Yes, that’s a picture of me posing with a guy in a Bernie Sanders muppet costume. No, I didn’t make any of this up. Following my excursion to Albany for Donald Trump’s rally at the Times Union Center, I moseyed on down to New York City for three straight days of feeling the Bern.
My first stop was a Get Out the Vote party called “#BerninUpNYC” being held at Lot 45, a lounge in Bushwick, the new trendy frontier for Midwestern hipsters. I attended with my occasional partner-in-crime Goldmund, who also brought his camera so we could interview some self-described “Berners” and engage in illuminating discussions on politics.
There was a decent crowd to get in, and the party itself attracted several hundred people. Inside the party, there was a projector screen playing Sanders memes behind the DJ, and the bar was serving Bernie-themed cocktails made from Skyy vodka and pineapple juice. In the foyer, volunteers were soliciting donations for Sanders’ campaigns and trying to recruit volunteers. Goldmund and I tried to interview some of the girls, to little effect.
At 8pm, we were treated to some speeches from Sanders’ Brooklyn campaign staff, as well as a guest appearance by actor Tim Robbins.
We left early because Goldmund had a little too much to drink, and we ran into the Sanders muppet on our way out.
The next day, Kid Strangelove and I went to Bernie Sanders’ rally in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park. Turnout was huge—about 30,000 people—and there were already thousands lined up when I showed up around 1:30. While I’d hoped Sanders would start speaking not long after the rally started at 7pm, he didn’t come on until 8:30, as we were treated to a rogues’ gallery of warm-up speakers that included Rosario Dawson, Tim Robbins, Spike Lee and a musical performance from Vampire Weekend, the world’s most loathsome hipster band.
Kid Strangelove and I had to bail not long after Sanders showed up: he’d left his backpack at a local store (Secret Service wouldn’t let him into the park otherwise) and we had to grab it before the place closed. I had some video of the rally, but I unfortunately lost the flash card I was storing it on.
On Thursday, Goldmund and I moseyed over to Lantern Hall, a Bushwick bar that was hosting a pro-Sanders debate watch party. We went mainly because the bar promised to unveil a Donald Trump pinata, which never materialized.
I wrap up what I saw and did in this video:
My written account of what happened will be up at Right On soon.
This concludes my New York campaign coverage. I will begin raising money to cover the campaign through the final primaries in June soon. If you’re interested in donating, click here for more information. I greatly appreciate any and all support you can provide, and I thank those who’ve donated already.
Read Next: New York Campaign Dispatch, Part 2: The New York Trump Bump
The post New York Campaign Dispatch, Part 3: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Berning appeared first on Matt Forney.