Bernie isn't even a democrat now, he has mostly identified as an independent, except for when he ran as a D in 2016. He knows about helping the working class, the little guys, and he would have absolutely beat the shit out of Trump in 2016 if not for the Democrats party leader fuckery. The whole country would be so much better had he won in 2016, even if he didn't run for re-election in 2020.
I know Democrat ideals would include those programs to help them, but if you want to break the spells of Fox News and rotten Facebook feeds, you have to go beat them over the head with it. And you need to do that right now when they are vulnerable, because it's the only time they will possibly listen to alternatives. That's when some of them may question themselves and look for another solution.
I just think about the Hakeem Jeffries quote of "you don't swing at every pitch" but ya know, maybe it's time to get in the fucking batters box? These people are going to be reeling for a few years, and unless the Trump administration commits to send them 10s of billions again, it isn't going to get better before the next election.