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Weekend at Bernie's - Slate
Janet Simmelink—69, retired, and like many people in her milieu, visibly agitated—recently lingered on the outskirts of Denver’s Civic Center Park on a colorless evening, politely tolerating my questions. She told me she’d never particularly liked the man she’d now come to hear speak—the man a stunning 34,000 people had come to hear, in fact, in a desperate bid to address Donald Trump’s increasingly autocratic transformation of America. To do something that the Democratic Party, which she had long supported, was clearly failing to do.
She didn’t support the man in 2016, when he first became a breakout who, however fleetingly, seemed like he had a long-shot chance to transform America himself. She also didn’t support him in 2020, when he tried again. So I asked Simmelink if the version of herself 10 years ago would be surprised to find her at a Bernie Sanders rally.
“Quite surprised.”
On a scale of 1 to 10?
“A 9,” she laughed.
Simmelink described herself as a pragmatist—she didn’t back Sanders in those primaries because, in her words, “he wasn’t that effective as a senator.” What changed? It’s simple: In the new era of Trump, Simmelink feels like she no longer has a choice: “He’s the crotchety old guy,” she said. “He’s the only one willing to do something.”
For three months now, Sanders has been headlining his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, a series of campaign-style political rallies headlined by the senator and his protégé, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The two politicians wrapped up a suite of dates in the Midwest in February, and in late March, took on a crammed Southwest itinerary. The tour aims to galvanize the wounded Democratic base. By the time I touched down in Denver to see them for myself, they had already received an audience of 11,000 in the municipality of Greeley, 60 miles north. Now, a far bigger crowd awaited.
She didn’t support the man in 2016, when he first became a breakout who, however fleetingly, seemed like he had a long-shot chance to transform America himself. She also didn’t support him in 2020, when he tried again. So I asked Simmelink if the version of herself 10 years ago would be surprised to find her at a Bernie Sanders rally.
“Quite surprised.”
On a scale of 1 to 10?
“A 9,” she laughed.
Simmelink described herself as a pragmatist—she didn’t back Sanders in those primaries because, in her words, “he wasn’t that effective as a senator.” What changed? It’s simple: In the new era of Trump, Simmelink feels like she no longer has a choice: “He’s the crotchety old guy,” she said. “He’s the only one willing to do something.”
For three months now, Sanders has been headlining his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, a series of campaign-style political rallies headlined by the senator and his protégé, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The two politicians wrapped up a suite of dates in the Midwest in February, and in late March, took on a crammed Southwest itinerary. The tour aims to galvanize the wounded Democratic base. By the time I touched down in Denver to see them for myself, they had already received an audience of 11,000 in the municipality of Greeley, 60 miles north. Now, a far bigger crowd awaited.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/donald-trump-protest-bernie-sanders-aoc-tour-news.html
Senator Bernie Sanders is an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
