On Saturday night, Donald Trump inexplicably held a rally in Coachella, California. The Golden State, of course, will go Democratic by massive majorities, and no amount of rallying in the state will make any difference.
But Trump is not getting the big rallies in the battleground states, and he heard how California was home to lots of Republicans. So off he went looking for his big rally.
And then he screwed over those Republicans.
The rally wasn’t held at the same venue as the famous music festival that draws a quarter million people over two weekends to the southern California desert. Trump clearly was banking on the famous name for positive association, though he held his rally on a private ranch. Everyone was required to take shuttle buses, no one was allowed to either drive or car-share to the venue.
“The Trump campaign said Friday that all guests arrive by shuttle bus and people will not be allowed to walk or take rideshare vehicles to the venue, an isolated ranch,” reported the Desert Sun, a local newspaper. “Instead, starting at 6 a.m., attendees can park at three designated locations and be shuttled to and from the venue. At the end of the event, they'll have to make sure they board a bus headed for the right lot.”
While Trump claimed 100,000 attended the rally, the event was only permitted to have up to 15,000 people.
So the Trump campaign holds a rally at a location that is only accessible via shuttle. They move up to 15,000 people into the venue. Their own guidance instructs attendees to board a bus back to their parking lots.
And then those buses didn’t show up after the event.
This video from a Trump supporter captured the post-event chaos.
One Trump supporting attendee tweeted about the mess:
It's 10:22pm. Rally ended at 7pm. Thousands of people still stranded here waiting for transit back to the parking lots. Something has gone horribly wrong. Someone needs to ask the Coachella mayor if he had anything to do with this. Parking lot is a 2 hour walk. Countless elderly stranded here and can't walk anymore. No restroom facilities accessible anymore. No more water. No food. Started with 20 busses for escorting people to the rally, and now only 1 bus remains at this point. Busses apparently went home. Not confirmed, but no more buses have showed up in the last hour and a half. Someone find out what happened here. This is not normal and feels nefarious and criminal.
And more:
2 busses just drove by. Haven't seen any busses move for almost 2 hours. Someone please reach out to Sheriff Chad Bianco and President Trump to get to the bottom of this. I think something nefarious went down tonight trying to spark a riot.
Hilariously, this guy wanted to blame the local mayor. The guy filming the video above demanded “an investigation” and wanted to “get the mayor on the phone right now.”
What is there to investigate? There was one organization in charge of transportation, the Trump campaign, and it just didn’t give a damn. The mayor has nothing to do with a private event, but god forbid these cultists admit the very simple fact that they were left high and dry by Trump himself.
Any of you who followed Ukraine war coverage might even recognize the “someone tell Dear Leader about what’s going on!” trope, as if Trump (or Russian President Vladimir Putin) give a damn about any of this. They’re the reason things are all screwed up!
There were also multiple videos on TikTok, such as this, showing the drama.
So these stranded jokers kept coming up with excuses for their man’s incompetence.
I deleted the posts because I was hoping some help would come from it, but all it did was cause drama. Many poor people were stranded last night and it had everything to do with the bus gas stations not having any fuel. The buses had to drive 30 minutes out to find fuel and many didn’t return and some got stranded themselves trying to find fuel. Then the CHP ordered the bus drivers to stop driving. This all came from the bus drivers updating us as we sat on the bus asking what happened. They and the Sheriffs were all just as confused as we were. My story stands, but the drama got out of hand.
Ah, the buses ran out of gas, did they? Gosh, if only there were establishments nearby to supply these transportation vehicles with the necessary fuel.
On Google Maps, I counted four gas stations within two miles of the venue, and 13 within five miles. One of those locations is a Love’s, which is literally a truck stop.
But here’s the thing—this Trump supporter ended up deleting his outraged tweets because his own Trump-supporting allies were haranguing him for making Trump look bad. That’s what he meant by “caus[ing] drama.”
Having stranded thousands in the hot desert, Trump and his campaign can’t even be bothered to issue an apology to their own people. They were used, abused, and tossed aside.
On the plus side, by holding his own supporters hostage, no one could leave the rally early.
So as far as Trump is concerned, mission accomplished.