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The busiest politician in America over the weekend was not President Donald Trump, or any of his cronies, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who spoke before crowds of tens of thousands in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and at this year’s Coachella music festival as part of his Fighting Oligarchy Tour with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
“When it comes to standing up to Trumpism there is no such thing as a red state,” Sanders wrote Sunday on X. “20,000 people came out in Salt Lake City tonight to say NO to oligarchy, NO to authoritarianism, and NO to massive tax breaks for billionaires.”
At the rally, Sanders highlighted the turnout in red states over the course of the tour. “I mentioned a moment ago that we were in LA yesterday, and we had 36,000 people out. But in many ways, the 20,000 we have out today is more impressive,” he told the audience. “We’re here in so-called conservative Utah, and tomorrow we’re going to be in Idaho. Because we believe that in every state in this country, people are prepared to stand up and fight back.”
In Utah, like at the other jam-packed rallies Sanders and AOC have already held, the pair excoriated Trump and his alliance with the wealthiest echelons of American business. “We do not want a government of the billionaire class by the billionaire class for the billionaire class,” Sanders said. “We want a government that represents all of us […] not just the one richest guy running all over Washington, D.C., throwing tens of thousands of dedicated federal workers out on the street.”
In a video released Saturday, Sanders highlighted that his events in Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona had produced a combined turnout of over 100,00 people — and that he now wants to focus on conservative states: “Most of these events will be held in congressional districts that are represented by Republicans. And there is a reason why we are doing that.”
The senator noted that Republicans were — even if glibly — taking note of the turnout at his rallies. Sanders called out Musk’s insinuations that attendees at the rallies were “paid protesters,” and Trump’s long-standing obsession with crowd sizes.
“I want people in the communities that we visit and people throughout the country to understand that they are not alone when they feel outraged by what Trump is doing to our country, in fact, when they stand there amidst thousands and thousands of their neighbors in opposition to oligarchy, opposition to authoritarianism and xenophobia and attacks on the working class, they very quickly understand that they are not part of some fringe minority who are opposing Trump, but that they belong to a strong majority of Americans who want this country to move in a very different direction than where Trump is taking us,” Sanders said.
On Saturday, Sanders made an appearance at the Coachella Music Festival alongside Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.). As the surprise opener for the artist Clairo, Sanders told the gathered crowd of festival goers and influencers that “the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation. Now, you can turn away and ignore what goes on but if you do that, you do it on your own peril. We need you to stand up and fight for justice, to fight for economic justice, racial justice and social justice.”
Earlier that same day, Sanders and AOC spoke before a crowd of 36,000 in Los Angeles, in what seemed almost like a music festival of their own. Bernie-chella — as it was dubbed by supporters online — featured performances and statements from Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers, and Neil Young. The rally was the largest event yet on the Fighting Oligarchy Tour.
