It wasn’t a campaign rally or an election pit stop, but once again, Wisconsinites packed an arena to see a politician speak Friday night.
It was Bernie Sanders, who was in Kenosha as part of his national Fighting Oligarchy tour. Around 3,500 people came to see the Vermont senator and former Democratic presidential primary candidate.
Another 500 were turned away after the University of Wisconsin-Parkside’s basketball stadium reached capacity.
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To begin his remarks, Sanders pulled two contrasting scenes from his memory.
One was something he saw in a Vermont town during Memorial Day celebrations.
“Every year, they have a kid from the high school reciting the Gettysburg Address,” he explained.
“And that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth,” Sanders quoted the speech.
The other scene was from President Donald Trump’s January inauguration.
“Standing right behind Trump as he took his oath office were the three wealthiest men in America,” Sanders recalled.
The crowd booed as he named them — Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.
“They want to dismember the federal government and cut programs that lower-income and working people desperately need,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sanders said, people are struggling to pay for rent, child care and prescription drugs.
“They worry about what happens when the car breaks down. You need to put $1,000 to get the car going. If you don’t have the $1,000, you can’t get to work. If you can’t get to work, you lose your job. If you lose your job, what the hell happens to your family?” he said.
“We have got to come up with the ideas and the agenda that working people all over this country support,” he said.
He listed some — publicly funding elections, raising the minimum wage to $17 an hour, and universal Medicare for All.
“Despair is not an option,” Sanders said.
He compared fighting billionaire influence to American colonists “taking on the entire British empire, the most powerful force on Earth.”
“From the bottom of my heart, I am convinced that they can be beaten,” he said to a long standing ovation.
Sanders thanked his audience for an “unbelievable turnout” and encouraged Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District, to hold a town hall meeting in the same arena at a later date.
Steil called Sanders’ appearance part of a “fear mongering tour” and, in a statement, said Wisconsinites want “secure borders, control of spending, and boys out of girls’ sports.”
Supporters and Sanders reflect on present moment
Ellen Dux and Julian Kudick drove from Milwaukee to see Sanders.
“He had the right way the whole time, and the Democrats kind of failed us in that regard,” Kudick said.
“He’s obviously doing (the tour) for the people. He’s not doing it for a position of power. He genuinely feels this way,” Dux said.
Rita and Joe Bomher came up to the rally from Chicago.
“Don’t let them divide us between religion, abortion, LGBT — that doesn’t matter,” Rita Bomher said. “Skin color doesn’t matter.”
“We just got to come together on these main issues and stop these guys from robbing us of this American Dream that we keep talking about that’s not working for anybody,” Joe Bomher said.
After the event, Sanders told WPR the rally’s 4,000-person turnout was “mind-boggling” and “very gratifying.”
He said his task is going to “marginal districts” like Wisconsin’s 1st district, arguing to people what’s “at stake,” and hoping constituents pressure their congresspeople to oppose the Trump administration’s actions.
Sanders headed to Altoona in Eau Claire County on Saturday and to Warren, Michigan later the same day. He spoke in Nebraska and Iowa as part of this tour last month.
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