Bernie Sanders Made His Coachella Debut

After speaking to crowds in Los Angeles on Saturday, Bernie Sanders added an unexpected pit stop to his “Fighting the Oligarchy Tour”: Coachella Valley. The Vermont senator made a surprise appearance at the music festival to introduce Clairo before her set, but not before delivering a speech about billionaires, climate change, and women’s rights.

While Sanders’s tour buddy Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez did not make an appearance, Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost was there to introduce the senator. “This country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation,” Sanders said to a cheering audience. “Now, you can turn away and you can ignore what goes on but if you do that, you do it at your own peril. We need you to stand up, to fight … for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice.”

The crowd erupted in boos when Sanders mentioned “the president of the United States.” “I agree,” he said in reply. “He thinks that climate change is a hoax. He is dangerously wrong. And you and I are gonna have to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and tell them to stop destroying this planet.”

In under four minutes, Sanders tackled abortion rights, the economy, and the broken healthcare system. Consider this my vote to have him run every meeting ever. At the end of his short speech, Sanders then thanked Clairo for using her platform. “I’m here because Clairo has used her prominence to fight for women’s rights, to try to end the terrible, brutal war in Gaza, where thousands of women and children are being killed,” Sanders said.

Whether or not Sanders will add another festival to his anti-Oligarchy tour, who’s to say — but I have a feeling the crowd at Stagecoach won’t be as welcoming.