WArren, Michigan – Bernie Sanders is standing alone at the back of a van who screams in a megaphone.
He faces several hundred ecstatic voters nestled outside a high school in Suburban Detroit – the group that does not integrate into the gymnasium of the school or two overflow rooms. The crowd shouts with joy when he tells them that a combined total of 9,000 people had presented himself for the rally.
“What all this tells me is not only in Michigan or Vermont, the inhabitants of this country will not allow us to head to the oligarchy. They will not allow Trump to take us into authoritarianism, “said Sanders. “We are ready to fight. And we are going to win.
At 83, Sanders no longer presents himself to the presidency. But the Democratic Socialist with cut and silver hair has become a leader in resistance to the second presidency of Donald Trump. By tearing the seizure of power and Trump warnings as to the consequences of the dismissal of tens of thousands of civil servants, Sanders is being the wishes of those who want the Democrats to focus on the price of eggs or “roll and play dead”.
For the moment, at least, Sanders is alone as the only gradual elected official willing to set up a national campaign to exploit the fear and anger of the sprawling anti-top movement.
Friday evening, he attracted a crowd of 4,000 to Kenosha, Wisconsin. He faced approximately 2,600 more the next morning to Altoona, Wisconsin, a city of less than 10,000 inhabitants. And his crowd of 9,000 in the suburbs of Detroit exceeded the expectations of his own team. By design, each judgment was in an American swing House district represented by a republican.
Sanders, who has just been elected to his fourth term of the Vermont Senate, conceded that it was not the role he expected to play at this stage of his career.
In fact, his team intentionally waited in the first weeks of Trump’s presidency to launch what they now call his “Oligarchy tour” to see if a high -level democrat would fill the management vacuum. Instead, Sanders – who is not a Democrat himself despite the Allification with the Democrats of the Senate and the candidacy twice for the presidential appointment of the Party – is to wonder if he is considering another offer from the White House.
“It’s like gatherings of presidential campaign, right?” But I do not present myself to the presidency, and it is not a campaign, “Sanders told the Associated Press. “You have to do what you have to do. The country is in trouble and I want to play my role. »»
Divided democratic resistance
Since the loss of the White House, Washington Democrats have struggled to merge behind a coherent message or a messenger to stop Trump’s aggressive movements to reduce government labor, weaken federal surveillance and empower Titan Elon Musk technology to execute his vision.
There was no centralized movement to organize anti-Trump resistance.
“Are you looking around – who does it else?” No one, “said representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., about Sanders’ efforts. “I hope that the dam will break in terms of democrats that take place on the offense … We must bring the argument directly to the people.”
Find out more: Facing Trump’s additional 4 years, Democrats cannot agree on a plan
Ocasio-Cortez, a longtime ally of Sanders, said that she would join him on the road in the coming weeks. It also provides solo appearances in the districts of the Congress detained at the Republicans in Pennsylvania and New York – and perhaps others in places where the Republicans have refused to hold town halls where they could face demonstrations.
“It is not a question whether Bernie should or should not do this. This is what we should all, “she said. “But it is unique in this country, and as long as we are lucky to have this capacity on our side, I think we should be grateful.”
Beyond Sanders’ tour, angry voters have so far supported basic groups as indivisible to organize a series of local demonstrations. They were effective in putting pressure on Trump’s allies in some cases. A number of Républicains in the Chamber faced with angry questions have criticized musk or questioned the cuts made at the request of its allies.
The indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin, who criticized many Democratic leaders, congratulated Sanders for her intention.
“I hope that more democrats were traveling in the country, including in the red states, to rally the majority against musk and the 2025 project,” said Levin. “Sue that as hell beats (the Democratic leader of the Hakeem chamber) Jeffries traveling in the country for his tour of children’s books during a constitutional crisis.”
When the congress of last month was recreated, Jeffries made two appearances to promote a children’s book on democracy. He also traveled to support the Democrats of the Chamber. Last weekend, he was in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
Find out more: Representative Chris Deluzio on the way Democrats should fight back
The truth is that little, or even none, the Democratic leaders have the capacity to draw such crowds within a short time or to organize related logistics on a national scale. The nascent class of the party of 2028 presidential prospects, a group which includes the governor of California Gavin Newsom, the governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer and the governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro, limited the national profiles and they were reluctant to walk too far in the national projector so far.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, among the most frank Trump reviews in Congress, said Democrats should be better organized.
“People are desperate to be connected to the action right now. People see the threat. They are anxious, angry and motivated and they want to be sent in one direction to help, “he said.
Murphy has recognized that Sanders still has many detractors within the Democratic Party who consider him as well as his ideas for progressive policy – by reimbursing private health insurance and employed with a “Medicare for All” plan funded by the government, a free public college and the “new deal” on climate policy – as too radical.
Indeed, only five years ago, the Democrats merged around Joe Biden to effectively prevent Sanders from winning the presidential appointment in 2020 of the party.
“There are still many people who consider Bernie to be a danger for the party,” said Murphy, “while I consider his message as the heart of what we have to build.”
Sanders has been a fervent supporter of Biden in the past four years, but criticized the Democratic Party following the loss of Kamala Harris last fall, declaring that Trump’s victory was only possible because the Democrats had “abandoned” the working class.
United Automobile President Shawn Fain, who presented Sanders in Michigan, said more democrats had to “follow his example to focus on workers’ people and working class issues”.
“They have to look carefully in the mirror, in my opinion, and decide who devil they want to represent,” said Fain about Democrats. “We have been clear as a union, if they do not seek the people of the working class, we are not going to be there for them.”
Voters speak
Voters who wrapped sites through Wisconsin and Michigan during the weekend have composed a diversified group, including some which have not supported the past presidential campaigns of Sanders. Most said that Democrats did not do enough to stop Trump.
“I am here because I am afraid for our country. The last six weeks have been horrible, “said Diana Schack, a 72 -year -old retirement lawyer who attended her first Sanders rally on Saturday. “I become a more passionate Bernie fan, especially in the light of work he makes across the country. These are not normal moments.
In Kenosha the previous night, Amber Schulz, a 50 -year -old worker, demanded that her party “intervenes and do something”.
“Bernie is the only politician I trust,” she said.
Tony Gonzales, 56, an independent of Prairie Prairie, Wisconsin, said that he feared that Trump “dismantling historic American standards” and tries to stay in office beyond this quarter. The Constitution prevents presidents from serving more than two terms, even if Trump suggested that he deserved a third.
“It’s a dangerous period right now,” said Gonzales. “What Bernie has to say – and the participation rate – is important. His voice is always heard.
Sanders delivered the same ardent populist message during the weekend he has for decades, entering the country’s economic inequalities to call free health care, free public public education and stronger social security net programs. Sanders was particularly focused on the billionaire team that Trump appointed to serve leaders of his administration, including Musk and half a dozen others.
“They want to dismantle the federal government and reduce the programs that workers are desperately needed,” said Sanders.
“Yes, oligarchs are extremely powerful. They have endless amounts of money. They control our economy. They have a large part of the media and have a huge influence on our political system, “he continued. “But from the bottom of my heart, I believe that if we hold together, we can beat them.”
It is not known how long Sanders, an octogenarian who was hospitalized for a heart disease during his campaign in 2020, will continue in this role. A spokesperson said Sanders had had no health problems since the 2019 episode.
He shouldn’t slow down anytime soon. Sanders relies on its presidential campaign director in 2020, Faiz Shakir, to organize his judgments, supported by a handful of former members of presidential campaign staff working on a contractual basis.
Shakir, who has lost his attempt to become the new president of the National Democratic Committee, recognized the strategic differences within the party on the best way to fight Trump.
Last month, the political veteran strategist James Carville wrote an opinion article calling the Democrats to “return and play dead”, betting that Trump and his party would ultimately undergo a political reaction from voters to go too far.
“A theory is that you can play dead; You can get strategically withdrawn, “said Shakir. “Or, you play alive, and you get out of people and you talk to them with conviction and integrity.”
