On Saturday night time, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders took his navy sport coat to a spot the place navy sport coats are hardly ever seen: The primary stage at Coachella.
The octogenarian impartial made a surprise appearance on the music competition this weekend, the place he launched the singer-songwriter Clairo and implored the younger viewers of 1000’s to not disengage from the present political second. “The way forward for what occurs in America depends upon your era,” Sanders mentioned. “Now, you’ll be able to flip away, and you’ll ignore what goes on, however when you do this, you’re doing it at your individual peril.”
The gang booed on the point out of “the President of the US,” to which Sanders quipped, “I agree.”
Whereas Donald Trump, who has falsely claimed to have gained the 2024 youth vote, may rightly write off this interplay because the grumbling of some hippy dippy liberals within the California desert, the Coachella look was however a pitstop for Sanders. Recently, he has been criss-crossing the nation together with New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for his or her so-called “preventing oligarchy” tour, drawing huge crowds—together with in crimson states—alongside the way in which. And if there’s one factor that will get Trump’s consideration, it is crowd sizes.
On Sunday, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez filled a 15,000-seat area in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, with 1000’s extra individuals watching on overflow screens exterior the stadium. The Utah rally passed off a day after Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez drew a crowd of 36,000 in Los Angeles, the place Neil Younger, Joan Baez, and Maggie Rogers headlined, however Sanders mentioned he believed the Utah turnout was “in some ways…extra spectacular,” in response to KSL.com.
“We’re right here in so-called conservative Utah, and tomorrow we’re going to be in Idaho as a result of we imagine that in each state of this nation, individuals are ready to face up and combat again,” Sanders mentioned. The tour may even take Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez to Missoula, Montana this week, the place Trump gained the 2024 election handily.
