Real estate mogul Donald Trump got an unlikely endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday.
Sanders, speaking at a CNN town hall in New Hampshire, said that he looks forward to defeating Trump in the general election.
"I would love the opportunity to run against him," Sanders said. "I think we would win by a lot."
Sanders also mocked Trump's claim that climate change was a hoax "created by and for the Chinese."
"Trump, as you know, is a well-known scientist, a brilliant scientist," Sanders joked.
In a head-to-head matchup, most polls indicate that either Sanders or his challenger in the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton, would defeat Trump if they faced him the general election.
Trump quickly responded on Twitter:
Both Sanders and Clinton have criticized Trump's offensive rhetoric toward immigrants and Muslims.
Sanders, in responding to a question Wednesday asking whether he can appeal to a wider audience of voters, reminded Democrats that Trump holds an attraction to some people.
"Look, in the real world, there are people -- I hesitate to say this in this room, but there are people who like Donald Trump. I know," Sanders said to some boos. "There are -- not in this room! But there are. And, you know, that's the world. We are a diverse political nation."
Editor's note: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist,misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.
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