in and running for office. You're going to see Democrats regain control of the United States Congress."
Matthews says Democrats can't just focus on economic issues and that they have to do more to win back voters.
"It's not just economics. I don't buy the whole marxist argument, it's about economics, it's not all about economics," Matthews said. "It's about sensing your leaders give a damn about you personally."
This elitist attitude of Democrats has caused Matthews to root against them.
"I'm rooting against them even though I may agree with their policies," Matthews said. "I think there's a party attitude of elitism and I think they got to get over it. And it's too much talk into fund-raisers, because the people they talk to on these kind of shows are really the people they want their money from, and they're the elite."
He took a shot at former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D) on her lack of ability to identify with regular people.
"Hillary finally had a Bruce Springsteen concert the last night [before election day, 2016]. A little late in the game. Identify what the blue collar, the regular people identify with," Matthews said. "Just my speech, there are others, but that's one. That's something Bobby [Kennedy] would understand and Joe Biden would understand and a few other people would understand today and I think it's a real problem."