Former lawmaker calls for complete 'rebrand' of 'toxic' Democratic Party

"You start with a complete reset. We need a rebrand. I think you and I have been talking about this since 2016, like, our brand is toxic in so many places and it is like, you are a Democrat? That's the stuff we get like in Ohio. So it needs - we need a complete reboot. We need a complete reboot with the DNC. We need a complete rebranding," he told MSNBC's "The Weekend."

"People want to trust us. They don't want to go to Donald Trump. I'm telling you, the middle-of-the-road people, they're holding their nose to vote for him, but we did not give them enough, like, we are reindustrializing, we are talking about American competitiveness," Ryan added.

Ryan said the Democratic Party was in a fight with the crypto industry and wondered why. 

"We've got to get back to the bread and butter policies," he continued. 

Other prominent voices in the party, including Nancy Pelosi, disagreed.

"With all due respect, and I have a great deal of respect for him [Sanders], for what he stands for, but I don't respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working class families. That's where we are," Pelosi told The New York Times' "The Interview" podcast. 

Ryan suggested Democrats look to former President Bill Clinton's "touchstone" campaign.

"The other thing that I think is really big, we can't be for solely redistribution. We are going to tax the bad guys who are rich, which we want people to aspire to make money in America. We will tax them because they're really bad people and we're going to give you money. No, it is about growing the pie. It is about getting back to you want - it is the Bill Clinton campaign. It is the modern Democratic campaign. Look at the touchstone. Reinventing government," he said.