Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, one of the country’s leading progressives, delivered an impromptu speech onstage at the Coachella music festival in California on Saturday night in which he implored young people to oppose President Trump’s policies.
Mr. Sanders, who had spoken earlier in the evening at a packed rally in downtown Los Angeles as part of a Western tour, made his comments before introducing the singer-songwriter Clairo.
“This country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation,” Mr. Sanders, 83, said during his brief address, which received cheers from the crowd. “We need you to stand up to fight for justice, to fight for economic justice, social justice and racial justice.”
When Mr. Sanders mentioned the president of the United States, the audience booed, and the senator said, “I agree.”
Mr. Sanders highlighted economic inequality, universal healthcare, threats to abortion rights and climate change as issues demanding action. He said he had come to Coachella to thank Clairo for her activism, and applauded her for speaking up for women’s rights in Gaza, noting that thousands of women and children have been killed in the war.
Mr. Sanders, an independent, sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, losing to Hillary Clinton. He ran again four years later and was the last major Democratic primary rival to Joseph R. Biden Jr., who won the 2020 presidential election.
The senator’s appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is consistent with his popularity among young progressives who admire him as an uncompromising and outspoken firebrand.
