Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), fresh from a packed rally in downtown Los Angeles as part of his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, made a surprise appearance onstage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Saturday night.
As part of his tour, Sanders held a rally in L.A.’s Gloria Molina Grand Park on Saturday morning which included special guest Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and musical guests Neil Young, Joan Baez, and Maggie Rogers.
From there, Sanders traveled into the desert, arriving in Indio just in time to introduce singer-songwriter Clairo. Sanders himself was introduced by Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), who explained that he was there because “we’re living in crazy times,” before going on to introduce Sanders.
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Sanders then walked onstage to loud cheers—mixed with some noises of confusion, presumably from fans wondering where Clairo was—and proceeded to thank Clairo for allowing him onstage, and Frost for introducing him.
Sanders went on to say, “This country faces some very difficult challenges. And the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation. Now you can turn away, and you can ignore what goes on. But if you do that, you do it at your own peril.”
He continued, “We need you to stand up, to fight for justice. To fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice.”
“Now we’ve got a president of the United States,” he started, but was interrupted by loud boos from the crowd, to which he responded, “I agree.” Sanders continued, “He thinks that climate change is a hoax. He is dangerously wrong and you and I are going to have to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and tell them to stop destroying this planet.”
Sanders went on to implore festival attendees to stand up for women’s rights, economic justice, and health care for all, telling the crowd, “All over this country, not in California, not in Vermont where I’m from, but in Florida where Maxwell is from, many other states, politicians are trying to take away a woman’s right to control her own body. We need you to stand up and fight for women’s rights.”
“We have an economy today that is working very well for the billionaire class, but not for working families. We need you to help us to create an economy that works well for everybody, not just the 1 percent.”
“We have a health-care system that is broken. We are the only major country not to guarantee health care to all people. We need you to stand up to the insurance companies and the drug companies and understand that health care is a human right.”
Wrapping up his speech, the senator went on to introduce Clairo, mentioning her passion for women’s rights and her support for the Palestinian cause and thanking her “for the great work that she is doing.” Chants of “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie” could be heard as the lights dimmed, and every member of Clairo’s band shook hands with the senator as they walked onstage, with Claire Cottrill a.k.a. Clairo hugging him before he left the stage.
