Outcry After Man Unfurls Nazi Flag at Bernie Sanders Rally

X Facebook Email Flipboard Pinterest Print Reddit

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:57 am

An Arizona rally for Bernie Sanders took a dark turn after Sanders’s supporters noticed a man had unfurled a flag emblazoned with a swastika. The man, who was not identified, was swiftly removed from the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Sanders did not appear to see the flag and later thanked his supporters for their vigilance.

“Whoever it was, I think they’re a little outnumbered tonight,” he said after the man was removed.

“It was absolutely wild,” Brianna Westbrook, a national surrogate for the Sanders campaign, later told the Washington Post. “I never thought I would have seen a swastika at a political event. It’s gross. It really wakes you up and you see how bad things really are and the climate that we’re in.”

Sanders would be the first Jewish president if elected to public office. The incident sparked an outcry amid suggestions that security for Sanders be increased as he continues to campaign across the country. Jewish advocacy groups went further, pointing out that antisemitic attacks have increased under the Trump presidency.

This wasn’t the only disturbance at the Sanders rally. Another video soon surfaced, this one showing a protester shouting the n-word at a black supporter.

The Southern Poverty Law Center last year noted that “Amid the era of Trump, hate groups have increased once again, rising 30 percent over the past four years.”

The Sanders rally took place after a lukewarm Super Tuesday performance. Although his opponent Joe Biden won 10 of the 14 states who primaried earlier this week, Sanders enjoyed a significant victory after winning California and its whopping 415 delegates.