Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) turned out a sizable crowd to the Des Moines Register's "Presidential Soapbox" Saturday at the Iowa State Fair. But 10 minutes into his red-faced address to hundreds of fairgoers, Sanders found himself briefly upstaged — by The Donald.
Billionaire businessman Donald Trump, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, had touched down on the fairgrounds earlier that day in his $7 million Sikorsky helicopter, offering free rides to children. As Sanders promised to lead a global response to climate change during his Soapbox speech, the chopper flew overheard, according to the multiplemediaoutlets.
"There's Donald Trump," Sanders said, gesturing aloft. "What can we do?"
The crowd responded, "Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!"
"You know, I apologize. We left the helicopter at home," Sanders continued. "It's in the garage. Forgot to bring it."
Watch video of his remarks here (Skip ahead to 10:20 for the helicopter remarks):
That wasn't Sanders' only brush with The Donald over the weekend. When the Vermonter appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" the next morning, moderator Chuck Todd noted that he and Trump were generating similar levels of enthusiasm.
"I can't tell you how many people came up to me [at the Iowa State Fair] and said both positive things about you and Trump at the same time, using things like the campaign money example and the outsider," Todd said. "What do you think you have in common with the Trump voter? Forget Trump, but the Trump voter."
"Well, here's the difference: You know, I am not a billionaire. My family doesn't have a whole lot of money," Sanders responded. "We are raising our campaign contributions from 350,000 people who are contributing, Chuck, on average $31.20 apiece. That's our response: to go out to working class people, to go out to the middle class people and gain support. I think that's a little bit different approach than Donald Trump's."
Watch video of Sanders' appearance on "Meet the Press" here:
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Bio:
Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.