At an event that is centered around music, the political figure Bernie Sanders came out of nowhere to deliver a speech, giving audiences a show they didn’t ask for.
Sanders, the 83-year-old U.S. senator of Vermont, appeared in California for the well-known Coachella music festival, an annual two consecutive weekends of music and something on every music-lover’s bucket list. I would have gone too, if I didn’t live across the country and had a couple thousand dollars to spare.
Sanders already happened to be in the area, making a speech at a rally in downtown Los Angeles earlier that day. In his speech, he addressed the crowd, saying that the future of the country depends on their generation as the audience cheered him on, booing when he mentioned President Donald Trump. I’m surprised they were listening to him instead of waiting for him to get off the stage so Clairo could start her performance.
He made sure to thank Clairo for her activism and for addressing women’s rights in Gaza before leaving the stage to her. Although he was supported by the younger crowd, I don’t think Coachella is the place for politics.
People go to Coachella to see Benson Boone sing “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen and see Lady Gaga perform “Abracadabra” and “Bad Romance.” They don’t go to see previous presidential candidates talk about how bad the country is. I could have just gone onto Facebook for that.
However, the speech wasn’t entirely malicious. The young crowd seemed to support him as he encouraged them to oppose Trump. It is one of the most popular American events of the year, somewhere he knew he would have an audience that was tired of hearing that another organization or department lost its funding or something else got hit by tariffs.
I understand what Sanders was going for, but now this raises the question of who else can be on a stage at Coachella? Does this leave an open invitation for any political person to spread their influence on young Americans who have to listen? I certainly hope not. Just like you don’t bring politics to the dinner table, they certainly shouldn’t be argued over at Coachella.
Hayley Doda can be contacted at
hayley@kscequinox.com
