Midterm elections are just weeks away, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent) thinks Democrats are letting Republicans win the most important aspect: the messaging war on the economy.

Sanders wants Democrats to clap back over Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits, prescription drugs, and other issues that Republicans are historically weak on.

Sanders told Vanity Fair, “Why aren’t Democrats talking about it? How do you win elections if you don’t talk about those issues?”

Sanders explained, “It bothers me, bothers me very much that Republicans in poll after poll are leading in terms of how people feel each party will respond to the economy, when in fact the Republicans have nothing to say for working families on the economy.”

Democrats are currently facing the potential loss of both the House and Senate in midterms, and Sanders (along with others) believe Dems are squandering their strengths to focus on anti-MAGA messaging, which is falling flat with an exhausted electorate.

Democrats are infighting over which issues are their strong points: threats to democracy or women’s reproductive rights. Others hope anti-Trump sentiment will bring them to victories again, like in 2020.

But Sanders sounds the alarm. “To my mind, when you have a reactionary Republican Party taking huge amounts of money from billionaires, I think we go after them on the economy and contrast our opinions.” Instead of hiding from the legacy of the Affordable Care Act, Sanders suggests Democrats should tout it – and attack the GOP’s plans to cut Medicare and Social Security, two things Kevin McCarthy has said he’d use to negotiate deficit spending under a Republican congressional majority.

Despite referring openly to himself as a Democratic Socialist, Sanders is wildly popular among younger voters precisely because he focuses on the glut of billionaire donors and corporate waste. But the Democrats seem to be ignoring his advice.