In a 30-minute long exclusive interview with Breitbart News, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich explained why he had turned his back from the Democratic party and now considers himself as a full-fledged “Trumpocrat.”

The former governor, whom Trump had granted clemency last month for notoriously selling former president Barrack Obama’s senate seat, claimed that the Democratic party had already “abandoned” American workers and black voters. Blagojevich told the media outlet that past Democratic presidents from Bill Clinton to Barrack Obama had placed policies that have compromised minorities and the working class, all in the name of globalization.

In his interview, Blagojevich explained that his being a Trumpocrat means that he believes the Democratic Party has left and abandoned its traditional constituencies like the working people. He also added that his former party had taken the African-American community for granted for so long.

The former governor expressed his grievances and stated that the policies the Democrats have passed, such as the 1994 crime bill which then-Senator Joe Biden had supported, caused the “mass incarceration of a whole generation” of African Americans. Moreover, Blagojevich believed that it was President Donald Trump, who had given incarcerated African Americans a smooth transition from prison to the real world, and ultimately, giving them a new chance in life.

In addition, Blagojevich also went on to say how Trump had revolutionized American politics by ditching “traditional” Republican thinking. He continued to say that Trump was able to revive the rust belt by ditching NAFTA and providing more manufacturing jobs for the working class.

Moreover, Blagojevich told Breitbart News that the Democratic party had let down the people they were supposed to safeguard in the first place. He expressed his previous frustrations when he was a governor, and how it felt to visit cities that have been dependent on coal mining or factories and eventually losing their “economic anchor” through Democratic economic policies like NAFTA. Blagojevich blamed the Democrats by letting down the very people that they are supposed to protect.

Finally, the former governor thanked Trump for paving the way to an economic boom as he concluded that “Now, at last, we have a president who not only promised to do it, but he’s doing it. …more importantly, he’s actually addressing the needs of the American worker.”

Just last month, the former Illinois governor made headlines after President Donald Trump had pardoned him, believing that he was “very harshly sentenced,” saying that they were both persecuted “by the same people.”