Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) made some strong statements about the Democratic Party's failures in this election cycle. However, his public comments about the party are probably part of a long-term political strategy. 

The 75-year-old told the Associated Press on Thursday that Democrats didn't do enough to tackle Wall Street corruption and distance themselves from from the "billionaire class." 

"You cannot be a party which, on one hand, says we're in favor of working people, we're in favor of the needs of young people, but we don't quite have the courage to take on Wall Street and the billionaire class," Sanders told the AP. "People do not believe that. You've got to decide which side you're on."

Sanders reiterated this sentiment Thursday in a Facebook post, writing President-elect Donald Trump was able to successfully tap into the frustrations of working class Americans. 

Along with this road map to rebuild the party, Sanders left the possibility of a 2020 presidential run open. 

"We'll take one thing at a time, but I'm not ruling out anything," he told the AP. 

Is Sanders trying to galvanize support for a 2020 presidential run?

Joshua Foa Dienstag, a political science professor at University of California, Los Angeles, told ATTN: that it's unlikely considering Sanders' age and his recent comments seem to point to the fact that he wants his party to stay energized and rebuild. 

Dienstag went on to add: 

"Democrats need to get their voters to turn out, again, in larger numbers, which means that they need a candidate and a platform that motivates their voters. Hillary Clinton and her platform didn’t do that. Most of all, they need a credible story about how they are going to lessen inequality and create jobs and opportunities for middle class voters. Donald Trump’s narrative about immigrants and bad trade deals may have been a fantasy but it at least gave voters a reason to vote for him. Clinton didn’t really have a rival narrative about how she was going to recreate opportunity."

Trump, 70, will be the oldest president elected to office since Ronald Reagan who was 69. 

"I don’t think many people believe that a 79-year-old Bernie Sanders will be a credible candidate for president," he explained. "But he wants to have a strong say in who the next Democratic nominee will be and one way for him to do that is to lead the charge against Donald Trump."

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