Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was being — well — Bernie on Tuesday night during this week’s round of Democratic debates.

He waved his arms, he pointed, he gestured, and he used an angry tone of voice almost the entire night (and was asked at least once to keep it down).

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“This is one angry man,” noted former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee about Sanders on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” on Tuesday night.

And at various points throughout the night, Sanders stepped even harder on the gas to defend his plan for reforming the American health care system after several others slammed his ideas.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said at one juncture he didn’t “know” if Medicare for All would provide certain benefits to consumers.

“I do know. I wrote the damn bill!” Sanders yelled in response — drawing cheers from the audience at the Detroit venue. (The phrase almost immediately started trending on social media.)

Those comments came during long, heated exchanges in which the candidates shared their varying and mostly hugely expensive visions for health care.

Sanders long has championed the Medicare for All idea.

But as usual, there was little discussion about how all of this would be paid for, except for vague comments about wealthy corporations and others “at the top” paying their “fair share” while everyday Americans would (somehow) experience lower costs.

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The conversation ranged from vehement anti-Trump statements, to comments about civility and racism, to trade — to comments about decriminalizing border crossing activity.

During the debate on Tuesday evening, Steve Guest of the Republican National Committee shared some strong and important reminders in email messages to supporters and others.

“Democrats have made it abundantly clear that they put the interests of illegal immigrants ahead of American citizens,” he noted. “Earlier this month, a CNN poll found that nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose health insurance coverage for illegal immigrants.”

“By putting illegal immigrants on Medicare, that would also force seniors to compete with millions of new recipients for limited care.”

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And in a separate message, he also shared some good news about America that few if any of these Democrats mentioned.

Guest of the RNC shared the following points:

  • Automakers have already invested $6 billion in the U.S. because of the USMCA trade agreement [among the U.S., Mexico and Canada].
  • Since President Trump was elected, the auto industry has added 109,500 jobs.
  • Wages for workers who make motor vehicles and parts are up 7.1 percent — while wages for motor vehicles and parts dealers have increased by 10.7 percent.

He also shared more of the good news:

  • Fiat Chrysler is building a $1.6 billion assembly plant on Detroit’s east side that will contribute 6,400 jobs — while Ford announced it will build a new plant in Michigan to create autonomous vehicles. That’s expected to create 900 new jobs.

“It’s time for Democrats to work with President Trump and pass the USMCA,” added Guest, “which will further help America’s workers by creating 76,000 new auto industry and manufacturing jobs.”