SENATOR Bernie Sanders has been slammed for storming out of an interview as he had a meltdown over a question about New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The senator was blasted as “pathetic” after he exploded on ABC host Jonathan Karl during an interview over what he called a “nonsense” question.

During the Sunday interview, Karl asked Sanders whether AOC should run for senate.

The question comes as rumors spread about AOC challenging Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a primary when he’s up for reelection in 2028.

Speculation about the New York Democratic representative primarying the minority leader follows Schumer’s vote to advance a government-funding bill backed by Republicans, a move he said he did to avoid a government shutdown.

Schumer discussed his decision on NBC News, saying, “Under a shutdown, the executive branch has sole power to determine what is ‘essential.’ And they can determine without any court supervision. The courts have ruled it’s solely up to the executive what to shut down.”

“Sometimes when you’re a leader, you have to do things to avoid a real danger that might come down the curve. And I did it out of pure conviction as to what a leader should do and what the right thing for America and my party was. People disagree.”

The move led many Democrats to turn on the leader and accuse him of failing to prevent “Republican chaos.”

Sanders, who had called AOC “extraordinary” moments before, refused to answer the question.

“Right now, we have, as I said, just a whole lot of people in the Congress. Ok, Jonathan. Thanks,” Sanders said.

Karl told Sanders, who had started getting up from his seat, that he had one question left for him.

“Well, I ask you – you know, you want to do nonsense, do nonsense. No, I don’t want to talk about inside the Beltway stuff. I got 32,000 people,” Sanders said off-screen, referencing the size of a crowd he and AOC had in Denver during their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour.

The host convinced the 83-year-old senator to sit back down and finish the interview.

“Well, fine. But I don’t want to talk about this,” the Vermont senator conceded.

“Right now, I am very proud that the people of the state of Vermont sent me back to the Senate with 63% of the vote.

“Right now I’m Vermont’s senator. That’s what I do, and I’m very happy to do it. I am 83 years of age, so. And I’m tired.”

SANDERS BLASTED

Social media users continue to slam the senator for his frazzled reaction to Karl’s questions.

“Bernie Sanders has meltdown in interview claiming he doesn’t wanna talk about the beltway,” one X user wrote.

“If it wasn’t for the beltway, Bernie Sanders wouldn’t be a millionaire today with three homes.”

“OMG, it’s a party in desperation when the best they can do is have no minds like AOC and Bernie ‘I sold my followers out to Hillary’s campaign’ Sanders as the face of it. Democrats are pathetic,” one X user angrily wrote.

Another user called AOC and Bernie Sanders “a joke” while criticizing Sanders’ entire political career.

“AOC is a joke. Bernie Sanders is a joke,” the user wrote.

“A bartender/waitress and an old man who sucked off of taxpayers his entire life.”

One woman smeared the whole democratic party and accused Sanders of selling out to Clinton’s campaign.

Another X user claimed Sanders lacks the emotional stability to run for president if he couldn’t handle Karl’s questions.

“Bernie Sanders obviously lacks the temperament to be US president if he melts down in a softball interview,” the user wrote.