“To me, the relevant contrast is not between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, but (the) relevant contrast is between Bernie and Hillary and Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and the vision that they’re portraying for the country,” Obama told Politico in an interview.

Voters need to pay attention to “the degree to which the Republican rhetoric and Republican vision has moved not just to the right but has moved to a place that is unrecognizable,” Obama said.

Obama told Politico the gap between Democrats and Republicans — on “everything from tax policy to immigration to foreign policy” — is as wide as he has seen.

There were “real differences” with GOP nominee John McCain during the 2008 election, Obama said, “but John McCain didn’t deny climate science. John McCain didn’t call for banning Muslims from the United States. You know, John McCain was a conservative, but he was well within, you know, the mainstream of not just the Republican Party but within our political dialogue.”